"Before the Next Teardrop Falls" | ||||
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Single by Freddy Fender | ||||
from the album Before the Next Teardrop Falls | ||||
B-side | "Waiting for Your Love" | |||
Released | January 1975 | |||
Recorded | 1974 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 2:33 | |||
Label |
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Songwriter(s) |
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Producer(s) | Huey P. Meaux | |||
Freddy Fender singles chronology | ||||
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"Before the Next Teardrop Falls" is an American country and pop song written by Vivian Keith and Ben Peters, and most famously recorded by Freddy Fender. His version was a major crossover success in 1975, reaching number 1 on the Billboard pop and country charts.
The song was written in 1967 and had been recorded more than two dozen times. It had achieved modest success in versions by various performers; the original by Duane Dee reached number 44 on the Billboard country chart in early 1968, and Linda Martell sent her version to number 33 in early 1970. Jerry Lee Lewis included it on his 1969 album, Another Place Another Time . [1]
In 1974, record producer Huey P. Meaux approached Fender about overdubbing vocals for an instrumental track. Fender agreed, performing the song bilingual style—singing the first half of the song in English, then repeating it in Spanish. "The recording only took a few minutes", Fender told an interviewer, "I was glad to get it over with and I thought that would be the last of it". [2]
The single was first released on Meaux's Crazy Cajun label in 1974, but was soon picked up for wider distribution by ABC-Dot. "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" immediately took off in popularity when released to country radio in January 1975. The song ascended to number 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in March, spending two weeks atop the chart. [3] Thereafter, the song caught on just as strongly at top 40 radio stations and it was not long before Fender had a number 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit as well. Billboard ranked it as the number four song of 1975.
As originally composed, it is in 32-bar form (Fender's bilingual recording stretches the piece to 48 bars).
A showcase of Fender's tenor and Meaux's Tex-Mex musical styling, "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" jump-started his career. (Fender's career had stalled in 1960 after his arrest on drug charges.) [4] In the months and years that followed, Fender recorded several bilingual standards which became major hits, most notably "Secret Love".
Fender also recorded a version fully in Spanish, entitled "Estaré contigo cuando triste estés" [5] (literally "I will be with you when you are sad"). The Spanish-language second verse in the English version is the first verse of the fully Spanish version.
"Before the Next Teardrop Falls" was certified gold for sales of one million units by the Recording Industry Association of America. [6] It also won the Single of the Year award from the Country Music Association in 1975, and was conducive to Fender also winning that year's Album of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year awards. [7]
The song was used in the movies Something Wild (1986) and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005).
"Before the Next Teardrop Falls" was one of six songs released in 1975 that topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard Hot Country Singles charts. The others were "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" by B. J. Thomas; "Rhinestone Cowboy" by Glen Campbell; "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" and the two-sided hit "I'm Sorry"/"Calypso" by John Denver; and "Convoy" by C. W. McCall.
Weekly charts
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Freddy Fender was an American Tejano singer-songwriter, known for his work as a solo artist and in the groups Los Super Seven and the Texas Tornados. His signature sound fused country, rock, swamp pop and Tex-Mex styles.
"Secret Love" is a song composed by Sammy Fain (music) and Paul Francis Webster (lyrics) for Calamity Jane, a 1953 musical film in which it was introduced by Doris Day in the title role. Ranked as a number 1 hit for Day on both the Billboard and Cash Box, the song also afforded Day a number 1 hit in the UK. "Secret Love" has subsequently been recorded by a wide range of artists, becoming a C&W hit firstly for Slim Whitman and later for Freddy Fender, with the song also becoming an R&B hit for Billy Stewart, whose version also reached the top 40 as did Freddy Fender's. In the UK, "Secret Love" would become the career record of Kathy Kirby via her 1963 remake of the song. The melody bears a slight resemblance to the opening theme of Schubert's A-major piano sonata, D.664.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1975.
"I Can't Stop Loving You" is a popular song written and composed by country singer, songwriter, and musician Don Gibson, who first recorded it on December 3, 1957, for RCA Victor Records. It was released in 1958 as the B-side of "Oh, Lonesome Me", becoming a double-sided country hit single. At the time of Gibson's death in 2003, the song had been recorded by more than 700 artists, most notably by Ray Charles, whose recording reached No. 1 on the Billboard chart.
