Everybody's Talkin'

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Not to be confused with Everybody's Talking.
This article is about the song. For the album known by the same name, see Fred Neil (album). For another album, see Everybody's Talkin' (Tedeschi Trucks Band album).

"Everybody's Talkin'"
1969 US single re-release
Single by Nilsson
from the album Aerial Ballet
B-side"Don't Leave Me"
ReleasedJuly 1968
RecordedNovember 13, 1967
StudioRCA (Hollywood)
Genre
Length2:43
LabelRCA Victor
Songwriter(s)Fred Neil
Producer(s)Rick Jarrard
Nilsson singles chronology
"One"
(1968) 		"Everybody's Talkin'"
(1968) 		"I Will Take You There"
(1968)

"Everybody's Talkin' (Echoes)" is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter

Grammy Award after it was featured in the film Midnight Cowboy
. The song, which describes the singer's desire to retreat from the harshness of the city to a more peaceful place and an easier life, is among the most famous works of both artists, and has been covered by many other notable performers.

Background

The song was first released on Neil's second album, the eponymous Fred Neil, released in late 1966. 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.[5] 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.

Coconut Grove, Miami.[7][8][9]

Harry Nilsson version

Nilsson in 1967 promotional photo

Harry Nilsson was searching for a successful song when Rick Jarrard played the track for him,

Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart. After the song was featured as the theme song in the film Midnight Cowboy in 1969, the song was re-released as a single and became a hit, peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 2 on the Billboard Easy Listening
chart.

When Derek Taylor recommended Nilsson for the Midnight Cowboy soundtrack to director John Schlesinger, Schlesinger selected "Everybody's Talkin'",[6] preferring the cover to the song Nilsson proposed, "I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City".[12][13]

The song was used as the theme song for the movie and became closely identified with it;[14] Nilsson's cover is also known as "Everybody's Talkin' (Theme from Midnight Cowboy)".[15] William J. Mann, in his biography of Schlesinger, noted that "one cannot imagine Midnight Cowboy now without 'Everybody's Talkin'".[13]

Personnel

According to the AFM contract sheet, the following musicians played on the track, excluding Harry Nilsson’s vocals.[16]

  • Al Casey - acoustic guitars
  • Mike Melvoin - piano
  • Larry Knechtel - bass guitar
  • Jim Gordon - drums
  • Alfred Lustgarten - violin
  • Jerome Reisler - violin
  • Wilbert Nuttycombe - violin
  • Leonard Atkins - violin
  • Darrel Terwilliger - violin
  • Arnold Belnick - violin

In addition, not on the AFM contract sheet, playing the banjo on the track is Randy Cierley Sterling.[17]

Theme and style

Described in The Rock Snob*s Dictionary as an "anti-urban plaint",[18] "Everybody's Talkin'" depicts the introverted speaker's inability to connect with others. Not hearing or truly seeing them, the speaker declares an intention to leave for the ocean and the summer breeze. AllMusic's Denise Sullivan describes Neil's version as "positively spooky and Spartan" by comparison to Nilsson's better-known cover, whose arrangement she felt captured the "freedom, shrouded in regret and loss, implied in the lyric".[10]

The line "Going where the weather suits my clothes" is paraphrased from "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad", a traditional American folk song.

Reception and legacy

Nilsson's single for the song sold over a million copies and charted on both Billboard's Adult Contemporary and Pop Singles charts, reaching numbers 2 and 6 respectively in 1969.[6][19] Nilsson's single also won a Grammy that year.[20] The song became a global success and was followed by international appearances by Nilsson to perform it.[21]

Nilsson denied that the song made him successful. Creswell, writing in 1001 Songs, claims that the hit "made Nilsson a superstar," exposing him to a much broader fan base and altering his reputation from solely that of a songwriter to a singer.

compilation albums—a 1997 release by BMG, a 2001 release by Armoury and a 2006 release by RCA for Nilsson and a 2005 release for Neil by Raven Records
entitled Echoes of My Mind: The Best of 1963–1971.

