Easy Listening
In 1969, B.J. Thomas’s “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head, which was written for the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, was an internationally charting success. It was at #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, the Adult Contemporary Chart, and on Cash Box. It was also #1 in Canada, Norway, and South Africa. It was within the Top 40 in Australia, Austria, The Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Italy, and the U.K. Besides earning an RIAA gold record, the accolades include an Academy Award for Best Original Song. “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” is on the America Film Institute’s list “100 Years…100 Songs”, and it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2014.
The song was written by Hal David (credited as Mack David) and Burt Bacharach (later as Luther Dixon). What can we say? It’s a fluid business. The film version has a vaudeville-style instrumental break during which Paul Newman does stunts — minus Katharine Ross– on a bicycle (evidently, his stunt man kept falling off the bike). The trumpet solos are by Chuck Findlay. Backup singer Linda November received a gold record for her work on the song as well.
B.J. Thomas was born Billy Joe Thomas in Hugo, Oklahoma, in 1942. His singing career has included songs in a number of genres, including country, pop, contemporary Christian music, and rock. Thomas has hits, just to mention a few, with “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” “Hooked on a Feeling,” “I Just Can’t Help Believing,” “Most of All,” “Rock and Roll Lullaby,” and “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song,”
