Harry Nilsson sings 'Everybody's Talkin'' from his 1968 album 'Aerial Ballet'. The song became a hit for Nilsson after its appearance in the 1969 film Midnight Cowboy. It was written and recorded in 1966 by Fred Neil. The lyrics are in the video and below with comments about the song.
Note: The images in the video are from the 1969 United Artists film Midnight Cowboy which won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
[Vinyl/Lyrics/16-Images/WAV]
Everybody's Talkin' (Singer: Harry Nilsson)
Everybody's talkin' at me
I don't hear a word they're saying
Only the echoes of my mind
People stopping, staring
I can't see their faces
Only the shadows of their eyes
I'm going where the sun keeps shining
Through the pouring rain
Going where the weather suits my clothes
Banking off of the northeast winds
Sailing on summer breeze
And skipping over the ocean like a stone
I'm going where the sun keeps shining
Through the pouring rain
Going where the weather suits my clothes
Banking off of the northeast winds
Sailing on summer breeze
And skipping over the ocean like a stone
Everybody's talkin' at me
Can't hear a word they're saying
Only the echoes of my mind
I won't let you leave my love behind
No, I won't let you leave
I won't let you leave my love behind
Songwriter: Fred Neil
[Lyrics from LyricFind]
Wikipedia states:
"Everybody's Talkin'" is a song written and recorded by singer-songwriter Fred Neil in 1966 and released by himself two years later. A version of the song performed by Harry Nilsson became a hit in 1969, reaching No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and winning a Grammy Award after it was featured in the film Midnight Cowboy. The song, which describes the singer's desire to retreat from other people to the ocean, is among the most famous works of both artists, and has been covered by many other notable performers. The song later appeared in the 1994 film Forrest Gump and is also on the film's soundtrack album. It also appeared in the comedy film Borat, on The Hangover Part III soundtrack, in the English television show Black Books, the action-comedy film Crank, and in the Only Fools and Horses episode "The Jolly Boys' Outing".
Harry 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 released as a single in July 1968, it managed to reach only No. 113 on the Billboard 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.
Described in The Rock Snob's Dictionary as an "anti-urban plaint", "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".
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