Who Wrote and Sang “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head”
The song “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” is a former number 1 hit that was released in 1969. It reached the top of the charts in January 1970 and remained there for four weeks. It was written for the 1969 film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and was awarded an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Ray Stevens and Bob Dylan were offered the job to record the song, but declined. Let’s find out who wrote and sang this famous song.
Songwriters
The lyrics for the song “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” were written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach. These two songwriters worked together on many hit songs between the 1950’s and 1980’s, but this song is often regarded as their greatest work.
Singer
B. J. Thomas recorded the original version of the song in 1969. It took seven takes because Bacharach was unhappy with the first six recordings. Thomas was suffering from laryngitis during the recording of the film version of the song, which means that his voice in this version is quite different from the single release. The single reached number one in a number of countries and in 2008 was listed as one of the greatest Billboard Hot 100 songs of all time.
Other uses and covers
The song has been used in a number of other big budget soundtracks including Forest Gump and Spider-Man 2. Many cover versions have been recorded, and a cover version by Australian pop singer John Farnham in 1970 held the top position in Australia for seven weeks.
Did you know?
B. J. Thomas recorded many other hit singles. However, his only other number 1 hit (on the Billboard top 100) was the single “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song.”
Related Articles