It was 45 years ago today…

November 8, 1967 that Harry Nilsson began recording his first major hit, “Everybody’s Talkin’.” Ironically, the song, like his 1972 Number One hit “Without You,” wasn’t written by Nilsson, who was known primarily for his songwriting.

“Everybody’s Talkin’,” which was written by Fred Neil, beat out Bob Dylan‘s “Lay Lady Lay” to become the theme song to the 1969 movie Midnight Cowboy. Bolstered by its appearance in the film after bombing on the charts the year before, “Everybody’s Talkin’” peaked at Number Six upon its re-release. In 1969 it scored Nilsson his first Grammy, in the “Other Pop/Rock & Roll/Contemporary or Instrumental” category.

In 1988 Nilsson recalled hearing Neil’s original recording while picking material for his second album, 1968′s Aerial Ballet, and told Song Talk magazine, “I heard that one and I said, ‘That could be a hit. I could do that one.’ So (producer Rick Jerrard) let me try it and when we finished the vocal, we were crossing the street, and Rick said (jokingly), ‘Be very careful crossing the street, we haven’t finished overdubs yet.’”