Thirty-five years ago today, the #1 song on the Canadian country music charts was “Islands in the Stream” by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. The song had already spent two weeks at #1 on the U.S. charts. In Canada, it marked Kenny’s 16th #1 hit, and was Dolly’s 15th. Written by the Bee Gees, it was named after an Ernest Hemingway novel with the intention of getting Marvin Gaye to record the song. Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees was working as Kenny’s producer for his new album at the time, only the third time he did such work outside of the Bee Gees. The song almost didn’t get recorded. Kenny had sung it for four days in the studio, eventually turning the Barry and saying, “I don’t even like this song anymore.” Barry suggested, “We need Dolly Parton.” By coincidence, she was in the building, downstairs at the time. Kenny says she marched right into the studio and changed that song forever. It would go on the become Single of the Year at the Academy of Country Music (ACM) awards, sell over two-million copies and, in 2005, top CMT’s poll of country music’s best duets of all time. The Bee Gees would record the song for their 2001 album “Their Greatest Hits: The Record.” Barry’s original demo for Kenny was bootlegged and eventually officially released in 2006. I got to see Kenny and Dolly perform the song live in concert on April 20, 1986 in Buffalo, New York. It was the highlight of the night!