| "Everybody's Talkin'" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 1969 US single re-release | ||||
| Single byNilsson | ||||
| from the albumAerial Ballet | ||||
| B-side | "Don't Leave Me" | |||
| Released | July 1968 | |||
| Recorded | November 13, 1967 | |||
| Studio | RCA (Hollywood, California) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 2:43 | |||
| Label | RCA Victor | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Fred Neil | |||
| Producer(s) | Rick Jarrard | |||
| Nilsson singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Everybody's Talkin' (Echoes)" is a song written and recorded by the American singer-songwriterFred Neil in 1966 and released two years later. A version of the song performed by the American singer-songwriterHarry Nilsson became a hit in 1969, reaching No. 6 on theBillboard Hot 100 chart and winning aGrammy Award after it was featured in the filmMidnight 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.
The song was first released on Neil's second album, the eponymousFred 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.[6] ManagerHerb 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 writing in1001 Songs notes that the song had parallels to Neil's later life—like the hero ofMidnight Cowboy, he 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.[7] 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 inCoconut Grove, Miami.[8][9][10]
Harry Nilsson was searching for a successful song when Rick Jarrard played the track for him,[11] and he decided to record it on November 13, 1967.[12] It was eventually released on his 1968 albumAerial Ballet.[11] When originally released as a single in July 1968, it managed to reach only No. 13 on theBillboardBubbling Under the Hot 100 chart.
As directorJohn Schlesinger was working on the 1969 filmMidnight Cowboy,Derek Taylor recommended Nilsson for the soundtrack to Schlesinger. While Nilsson wrote a new song intended for the film's soundtrack ("I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City"), Schlesinger instead preferred "Everybody's Talkin'", and used it as the film'stheme song.[7][13][14] Nilsson re-recorded the song with a slightly different arrangement from theAerial Ballet version, to better adapt to the music lengths required for various sequences in the film.[15]
Following the success ofMidnight Cowboy in theaters, RCA re-released theAerial Ballet version as a single, with this re-release becoming a hit, peaking at No. 6 on theBillboard Hot 100 chart and No. 2 on theBillboardEasy Listening chart. The song and movie have since become closely associated with one another;[16] Nilsson's cover is also known as "Everybody's Talkin' (Theme fromMidnight Cowboy)".[17] William J. Mann, in his biography of Schlesinger, noted that "one cannot imagineMidnight Cowboy now without 'Everybody's Talkin'".[14]
According to the AFM contract sheet, the following musicians played on the track.[18]
In addition, not on the AFM contract sheet, playing the banjo on the track is Randy Cierley Sterling.[19]
Described inThe Rock Snob*s Dictionary as an "anti-urban plaint",[20] "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'sDenise 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".[11]
The line "Going where the weather suits my clothes" is paraphrased from "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad", a traditional American folk song.
Nilsson's single for the song sold over a million copies and charted on bothBillboard's Adult Contemporary and Pop Singles charts, reaching numbers 2 and 6 respectively in 1969.[7][21] Nilsson's single also won a Grammy that year.[22] The song became a global success and was followed by international appearances by Nilsson to perform it.[23]
Nilsson denied that the song made him successful. Creswell, writing in1001 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.[7] After Nilsson's death,Billboard noted that Nilsson remained popularly remembered for his covers of "Everybody's Talkin'" and "Without You".[24] Neil, too, is largely remembered for this song.[9] But although Neil's second album was re-released in 1969 under the titleEverybody's Talkin' to capitalize on the success of the song, Neil himself shunned the limelight, retiring from the industry after his final album in 1971 to live quietly in theFlorida Keys with the millions of dollars he is estimated to have earned onroyalties from the song.[6][25] In keeping with the song's position in the works of both artists, it has been used to title several "greatest hits"compilation albums—a 1997 release byBMG, a 2001 release by Armoury and a 2006 release byRCA for Nilsson and a 2005 release for Neil byRaven Records entitledEchoes of My Mind: The Best of 1963–1971.
The song is highly regarded in the industry, having become astandard.[25] SongwriterJerry Leiber described it as "a very strange and beautiful song", among the "truly beautiful melodically and lyrically" songs by Fred Neil,[7] who was described byRolling Stone as "[r]eclusive, mysterious and extravagantly gifted".[25] A 2006 article inThe New York Times characterizes the song as "a landmark of the classic-rock era."[6] The song's popularity has proven persistent; through 2005, according to figures fromBroadcast Music Incorporated reported inThe New York Times, the song had aired on radio and television 6.7 million times.[6] In 2004, the song was listed by theAmerican Film Institute as No. 20 in its "top 100 movie songs" for the first 100 years of film.[26]
In 1999, the 1969 recording of "Everybody's Talkin'" byHarry Nilsson on RCA Victor Records was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[27]
Since Nilsson's version of the song achieved chart success, the song has been covered by many other artists—almost 100 as of 2006.[6] The more notable versions include ones byStevie Wonder,Willie Nelson,Neil Diamond,Liza Minnelli,Tony Bennett,Luna,Bill Withers,Madeleine Peyroux,Louis Armstrong,Leonard Nimoy,Iggy Pop,Julio Iglesias,Lena Horne,Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes,The Beautiful South,Jimmy Buffett,Bobby Goldsboro andCrosby, Stills & Nash. Nilsson's version was sampled in 2002 byPaul Oakenfold on "Starry Eyed Surprise" and in 2004 bythe Go! Team on "Everyone's a V.I.P. to Someone".[6] The string riff from a cover byHugo Winterhalter was prominently sampled byMoby on "Extreme Ways".[28]
Weekly charts[edit]Fred Neil version
Nilsson version
The Beautiful South version
| Year-end charts[edit]Nilsson version
The Beautiful South version
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom (BPI)[44] Nilsson version | Gold | 400,000‡ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[45] The Beautiful South version | Silver | 200,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
...Harry Nilsson's yearning folk-rock classic "Everybody's Talkin'," the Top 10 classic...
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.
