In late May of 1997 I was prepping for a fashion show by Obiko (link below) at the Marriott Hotel in Oakland, California to take place on the 6th of June. Entitled, Tribal Visions, it was to be a benefit for the
Asian Health Services.
While going to a production meeting with the hotel staff to plan technical
details, I was with a couple of members of my team, Phil Hofstetter
(photographer/lighting designer) and Don Bright (video). We entered the elevator
to go up to the office and a couple of men were in it. One of the
men asked me which floor we wanted, I told him and he pressed the
button. I thanked him and continued talking to Phil, paying no further attention to the two men who got off a floor before us. After they got out and the doors of the
elevator closed, I said to Phil that the man who had talked to me
reminded me of, "that guy in Midnight Cowboy but I can't remember his name." Phil said, "Jon Voight was in the movie and that was him"! So close, yet so far!
An interesting item I discovered when researching for this blog;
Michael Sarrazin was cast in the Joe Buck role but shortly before filming he pulled out over a wage dispute.
Jon Voight was then brought in to replace him.
Midnight Cowboy was his third film and made Voight a star.
photo of album cover by Styrous®
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®
John Barry supervised the music, composed the score and won a
Grammy for Best Instrumental Theme. The song,
Everybody's Talkin', composed by
Fred Neil, won a
Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for
Harry Nilsson. The film's director,
John Schlesinger, chose the song as the theme which underscores the
first part of the film. Other songs considered for the theme included,
I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City, also by Nilsson, and
Cowboy by
Randy Newman.
Bob Dylan wrote
Lay Lady Lay to serve as the theme song, but did not finish it in time. The
soundtrack album was released by
United Artists Records in 1969.
album cover detail
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®
The song,
He Quit Me Man, was composed by
Warren W. Zevon who was also responsible for
Werewolves of London,
Lawyers, Guns and Money, and many other hit songs. I fell in love with
Werewolves, of course, which was composed by LeRoy Marinell,
Waddy Wachtel, and Zevon (
link Below).
He Quit Me
is a terrific song! Lesley Miller swoops 'n soars on it in high-flyin' style. Languid
and slow with a great piano and bass sax backup it meanders around with a funky feeling (
link below).
The Midnight Cowboy main theme, by John Barry, featured harmonica by Toots Thielemans, but on the LP album version it was played by Tommy Reilly. It is heartrendingly beautiful. It is Moon River without the chorus and the schmaltz. Don't get me wrong, I love Moon River; I think it's one of the most beautiful songs ever written! But ya gotta admit, it's schmaltzy!
The harmonica in the Theme, played by Tommy Reilly, is gorgeous! It lifts the music above the schmaltz level to something quite wondrous. It is slow and pensive but lonely and distant in a quiet, beautiful way (link below).
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®
Then there is
Everybody's Talkin' written by
Fred Neil and sung by
Harry Nilsson. To be honest, I didn't like the song when I first heard it; I can't remember why. Because I wasn't crazy about it back then, I haven't really listened to it until I started researching for this blog. I am discovering it for the first time, so to speak, and beginning to like it for reasons I hadn't found before. If I had heard the version by Neil first, I think I would have liked the song right off the bat (
links below).
The
song describes a desire to retreat to the ocean, to be alone and in
control of your own destiny. It dreams of a better place, maybe a better time. It is fast paced but dreamy at the same
time with lush strings overlying it all. The song ends with Nilsson fading out in a "Wah Wah" howl, cry, prayer? It's hard to tell which but it's beautiful.
Everybody's Talkin' was written and first recorded by singer-songwriter Neil in 1966 but not released until early 1967 with his second album, the self-titled
Fred Neil. It was composed towards the end of the recording session,
after Neil had become anxious to wrap the album so he could return to
his home in
Miami, Florida. 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.
The song is among the most famous works of both artists, and
has been
covered by many other performers. It
appeared in the 1994 film
Forrest Gump and on the film's
soundtrack album. It also appeared in the comedy film
Borat,
The Hangover Part III soundtrack and in the English television show
Black Books.
