Only the shadows of their eyes
A different take on the classic Midnight Cowboy theme song “Everybody’s Talkin’”
Fred Neil’s “Everybody’s Talkin’” has probably been covered hundreds of times, most famously by Harry Nilsson in 1969. That version became the theme song for the film Midnight Cowboy, the only rated “X” film to ever receive the Oscar for Best Picture.
If you’ve never seen the film or given the song a close listen, it’s easy to hear it as a simple, breezy, upbeat pop tune. Most of the cover versions I’ve heard adopt the same uptempo feel that the original used.
But there’s a loneliness in the lyric—and especially in the way it’s used in the film—that I wanted to bring more to the surface. So in my cover version I tried to strip away that breeziness and really lean into the sense of longing and regret that I hear in the words.
“Everybody’s Talkin’” by The Ellis Court
(Written by Fred Neil)
