Flashback: laughing into the new year, Bee Gees style

Happy New Year, one and all!

2007 was a brain blast, for sure. I lost count of how many people have said to me that 2007 just plain sucked. As for myself, I'd say it was about half great, half not-so-great. I've had better years, but I've had worse too. Fortunately, the year was bookended with fun new year's parties. This year's party, at my friend Brian's new house in Westerly, RI, even had a theme drink: "2007 sucked nuts," which consisted of Bailey's Irish Creme, Kahlua, almonds and cinnamon in a shot glass. The party was also my opportunity to finally try out this Guitar Hero video game that I've heard so much about. It took a negative perspective on a musicology group blog to really get me primed to try it, and in the end, I felt it was just another game with a shiny surface. Real guitar actually felt easier to me, and more rewarding in the end. But I can't say the game wasn't fun.

On the way to the party, I was listening to the Bee Gees, which is something I've been doing a lot lately. Mostly pre-disco, mind you. The disco stuff is great too, but Mr. Natural and Odessa are my favorite albums these days. Which got me to thinking...

...back in December of 1993, Howard Stern was hyping this great big pay-per-view television event he dubbed "New Year's Rotten Eve." Doug, being the biggest Stern fan I know, bought the program and invited his closest friends over for a fun night of watching Stern's outrageous parade of goons make asses of themselves on national television. There was a mock beauty pageant, and one of the celebrity judges drafted for the event was none other than John Bobbitt.

Bobbitt, of course, was the guy whose wife Lorena chopped off his penis. So, Howard being Howard, had to not only have Bobbitt as a celebrity judge, but also used the occasion to make lots of penis jokes. The best of these jokes he orchestrated, in my humble opinion -- the one that still makes me belly laugh -- was having the Bee Gees sing the funniest version of their '60s hit "To Love Somebody" that we're ever likely to hear. And joy of joys, it's on youtube! Actually, the whole 4:25 bit surrounding Bobbitt's member is there, so if that's too much joking about severed genitalia for you, simply skip over to 3:19 for the Bee Gees bit.

I guarantee you will never hear "To Love Somebody" the same way again!