The No1 song in the US on this day, January 8th 1970, was raindrops keep falling on my head by BJ Thomas (The B.J. stands for Billy Joe.) from the album Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Soundtrack. It was BJ Thomass first of two No1 hits and remained at No1 for four weeks. It peaked at No38 in the UK. Burt Bacharach and Hal David wrote this song for the film Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. It was the first million-seller for the legendary songwriters. Thomas was recording for Scepter Records, which was also home of Dionne Warwick, who recorded many Bacharach/David hits like. She took a copy of Thomas song Hooked On A Feeling to Bacharach. She convinced him to consider Thomas, and although he was reluctant at first, Burt asked Thomas to sing the main theme - Raindrops Keep Fallin on My Head. What he didnt tell Thomas was that the song had already been turned down by Bob Dylan and Ray Stevens. Says Burt: Our first choice was Ray Stevens. They flew Ray out to see the picture and hear the song but he didnt like the picture and he didnt like the song. Thomas was getting over laryngitis when he recorded this. It gave the song a raspy quality that the producers of the movie liked. Eight weeks later, Thomas recorded another version that was released as a single in October 1969. This version, with the famous horn solo added to the end. Said Thomas, I was in the right place at the right time, and probably got their best song ever. Burt Bacharach: Raindrops was done for the score. When youre scoring a motion picture you service the picture and there was that scene with the bicycle. I kept hearing that title. That is my title, I told Hal, Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head. Hal tried to change it and come up with another lyric but it never seemed to work as well. I watched the film so much when I was scoring it. This won the Oscar for Best Song From A Motion Picture at the 1970 awards, where Thomas performed it. Bacharach also won for Best Score. The single version of this song was edited together from three different studio takes of the song. Heres BJ Thomas performing raindrops keep falling on my head in February of 1970 on Top of the Pops.....Enjoy!
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 19:41:59 +0000
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