back to article Bee Gees belter may help cheat death

The Bee Gees' 1977 falsetto stomper Stayin' Alive could be the latest tool in the fight against people dying, according to a new study. Bloomberg soberly relays that the slouchy beat of the squealy white-men-big-hair disco evergreen was found to help medical students attain the correct pace for chest compressions. The …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Xander
    Thumb Up

    Extraordinary!

    Extraordinary!

  2. mutt1170
    Coat

    Not so much Flashdance as Flashback!!!

    Mortal Coil Shuffling, Chest Wigs, Medallions and images of John Travolta in a white suit!!!

    It's enough to give you the Hee Bee Gee(s) Bees.

    Mines the one with the matching Loon Pants and 10" Platforms

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    Stayin' alive - alright!

    Wow - it really works - I just did this in my head too, and got 102 bpm! Now if I ever have to do CPR, I'll know just to sing out "Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive!" while I'm doing it!

  4. Gulfie
    Joke

    Just don't play Bat Out of Hell in a cemetary...

    ... or you'll soon have enough stiffs for several full casts of 'Thriller'...

  5. Simon
    Happy

    A better one...

    One I've always been taught to use when doing first aid is 'Another One Bites The Dust', or for the younger amongst you Nelly the Elephant works as well.

  6. Shady
    Happy

    Do you also....

    ...write articles for the daily mash?

  7. Martin
    Happy

    Ha! Take that, Sarah Bee!

    Bat out of Hell revives man in coma.

    Could Bohemian Rhapsody claim the same?

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Extraordinary? Really?

    "...leapt out of bed and dashed across the room to the tape recorder..." was this followed by ripping the power lead out, beating the player repeatedly against the wall and jumping up and down on the pieces? If so I'd consider that a perfectly reasonable response to Meatloaf!

  9. Aleksis

    NHS

    The NHS has been using 'Nellie the Elephant' for years for exactly the same purpose (you just have to remember to do it twice now each time)...

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Meanwhile ...

    ... euthanasia advocates have high hopes for Whitney Houston's, "I Will Always Love You".

  11. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

    Re: Ha! Take that, Sarah Bee!

    You know I made that bit up, don't you. It was actually 'Fat Bottomed Girls' that did the trick.

  12. Bassey
    Thumb Up

    We use

    We use the chorus from "Nelly the Elephant" by the Toy Dolls. However, you have to be careful to ignore either the one beat pause in the middle or the last beat otherwise you give them 31 compressions rather than the recommended 30.

    That was recommended to us by St John Ambulance and has been confirmed by doctors and Heart Start.

  13. Lloyd
    Thumb Down

    Ummm

    Didn't work so well for the Bee Gees, how many left now?

  14. Gulfie
    Boffin

    @Sarah Bee

    Lets face it... ANY Meatloaf could be said to cause the effect you've described.

    In the same way, perhaps any record by The Smiths could have the opposite effect, thus freeing up the life support machine for the next poor unfortunate.

    Wonder if I could get some research funding to confirm this by experiment?

  15. RG

    Fat Bottomed Girls?

    Hmmmm. Actually, that doesn't so much raise the dead as just raise certain parts. Alternatively, you could try Sir-Mix-a-Lot/MC Hammer, Baby Got Back ....... "I like big butts and I cannot lie, ...."

  16. David Cornes
    Coat

    Factoid:

    The incessant drum beat on Staying Alive is in fact two bars lifted-and-looped from the already recorded Night Fever, brought about by the absence of session drummer Dennis Byron and the unsatisfactory experimentation with drum machines!

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Re: Meanwhile ...

    I think you'll find it was Dolly Parton's...

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Nice URL

    "http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/17/hah_hah_hah_hah/" indeed...

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Re: Re: Meanwhile ...

    No, Whitney Houston's version is the abominable one. She is flat or sharp on almost every held note.

    Of course, you may not have any idea who Whitney Houston is - this kind of thing happens with a lot of retirees. I'll let you get back to your old gramaphone records now ...

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    This is just bizarre.

