Everybody's Talkin'

Fred Neil wrote "Everybody's Talkin'" in five minutes at the end of a recording session in 1966 and recorded it immediately in a single take so he could take off and go back home to Miami. It's a great song and an unlikely standard that he probably never thought much of. It made him millions though after it was used in John Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy (sung by Harry Nilsson) and was subsequently covered by at least a hundred other artists. Fred Neil spent the last 25 years of his life in Florida.

Ratso wasn't so lucky.


Download:

"Everybody's Talkin'" mp3
by Fred Neil, 1966.
available on Fred Neil























Download:

"Everybody's Talkin'" mp3
by Harry Nilsson, 1968.
available on Greatest Hits

"Everybody's Talkin'" mp3
by Bill Withers, 1971.
available on Just As I Am

"Everybody's Talkin'" mp3
by The Meat Puppets, 1982
available on Meat Puppets

"Everybody's Talkin'" mp3
by Luna, 1998.
available on Lunafied

"Everybody's Talkin'" mp3
by Bobby Bare, 2005.
available on The Moon Was Blue

"Everybody's Talkin'" mp3
by Madeleine Peyroux, 2006.
available on Half The Perfect World

******************************************
********** >>> BONUS <<< *********** "Bleecker & MacDougal" mp3
by Fred Neil, 1965.
available on Bleecker & MacDougal

"Little Bit Of Rain" mp3
by Fred Neil, 1965.
available on Bleecker & MacDougal

"You Don't Miss Your Water" mp3
by Fred Neil and Gram Parsons, 1971(?)
available on The Many Sides of Fred Neil

more on Fred Neil in the current issue of The Oxford American
on sale now at finer news stands.

everybody's talking at me except you listeners, comments are welcome and encouraged below.

George Jones on Musicor

Will the real George Jones please stand up?

Alright, well we heard a young and most likely drunk George Jones doing his best Elvis impersonation in the last post. The things that a young artist must do for a few bucks are sometimes a little degrading. Anyway, George Jones is arguably the greatest country singer of all time. His voice is as unique and soulful as Al Green or Van Morrison. He has many imitators himself, but "Possum" is the real deal. There are hundreds of CD's available by him and few box sets, but my favorite period of George's is not as well represented as others. After cutting rockabilly and honky tonk sides for Starday, Mercury, and United Artists in the fifties and early sixties, and before he moved to Epic to record his signature overblown masterpieces of hurt with Billy Sherrill, George recorded for a label called Musicor (1965-1971), which was partially owned by his longtime manager and producer "Pappy" Daily. These are, I think, his best recordings and have yet to see a proper comprehensive collection. The first of todays mp3s come from an out of print Rounder LP from 1983. My favorite song, "Burn The Honky Tonk Down," written by his guitar player Wayne Kemp, has never been released on any CD. It's a killer 3/4 tale with sawing fiddles about a guy who works in a sawmill cutting timber to " build another honky-tonk wall", while his wife spends his his money in town carousing with the customers between those very honky tonk walls. This is the kind of song that George Jones sings better than anyone. Also, a few more tracks where that came from, a couple of my favorite Musicor singles, and some cover versions of these songs.

Please enjoy...




Download:

"Burn The Honky Tonk Down" mp3

"Where Grass Won't Grow" mp3

"Your Angel Steps Out Of Heaven" mp3

"Feeling Single-Seeing Double" mp3

From Burn The Honky Tonk Down, Rounder Records, 1983.
Out of Print





Download: "Heartaches And Hangovers" mp3























Download: "Ship Of Love" mp3


********************* BONUS *********************

"Your Angel Steps Out Of Heaven" mp3
by The Flying Burrito Brothers, 1970.
available on Sleepless Nights

"Burn The Honky Tonk Down" mp3
by The Meat Puppets, 1986.
available on Out My Way

"Feeling Single Seeing Double" mp3
by Emmylou Harris And The Hot Band, 1975
live recording not commercially available

Buy George Jones music at Amazon
or at your local independently owned record store.

George Jones photograph by Lee Friedlander
from American Musicians, D.A.P. © 1998.