The song is highly regarded in the industry, having become a

Broadcast Music Incorporated reported in The New York Times, the song had aired on radio and television 6.7 million times.[5] In 2004, the song was listed by the American Film Institute as No. 20 in its "top 100 movie songs" for the first 100 years of film.[24]

In 1999, the 1969 recording of "Everybody's Talkin'" by Harry Nilsson on RCA Victor Records was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[25]

Other cover versions

Since Nilsson's version of the song achieved chart success, the song has been covered by many other artists—almost 100 as of 2006.

Crosby, Stills & Nash. Nilsson's version was sampled in 2002 by Paul Oakenfold on "Starry Eyed Surprise" and in 2004 by the Go! Team on "Everyone's a V.I.P. to Someone".[5] The string riff from a cover by Hugo Winterhalter was prominently sampled by Moby on "Extreme Ways".[26]

Charts

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[41]
Nilsson version 		Gold 400,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[42]
The Beautiful South version 		Silver 200,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Harry Nilsson – Everybody's Talkin' [BMG]". AllMusic. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
  2. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8
    .
  3. ^ Stanley, Bob (2022). "The Strength of Strings: Film Soundtracks". Let's Do It - The Birth of Pop Music: A History. New York: Pegasus Books. p. 543.
  4. ^ Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "Aerial Ballet – Harry Nilsson | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved October 8, 2023.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Browne, David (September 24, 2006). "The echoes of his mind just keep reverberating". The New York Times. Retrieved April 6, 2009.
  6. ^
    ISBN 1-56025-915-9
    .
  7. ^ Neil, Fred. "Everybody's Talkin'".
  8. ^
    ISBN 1-57488-477-8
    .
  9. ISBN 0-87930-616-5
    .
  10. ^ a b c Sullivan, Denise. "Everybody's Talkin'". AllMusic. Retrieved April 6, 2009.
  11. ^ "Phonograph Recording Contract Blank - American Federations Of Musicians" (PDF). Wrecking Crew Film. November 13, 1967.
  12. ISBN 0-8230-7677-6. Nilsson had submitted his own song for the Dustin Hoffman—John Voigt film, but the producers preferred the Neil tune. Undaunted, Harry released "I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City
    " as his second single, and it peaked at 34 in November 1969.
  13. ^
    ISBN 0-8230-8366-7
    .
  14. ISBN 1-882267-03-6
    .
  15. ISBN 0-313-29470-4
    .
  16. ^ "Everybody's Talkin' AFM Contract" (PDF). The Wrecking Crew. American Federation of Musicians. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  17. ^ [1]
  18. ISBN 0-7679-1873-8
    .
  19. ^ "Harry Nilsson, Billboard Singles". AllMusic. Retrieved April 6, 2009.
  20. ^ "Harry Nilsson, GRAMMY Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved April 6, 2009.
  21. ISBN 1-84353-229-8
    .
  22. ISSN 0006-2510
    .
  23. ^
    ISBN 0-7432-0169-8
    .
  24. ^ Nason, Pat (June 23, 2004). "AFI's top 100 movie songs". UPI Perspectives. Archived from the original on October 16, 2012. Retrieved April 6, 2009.
  25. ^ "GRAMMY HALL OF FAME AWARD". www.grammy.com. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
  26. ^ "Moby's 'Extreme Ways' sample of Hugo Winterhalter's 'Everybody's Talkin | WhoSampled". WhoSampled. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
  27. ^
    ISBN 978-0-89820-213-7
    .
  28. ^ RPM Adult Contemporary, October 18, 1969
  29. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – Diana Ross & Lionel Richie" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
  30. ^ "flavour of new zealand – search listener". Flavourofnz.co.nz. Archived from the original on January 13, 2017. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
  31. ^ "SA Charts 1965 – March 1989". Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  32. ^ UK Official Charts, 27 September 1969
  33. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 177.
  34. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 11, no. 25. June 18, 1994. p. 14. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
  35. ^ "Íslenski Listinn Topp 40 (02.6.–08.6. '94)". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). June 2, 1994. p. 20. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  36. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Everybody's Talkin'". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  37. ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  38. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  39. ^ "Item Display – RPM – Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
  40. ^ Musicoutfitters.com
  41. ^ "British single certifications – Nilsson – Everybody's Talkin'". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  42. ^ "British single certifications – Beautiful South – Everybody's Talkin'". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved December 15, 2023.

External links

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