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®
photo by Styrous®
Fred Neil was born in
Cleveland,
Ohio, and raised in
St. Petersburg, Florida. He was exposed to music at an early age, traveling around the US with his father, who was a representative for
Wurlitzer Jukeboxes. I think that is totally cool! I've always had a love for
Jukeboxes; I almost bought one in the late 50's but it was over a hundred bucks and that was a lot of money back then; to give some perspective, it was four times my monthly rent.
Neil was a singer-songwriter who worked out of the
Brill Building in
New York City, a center for music industry offices.
While composing at the Building for other artists, Neil also
recorded six rockabilly-pop singles for different labels as a
solo artist. He wrote songs that were recorded by early rock and roll artists such as
Buddy Holly,
Come Back Baby - 1958, not to be confused with the slow
blues song written and recorded by the blues singer and pianist
Walter Davis in 1940 (
links below). Neil also wrote
Candy Man, 1961, which was recorded by
Roy Orbison. The Neil version is slower than the Orbison one (
links below).
Neil met
Vince Martin in 1961, and they formed a singing partnership; his first LP,
Tear Down The Walls (1965) was recorded with Martin; some really fine harmonizing on the song (
links below).
He was one of the pioneers of the
folk rock and
singer-songwriter musical genres, and is credited with influencing these prominent musical talents:
Tim Buckley,
Stephen Stills,
David Crosby,
Joni Mitchell,
Karen Dalton,
Tim Hardin,
Dino Valenti,
Vince Martin,
Peter Stampfel (of the avant-folk ensemble the
Holy Modal Rounders),
John Sebastian (the
Lovin' Spoonful),
Gram Parsons,
Jerry Jeff Walker,
Barry McGuire, and
Paul Kantner (
Jefferson Airplane). WOW!
In Neil's obituary in
Rolling Stone,
Anthony DeCurtis wrote, "So why is Neil a hero to David Crosby? Because
back when Crosby was an aspiring folkie who just arrived in New York,
Neil bothered to take an interest in him, just as he did for the young
Bob Dylan, who backed Neil on harmonica at the
Cafe Wha? in Greenwich Village. 'He taught me that everything was music,' Crosby says."
In his memoir,
Richie Havens recalled Neil and his then-partner
Vince Martin, also an American
folk singer and songwriter, making an entrance through the audience, without microphones, and
getting the audience up and clapping by relying only on their harmonious
vocals.
Tracklist:
Side 1:
A1 – Nilsson* – Everybody's Talkin’, composed by
Fred Neil*, vocals by Nilsson* – 2:30
A2 –
John Barry – Joe Buck Rides Again, composed by
John Barry – 3:46
A3 – The Groop – A Famous Myth, composed by Jeffrey M. Comanor*, vocals by The Groop – 3:22
A4 –
John Barry – Fun City, composed by
John Barry – 3:52
A5 – Leslie Miller – He Quit Me Man, composed by
Warren W. Zevon*, vocal by Leslie Miller – 2:46
A6
– Elephants Memory – Jungle Gym At The Zoo, composed by R. Sussman*, R.
Frank*, S. Bronstein*, vocals by Elephants Memory – 2:15
Side 1:
B1 –
John Barry – Midnight Cowboy, composed by
John Barry – 2:34
B2
– Elephants Memory – Old Man Willow, composed by M. Shapiro*, M.
Yules*, R. Sussman*, S. Bronstein*, vocals by Elephants Memory – 7:03
B3 –
John Barry – Florida Fantasy, composed by
John Barry – 2:08
B4 – The Groop - Tears And Joys, composed by Jeffrey M. Comanor*, vocals by The Groop – 2:29
B5 –
John Barry – Science Fiction, composed by
John Barry – 1:57
B6 – Nilsson* – Everybody's Talkin', composed by Fred Neal*, vocal by NIlsson* – 1:54
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (Side A, etched, variant 1): UAS-5198A-1A 6>17-69
Matrix / Runout (Side B, etched, variant 1): UAS-5198A-1B 10>6-69
Matrix / Runout (Side A, etched, variant 2): UAS-5198A-1A 6-17-69
Matrix / Runout (Side B, etched, variant 2): UAS-5198B-1A 10-6-69
Various –
Midnight Cowboy (Original Motion Picture Score)
Label: United Artists Records – UAS 5198
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo
Country: US
Released: 1969
Genre: Rock, Stage & Screen
Style: Folk Rock, Score, Soundtrack