    I've just been writing a 'Staying Alive' remix for the Vintage Synth (VSE) forums.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Re: Re: Re: Meanwhile ...

    I was referring to the writer not a particular version. The original post states <for Whitney Houston's, "I Will Always Love You"> implying the song is WH's and not simply alluding to her version of it.

    What is this gramaphone you talk of?

  22. Matt D

    Meat Loaf

    "One chap who'd been completely unconscious for some months leapt out of bed and dashed across the room to the tape recorder. Extraordinary."

    Presumably to turn off the god-awful racket.

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Forever more...

    When I have to perform CPR, I am going to be smiling...

    People are going to think I'm crazy... might as well sing too!

  24. George
    Go

    Another one bites the dust

    wikipedia says for the "another one bites the dust" from queen the same thing. But the queen song is a bit more funny in this situation.

  25. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

    Re: Meat Loaf

    Sigh. Yes. That was the point. The point of the joke. The joke that has now died and is beyond CPR. Happy now?

    You guys can be so, like, literal.

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Melvins

    Probably don't want to play something by the Melvins, or you may damage the patient as well as having a heart attack of your own...

  27. peter tomlinson
    Joke

    @Sarah - re: meatloaf

    Oh, I get it (now).

    Oh wait, can you go over that one more time.

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Quick, someone call Austin Powers

    The regular cast of witty, thoughtful Register commenters has been kidnapped and replaced with deadly, humourless com-bots. It could be the end of the world as we know it. Save us, Austin!

  29. James O'Brien
    Coat

    So umm....

    How long till the CPR givers take their own life to end the incessant "Ah ah ah ah Stayin' Alive"?

    /mines the one decked out on rhinestones

  30. Kenneth Chan
    Stop

    Please, Pull the Plug!

    No, Just let me go, please..... Stop that Fracking music! I want to die in peace.

  31. J
    Pirate

    Bat out of hell?

    Never heard of it, I guess Meatloaf was never popular in Brazil... Time to lift anchors, methinks. Ahoy!

  32. Dave

    Re: Meat Loaf

    If he was rushing across the room to a tape recorder, it must have been a pretty old joke. Technology has moved on somewhat. Do they even make cassette tapes now?

  33. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Meanwhile

    I wrote the damn post and I know full well what I meant, and it was not what you merely thought it meant. Are you suggesting that there's an El Reg rule somewhere that requires all reference to musical works to include attribution to the original lyricist even if referring specifically to a version made by some other recording artist that is well known and, importantly, central to the point being made? Gee, I must have missed that one in the orientation session.

    I'm sure there's a bunch of people in a queue somewhere that's not orderly enough for your liking, so go and bother them.

  34. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Yes, meatloaf

    As in, don't let your...

    and yes, cassettes are still available....maybe no 8-track tapes, but cassettes, yes.

    and no dat tapes...music industry saw to it that that option was killed aborning.

  35. I. Aproveofitspendingonspecificprojects
    Paris Hilton

    @ Sarah Bee

    "You guys can be so, like, literal. "

    What I like best about them is their insistence on pointing out the meaning of the allusion of the icons they choose to use to highlight the drift of the <ermmm> whatever it is <s> I am </s> they are (I mean) talking about </ermmm> despite the mouse-overs available to otherwise competent computer users.

    But you may not have already noticed that which is why I wished to point out to you that the use of pictures of Paris Hilton for example in this example exemplified the need for a reappraisal of the need to repeat the need because she is somewhat repetitive.

    Paris because we don't have an ERM icon

    To coin a phrase.

  36. Dabooka

    When I taught first aid...

    we used to use Nellie The Elephant for the same effect, the Toy Dolls version might be a bit quick though.

  37. Jules
    Black Helicopters

    Pop goes the wea

    I found this out at my SJA refresher. Before we were tought to use nellie the elephant or pop goes the wea. Not pop goes the weasel but

    Half a pound of tuppenny rice,

    Half a pound of treacle.

    That’s the way the money goes,

    Pop! goes the wea.

    To get the right number of compressions, really helped!

This topic is closed for new posts.