Continuing our weeklong spotlight on songs from the cinema, today’s classic movie song of the day is “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” from the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, as performed by singer B.J. Thomas. Released as a single in October of 1969, this track was a major hit worldwide, hitting #1 in Argentina, Canada, Mexico, Norway, Singapore, and here in the U.S., where it topped the Billboard Hot 100, Cash Box Top 100, and Billboard Adult Contemporary charts.
Legendary composer Burt Bacharach composed all the music for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and his soundtrack won both the Academy Award and the Grammy Award for Best Original Score. “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” also won an Oscar, for Best Original Song, and was nominated for three Grammy Awards, for Song of the Year, Best Contemporary Song, and Best Male Contemporary Vocal Performance. (It lost the first two to Joe South’s “Games People Play” and the last one to Harry Nilsson’s “Everybody’s Talkin’.”)
It’s hard to believe now, but “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” met with initial resistance from some (including actor Robert Redford) who thought the easy-going song was somewhat out of place in a Western. As Mr. Redford remembers:
“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.”
And this from B.J. Thomas:
“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.”
In the case of “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” Burt Bacharach came up with the music first as well as the title phrase, which was originally meant as just a placeholder until Hal David wrote the real lyrics. As Mr. Bacharach remembers:
“I wrote the entire melody, and the only words that kept running through my mind from top to bottom were ‘Raindrops keep fallin’ on my head“… I kept singing that opening phrase. Even though Hal tried to change it, we never came up with a thing that felt as good. It must have been born the same time from the movie, and it made sense in my head. Hal made it make sense overall, though he tried some other ways first because it’s not the most natural way maybe one would think to write that lyric. But that worked almost like a glove fitting. It sang great, fit great.”
In the movie, “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” underscores the humorous scene where Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) shows off his bicycle-riding skills to the female love interest Etta Place (Katherine Ross). For many, it’s a highlight of a film with many memorable moments as it follows Butch Cassidy (Newman) and his accomplice the Sundance Kid (Redford) on the run from the law. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which was directed by George Roy Hill, is the ultimate buddy movie and one that won four Oscars—the two for the music plus Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography. (It was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Sound.)
And here’s your daily bonus video of the day, the original trailer for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. “Think you used enough dynamite there, Butch?”
