The Reclusive Folk Singer Behind Nilsson’s ‘Everybody’s Talkin’’
The 1969 film Midnight Cowboy helped make its theme, “Everybody’s Talkin’,” the signature song of Harry Nilsson. “Everybody’s Talkin’” was a Top 10 single and Grammy winner for Nilsson and has been covered more than 100 times. But Nilsson’s version was also a cover; “Everybody’s Talkin’” was written and performed by folk singer Fred Neil in 1966.
Neil’s original, slower and more simply arranged than Nilsson’s version, almost didn’t make it to vinyl. A New York Times story tells what happened at the end of a recording session when Neil, anxious to return home to Miami, hadn’t written enough songs to complete the album.
“His manager at the time, Herb Cohen, quickly made a deal: Write one more tune and record it immediately, then you can go.
“With that, Mr. Neil retreated to a bathroom at the studio and, five minutes later, emerged with the new composition: a lanky, concise ballad — just two verses and a chorus, with one verse and the chorus repeated — that expressed his desire to go home, ‘where the sun keeps shining in the…
