(Robert) Redford… they were doing an art film, and the score was very different. The way I remember reading about it was that the execs at 20th Century Fox didn’t even want to use this song (in the movie).īT: Yeah, they didn’t. I was selling records at that time: “Hooked on a Feeling.” They gave me a shot, and it just was a beautiful experience.īH: That song beat a lot of odds. He said, “B.J., I had been trying to get a Kristofferson song for so long and I finally got it and it was coming out.” So what he did was basically the right thing. I always tell him that I don’t know how he could have done it. Thomas.īT: When I see Ray, I always thank him for passing me that song. I think he had recorded “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” and I think Ray regretted (not recording “Raindrops”), but this is just not the same song without B.J. I loved him, and I still admire him so much.īH: I’m friends with Ray Stevens. He told me in subsequent years that I had done the best of anyone who had recorded it as a cover. He went on with the ending, and he didn’t naturally love it, but he did eventually go for it. Bacharach heard it, he was directing and stopped and looked at me for what felt like about ten minutes. When I did it, everyone in the control room went nuts. The third time we went through, (I thought), “I am just going to do something on the end," and I just let it come to me. I had to sing with the programmers as tight as I could. It was just an awesome thing to be part of. We had like one hundred people in there, and of course Bacharach was directing and everything. That little nuance was something magic.īT: It was a little something. That was not the original plan, right?īH: By the way, I think that made a difference in the song. I don’t believe "Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head" is the same song without you. This is the second time in 250 episodes that we’re interviewing the artist. We only interview the songwriters (for this series). In a conversation with Bart Herbison of Nashville Songwriters Association International, Thomas talked about the creative chances he took when recording the song, how he connected to its emotion, and the famous singer-songwriter who first turned it down.īart Herbison: I just have to tell you B.J., you are one of my favorite artists of all time…When you hold the microphone, there’s just some magic, and I just want to thank you for all the years of music from all the fans. The singer recorded the Burt Bacharach/Hal David composition for the classic 1969 film "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," making movie and pop music history in one fell swoop. Thomas didn't write "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head." He did, however, define it. Her accolades included fourteen Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.B.J. Three years later, she died at the age of 79 after years of declining health. In 1993, she ended her nearly 60-year career with her last public performance. After taking over the band when Webb died, Fitzgerald left it behind in 1942 to start her solo career. Fitzgerald's rendition of the nursery rhyme "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" helped boost both her and Webb to national fame. After a tumultuous adolescence, Fitzgerald found stability in musical success with the Chick Webb Orchestra, performing across the country but most often associated with the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing. Ella Jane Fitzgerald (Ap— June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer sometimes referred to as the First Lady of Song, Queen of Jazz, and Lady Ella.
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