"Nothing from Nothing" | ||||
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Single by Billy Preston | ||||
from the album The Kids & Me | ||||
B-side | "My Soul Is a Witness" | |||
Released | August 5, 1974 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 2:38 | |||
Label | A&M | |||
Songwriter(s) |
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Producer(s) | Billy Preston | |||
Billy Preston singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Nothing from Nothing" on YouTube |
"Nothing from Nothing" is a song written by Billy Preston and Bruce Fisher and recorded by Billy Preston for his 1974 album The Kids & Me . The song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for one week in October 1974, becoming Preston's second solo chart-topper in the United States (following his 1973 hit "Will It Go Round in Circles"). [2] It spent four and a half months on the chart.
Preston performed "Nothing from Nothing" on Saturday Night Live , the first musical performance ever on the show.
The song was also used in late 2002 for all GM-brand commercials and was also prominently featured in both the 1975 low-budget independent bank-heist caper Flash and the Firecat and the 2008 film Be Kind Rewind .
The song is also mentioned in the novel Just Above My Head by James Baldwin. [3]
The song was also featured in the 2024 Apple TV+ animated Peanuts special Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin . [4]
Weekly charts
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Alternative rock band Lazlo Bane covered the song for their 2007 cover album Guilty Pleasures . [13]
The artist Mac Miller covered the song for his 2018 Spotify session. This single was released posthumously.
The Billy Preston version is featured in Season 2 of South Park in episode 6, "The Mexican Staring Frog of Southern Sri Lanka," during a fictional interview of Bob Denver on the talk show Jesus and Pals.
American folk band The Ghost of Paul Revere released a cover version, both as a single and as the opening track to their 2019 album Field Notes, Vol. 2.
American musician Jon Batiste portrayed Billy Preston and performed a cover of the song in the 2024 film Saturday Night .
"I Can't Tell You Why" is a song by the American rock band Eagles that appeared on their 1979 album The Long Run. It was written by band members Timothy B. Schmit, Glenn Frey and Don Henley. Recorded in March 1978, it was the first song finished for the album and the first Eagles song to feature Schmit on lead vocals. Released as a single in February 1980, it became a Billboard top 10 hit in April, reaching number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and number three on the Adult Contemporary chart. It was the group's last top ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Freeway of Love" is a song by American singer Aretha Franklin. It was written by Jeffrey Cohen and Narada Michael Walden and produced by the latter for Franklin's thirtieth studio album Who's Zoomin' Who? (1985). The song features a notable contribution from Clarence Clemons, the saxophonist from Bruce Springsteen’'s E Street Band. Sylvester, Martha Wash, and Jeanie Tracy provided backup vocals on "Freeway of Love".
"Summer Breeze" is a 1972 song by American soft rock duo Seals and Crofts. It is the title track of their fourth studio album, and was released as the album's lead single in August 1972. The song reached No. 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US. In 2013, it was ranked No. 13 in Rolling Stone′s "Best Summer Songs of All Time". The song also became a hit for the Isley Brothers in 1974.
"Don't Change" is a song by Australian rock band INXS. It was released as a single from the album Shabooh Shoobah in October 1982. It has been described as the song that made the band internationally famous.
"Will It Go Round in Circles" is a song by American soul musician Billy Preston from his 1972 album Music Is My Life. It was written by Preston and Bruce Fisher and released as a single in March 1973. The record topped the Billboard Hot 100 and sold over a million copies. This was the first of two number one hits for Preston as a solo performer, the other being "Nothing from Nothing", although he is also credited on the Beatles' 1969 hit "Get Back".
"Under the Boardwalk" is a pop song written by Kenny Young and Arthur Resnick and recorded by the Drifters in 1964. It charted at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on August 22, 1964. The song has since been covered by many other artists, with versions by Bette Midler, Sam & Dave, Tom Tom Club, The Rolling Stones, Billy Joe Royal, The Beach Boys, Bruce Willis, Bad Boys Blue, John Mellencamp and Lynn Anderson all charting in the United States or overseas. The song ranked number 487 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004 and number 489 in 2010.
"Show and Tell" is a popular song written by Jerry Fuller and first recorded by Johnny Mathis in 1972. This original version made it to #36 on the Easy Listening chart.
"Keep on Singing" is a 1973 song composed by Danny Janssen and Bobby Hart, and was originally recorded by Austin Roberts from the album Austin Roberts. It was released as a single on Chelsea Records and reached No. 50 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and No. 39 on the Cash Box Top 100. In Canada it reached # 79. "Keep on Singing" was best known as a hit single by Helen Reddy in 1974.
Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods are an American pop music group, known mainly for their 1970s hit singles, "Billy Don't Be a Hero" and "Who Do You Think You Are".
"It Might Be You" is a song with music written by Dave Grusin and lyrics written by Alan & Marilyn Bergman. It was performed by singer-songwriter Stephen Bishop in the 1982 film Tootsie starring Dustin Hoffman and Jessica Lange. The song was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1983.
"If You Love Me (Let Me Know)" is a song written by John Rostill that was a 1974 hit single for Olivia Newton-John. It was her second release to hit the top 10 in the United States, reaching number 5 on the pop chart and number 2 on the Easy Listening chart. It also reached number 2 on the Billboard country chart. As with her single "Let Me Be There", Mike Sammes sings a bass harmony. It was nominated for the 1974 Country Music Association Award for Single of the Year.
"With You I'm Born Again" is a 1979 duet written by Carol Connors and David Shire that originated on the soundtrack of the 1979 motion picture Fast Break. It was performed by Motown recording artists Billy Preston and Syreeta Wright and became an international hit for the duo, reaching number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the UK singles chart.
The Great Songs from "My Fair Lady" and Other Broadway Hits is the fifteenth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams and was released in September 1964 by Columbia Records, one month before the premiere of the film version of My Fair Lady starring Audrey Hepburn.
Happy Heart is the twenty-third studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams, released in the spring of 1969 by Columbia Records and continued the trend of his recent albums in relying exclusively on contemporary material. This particular project eschewed offerings from Broadway and Hollywood that had been predominant on his LPs with Columbia.
The Way We Were is the thirty-second studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams, released in the spring of 1974 by Columbia Records and was a return to singing songs that his audience was already familiar with after Solitaire, his previous LP that was less reliant on covers of recent pop hits, did not perform well.
"Oh My My" is a song by English musician Ringo Starr from his 1973 album Ringo. It was also issued as the third single from the album, becoming a top-five hit in the United States and Canada. The recording was produced by Richard Perry and includes backing vocals by Merry Clayton and Martha Reeves.
Guilty Pleasures the 80's [sic] Volume 1 is the second EP by the band Lazlo Bane. It is the follow-up record to the band's previous album of cover versions of songs from the 1970s Guilty Pleasures; consisting of covers of songs originally released in the 1980s.
"I Love You" is a song by the Climax Blues Band, released as a single in 1981, from the album Flying the Flag.
18 Yellow Roses is an album by American singer Bobby Darin, released in 1963.
House of the Rising Sun is a studio album by American singer Jody Miller. It was released in January 1974 via Epic Records and contained 11 tracks. Marketed as a country album, its 11 songs mixed covers with original material. Among its covers was the title track, which was among the album's three charting singles. The album itself reached the American country chart in 1974. It received positive reviews from Billboard and Cashbox following its release.