Nothing from Nothing

Last updated
"Nothing from Nothing"
Nothing from nothing by billy preston US single.png
US single picture sleeve
Single by Billy Preston
from the album The Kids & Me
B-side "My Soul Is a Witness"
ReleasedAugust 5, 1974
Genre
Length2:38
Label A&M
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s) Billy Preston
Billy Preston singles chronology
"You're So Unique"
(1974)		"Nothing from Nothing"
(1974)		"Struttin'"
(1974)
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.

Contents

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]

Chart performance

Cover versions

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 .

References

  1. ↑ Smith, Troy L. (14 December 2021). "Every No. 1 song of the 1970s ranked from worst to best". Cleveland.com . Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  2. ↑ Bronson, Fred (1992). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits - revised & enlarged . New York: Billboard Books. p.  139. ISBN   978-0-8230-8298-8.
  3. ↑ Baldwin, James (1978). Just Above My Head. New York: Dell Publishing. p. 26.
  4. ↑ Kennedy, Mark (15 February 2024). "Franklin stars in new 'Peanuts' special on Apple TV+". staradvertiser.com. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
  5. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 238. ISBN   0-646-11917-6.
  6. ↑ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1974-10-19. Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  7. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 468.
  8. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 197.
  9. ↑ "Top 100 1974-10-12". Cashbox Magazine . Retrieved 2015-05-25.
  10. 1 2 "Charts singles Top 50 en France: 16 Mars 1975". 2017.
  11. ↑ "Top 100 Hits of 1974/Top 100 Songs of 1974". musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved March 20, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Top 100 Year End Charts: 1974". Cashbox Magazine . Retrieved 2015-07-16.
  13. ↑ "Lazlo Bane's Guilty Pleasures". cdbaby.com. Retrieved 2017-01-10.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.