Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head

“Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The uplifting lyrics describe somebody who overcomes his troubles and worries by realizing that “it won’t be long till happiness steps up to greet me.” The single by B. J. Thomas reached No. 1 on charts in the United States, Canada and Norway, and reached No. 38 in the UK Singles Chart.[4] It topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks in January 1970 and was also the first American No. 1 hit of the 1970s. The song also spent seven weeks atop the Billboard adult contemporary chart.[7] Billboard ranked it as the No. 4 song of 1970. According to Billboard magazine, it had sold over 2 million copies by March 14, 1970, with eight-track and cassette versions also climbing the charts.[8] It won an Oscar for Best Original Song.[4] Bacharach also won Best Original Score. The song was recorded by B. J. Thomas in seven takes, after Bacharach expressed dissatisfaction with the first six. In the film version of the song, Thomas had been recovering from laryngitis, which made his voice sound huskier than in the 7-inch release. The film version featured a separate vaudeville-style instrumental break in double time while Paul Newman performed bicycle stunts Ray Stevens was first offered the opportunity to record it for the film, but turned it down. He chose instead to record the song “Sunday Morning Coming Down”, written by Kris Kristofferson. Bob Dylan is supposed to have been approached for the song, but he reportedly declined too Carol Kaye played electric bass on the song. Some felt the song was the wrong tone for a western film like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but director George Roy Hill insisted on its inclusion Robert Redford, one of the stars of the films, was among those who disapproved of using the song, though he later acknowledged he was wrong: “When the film was released, I was highly critical: How did the song fit with the film? There was no rain. At the time, it seemed like a dumb idea. How wrong I was, as it turned out to be a giant hit.” Gold record presented to backup singer Linda November for her work on “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” The song was featured during the 2004 superhero film Spider-Man 2 over a montage sequence when Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) initially renounces his identity as Spider-Man. The same year, it finished at number 23 on AFI’s 100 Years…100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema. In 2008, the single was ranked 85th on Billboard’s Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs and placed 95th in the 55th Anniversary edition of the All-Time Hot 100 list in 2013. Billboard Magazine also ranked the song 15th on its Top 50 Movie Songs of All Time list in 2014.The song, initially when it came out, I believe it was October of 69, the movie didn’t come out until December, it did get some bad reviews. It was a very unique and different sounding song, Bacharach and David never had any qualms about trying to do anything different, or push the envelope so to speak. So nowadays, it sounds pretty tame, but back then, radio resisted it to some degree. But, when the movie came out it hit hugely and sold about 200,000 to 300,000 records a day [and continued selling] for about three years.