Everybody's Talkin' - a history of this Fred Neil song made famous by Harry Nilsson
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My cover doesn't really follow the original or Nilsson's famous cover. I've always liked the way Stephen Stills performed it on his Stills Live album so I would say that perhaps mine is more inspired by his version. Here's some Wikipedia info on the song:
"Everybody's Talkin'" is a folk rock song released by Fred Neil in 1966 that became a global success for Harry Nilsson in 1969, reaching #2 and #6 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart and Pop Singles chart respectively and winning a Grammy after it was featured on the soundtrack for the film Midnight Cowboy. The song, which describes the speaker's desire to retreat from other people to the ocean, is among the most famous works of both artists. It has become a standard, covered by many notable artists.
The song was first released on Neil's second album, 1966's self-titled Fred Neil. It was composed towards the end of the session, after Neil had become anxious to wrap the album so he could return to his home in Miami, Florida. Manager Herb Cohen promised that if Neil wrote and recorded a final track, he could go. "Everybody's Talkin'", recorded in one take, was the result.
Toby Creswell of 1001 Songs noted that the song had a more long-term biographical element for songwriter Neil, who like the hero of the soundtrack with which it would later be associated, looked "for fame to match his talents, discover[ed] that success in his profession isn't all its cracked up to be" and wanted to retreat. Five years later, Neil permanently fulfilled the promise of the speaker in the song, rejecting fame to live the rest of his life in relative obscurity "where the sun keeps shining / Thru' the pouring rain" in his home in Coconut Grove.
Nilsson was searching for a potentially successful song when Rick Jarrard played the track for him, and he decided to release it on his 1968 album Aerial Ballet. When Derek Taylor recommended Nilsson for the Midnight Cowboy soundtrack to director John Schlesinger, Schlesinger selected "Everybody's Talkin'", preferring the cover to the song Nilsson proposed, "I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City".
The song was used as the theme song for the movie and became closely identified with it;[9] Nilsson's cover is also known as "Everybody's Talkin' (Theme from Midnight Cowboy)". William J. Mann in his biography of Schlesinger noted that "one cannot imagine Midnight Cowboy now without 'Everybody's Talkin''."
"Everybody's Talkin'" is a folk rock song released by Fred Neil in 1966 that became a global success for Harry Nilsson in 1969, reaching #2 and #6 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart and Pop Singles chart respectively and winning a Grammy after it was featured on the soundtrack for the film Midnight Cowboy. The song, which describes the speaker's desire to retreat from other people to the ocean, is among the most famous works of both artists. It has become a standard, covered by many notable artists.
The song was first released on Neil's second album, 1966's self-titled Fred Neil. It was composed towards the end of the session, after Neil had become anxious to wrap the album so he could return to his home in Miami, Florida. Manager Herb Cohen promised that if Neil wrote and recorded a final track, he could go. "Everybody's Talkin'", recorded in one take, was the result.
Toby Creswell of 1001 Songs noted that the song had a more long-term biographical element for songwriter Neil, who like the hero of the soundtrack with which it would later be associated, looked "for fame to match his talents, discover[ed] that success in his profession isn't all its cracked up to be" and wanted to retreat. Five years later, Neil permanently fulfilled the promise of the speaker in the song, rejecting fame to live the rest of his life in relative obscurity "where the sun keeps shining / Thru' the pouring rain" in his home in Coconut Grove.
Nilsson was searching for a potentially successful song when Rick Jarrard played the track for him, and he decided to release it on his 1968 album Aerial Ballet. When Derek Taylor recommended Nilsson for the Midnight Cowboy soundtrack to director John Schlesinger, Schlesinger selected "Everybody's Talkin'", preferring the cover to the song Nilsson proposed, "I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City".
The song was used as the theme song for the movie and became closely identified with it;[9] Nilsson's cover is also known as "Everybody's Talkin' (Theme from Midnight Cowboy)". William J. Mann in his biography of Schlesinger noted that "one cannot imagine Midnight Cowboy now without 'Everybody's Talkin''."
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