Stephen Stills - Everybody's Talkin' (demo) - 1969

"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 the Billboard 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 been covered by many notable artists. The song later appeared in the 1994 film Forrest Gump and is also on the soundtrack. It also appeared in the 1989 episode The Jolly Boys Outing, in the English sitcom Only Fools and Horses, in the Seinfeld episode The Mom and Pop Store, and in the comedy film Borat.

Background

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.[1] 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 parallels to Neil's later life—like the hero of the Midnight 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.[2] 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.[7] When Derek Taylor recommended Nilsson for the Midnight Cowboy soundtrack to director John Schlesinger, Schlesinger selected "Everybody's Talkin'",[2] preferring the cover to the song Nilsson proposed, "I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City".[8][9]

The song was used as the theme song for the movie and became closely identified with it;[10] Nilsson's cover is also known as "Everybody's Talkin' (Theme from Midnight Cowboy)".[11] William J. Mann in his biography of Schlesinger noted that "one cannot imagine Midnight Cowboy now without 'Everybody's Talkin''".[9]

Cover versions

Since Nilsson's cover of the song achieved chart success, the song has been covered by many other artists—almost 100 as of 2006[1]—including Louis Armstrong, Chet Atkins, The Beach Boys, The Ventures, Spanky and Our Gang, The Beautiful South, Tony Bennett, Jimmy Buffett, Moose (band), Crosby, Stills & Nash, Matthew Sweet, Neil Diamond, Arlo Guthrie, Percy Faith, The Four Tops, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, Emmylou Harris, Lena Horne, Engelbert Humperdinck, The Kingston Trio, Vera Lynn, Liza Minnelli, Jesse Malin, Willie Nelson, Zucchero, Madeleine Peyroux, BJ Thomas, Bill Withers, Sir Francis Highly, Bobby Womack, Stevie Wonder, Crowded House, Linda Eder, and Van Morrison. It was sampled in 2002 by Paul Oakenfold in "Starry Eyed Surprise", in 2004 by The Go! Team in "Everyone's a V.I.P. to Someone" and in 2007 by Mika in his Live in Cartoon Motion DVD.[1] In 2009, it was covered by French singer Eddy Mitchell as "Comme un étranger dans la ville". In 2010 Australian house music producer Dirty South used elements from "Everybody's Talkin'" in his own track "Phazing", which was released on his own record label, also called "Phazing". In 2007 a cover by Marko Haavisto in the Finnish language was recorded as "Kaikki jotain paasaa".Even Julio Iglesias in his CD Romantic Classics.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Stephen
• Stills
• Everybody's
• Talkin'
• demo
• 1969