First of May - the Bee Gees

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGxDx8ftX1I

A break in our parade of the dead, and as we exit the cruellest month, here is a distraction to mark the first of May, a rumination on the love of youth, fading as the years pass go by. Ostensibly, the song is about the first of May, but a discerning listen reveals that, in the song, nothing actually happens in May at all, it's just something in a promise. In fact, the song itself doesn't make sense at all. All it is is a jumble of images to do with three of the seasons, some contradictory statements about love, the passage of time and growing up.

This is from the first great phase of the Bee Gees kiddiwinkies, a long time ago in the sixties, in the time of the Beatles, when there were five people in the group, and not all of them were Gibb brothers, way before disco, way before "Saturday Night Fever"; way before those white suits. And it was a good phase, with lots pf great sons with great words and great tunes.

And though the words here don't make sequential sense, the overall impression of the song does: a little girl and a little boy fall in love, kiss, grow up, grow apart, but he'll never forget their first love.

In many cultures, May Day marks the beginning of summer, the season of growth and fecundity, and songwriter Barry Gibb evokes this in his invented folkloric game of kissing and promising, the promise being the fulfilment of the promise of that kiss "come first of May".

But with apples trees growing, ripe apples dropping and Christmas trees abounding, what we experience is a filmic fast forward into adulthood. The resulting montage of images fuses into that moment, captured deep down inside of each of us, so deep we may not even remember it, of the magical, prepubescent, innocent first awakening of love for another human being.

"When I was small

and Christmas trees were tall

we used to laugh while others used to play.

Don't ask me why

but time has passed us by-

someone else moved in from far away.

Now we are tall

and Christmas trees are small

and you don't ask the time of day

but you and I

our love will never die

to kiss and cry, "Come, first of May"

The apple tree that grew for you and me

I watched the apples falling one by one

and I recall the moment of them all

the day I kissed your cheek and you were gone.

Now we are tall

and Christmas trees are small

and you don't ask the time of day

but you and I

our love will never die

to kiss and cry, "Come, first of May".

When I was small

and Christmas trees were tall

Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo.

Don't ask me why

but time has passed us by

someone else moved in from far away."

You see. It may contain metaphors with images of Summer, Autumn and Winter, but it's really pop's "Primavera" it's really a song about the innocence and promise of Spring.