"Rhinestone Cowboy" is a song written and recorded by Larry Weiss in 1974, then popularized the next year by American country music singer Glen Campbell. When released on May 26, 1975, as the lead single and title track from his album Rhinestone Cowboy, it enjoyed huge popularity with both country and pop audiences.
Ricardo Treviño Jr., known professionally as Rick Trevino, is an American country music artist. Signed to Columbia Nashville in 1993, Trevino began his career that year with the release of his debut single "Just Enough Rope", the first mainstream country music single to feature separate English and Spanish versions. The song was included on his debut album Dos Mundos; a self-titled album followed a year later. Trevino has charted a total of fourteen singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and recorded seven studio albums. His highest-charting single, "Running Out of Reasons to Run", reached No. 1 on that chart in 1996.
Before The Next Teardrop Falls is an album by Freddy Fender.
Are You Ready for Freddy? is an album by Freddy Fender. It was released in 1975 on Dot Records and is a collaboration between the singer and producer Huey P. Meaux.
"Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" is an American country and pop song recorded by Freddy Fender. It is considered by many to belong to the swamp pop idiom of south Louisiana and southeast Texas that had such a major musical impact on Fender.
"You'll Lose a Good Thing" is a popular song written by rhythm and blues artist Barbara Lynn Ozen, who, performing as Barbara Lynn, scored a 1962 Top 10 hit, peaking at #8 and also the number 1 spot on the R&B charts, with her bluesy rendition of the song.
"Since I Met You Baby" is an American rhythm and blues song written and recorded by pianist Ivory Joe Hunter. The song, which Hunter recorded in 1956, became an American standard, and saw renewed popularity in 1969 when country music artist Sonny James released his hit version.
"I'm Already Taken" is the debut single by American country music artist Steve Wariner, released in April 1978. It peaked at number 63 on the U.S. Billboard country singles chart. In 1999, Wariner re-recorded the song for his album Two Teardrops. He released this re-recording in July as that album's second single, taking to number 3 on the same chart, as well as number 42 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye" is a song written by John D. Loudermilk. It was first released in 1962 by Don Cherry, as a country song and again as a doo-wop in 1967 by the group The Casinos on its album of the same name, and was a number 6 pop hit that year. The song has since been covered by Eddy Arnold, whose version was a number 1 country hit in 1968, and by Neal McCoy, whose version became a Top 5 country hit in 1996.
"You Never Even Called Me by My Name" is a song written by Steve Goodman and John Prine. Prine requested to be uncredited on the song, as he thought it was a "goofy, novelty song" and did not want to "offend the country music community". Goodman released the song on his eponymous 1971 debut album Steve Goodman to little acclaim. It was more famously recorded by country music singer David Allan Coe on his 1975 album Once Upon a Rhyme. It was the third single release of Coe's career and his first Top Ten hit, reaching a peak of number eight on the Billboard country singles charts. The song, over five minutes long, is known for its humorous self-description as "the perfect country and western song."
Benjamin James Peters was an American country music songwriter who wrote many #1 songs. Charley Pride recorded 68 of his songs and 6 of them went to #1 on the American country charts. Peters was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980.
"The Rains Came" is a song written by Huey P. Meaux and originally recorded by Big Sambo and the House Wreckers in 1962, reaching #74 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart that year.
"Please Talk to My Heart" is a single by American country music artist Johnny "Country" Mathis. It was released in 1963, and peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. The song was written by Jimmy Lee Fautheree and Johnny Mathis.
Randy Cornor was an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is known primarily for his work in the field of country music.
"Just One Time" is a single written and originally recorded by American country music artist Don Gibson. Released in February 1960, the song reached #2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, while also reaching #29 on the Billboard Pop chart. The single was later released on Gibson's album Look Who's Blue.
Color Me Country is the only album by American country artist Linda Martell. It was released in August 1970 via Plantation Records and was produced by Shelby Singleton. The album contained three charting singles by Martell, including her cover of "Color Him Father". The album also reached a charting position following its original release. It has since been reissued in several formats and has received positive reviews since its original release date.