"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.
| "Nothing from Nothing" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 US single picture sleeve | ||||
| 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) |
| |||
| Producer(s) | Billy Preston | |||
| Billy Preston singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Music video | ||||
| "Nothing from Nothing" on YouTube | ||||
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
edit
Weekly chartsedit
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Year-end chartsedit
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Cover versions
editAlternative 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
edit- ^ Smith, Troy L. (14 December 2021). "Every No. 1 song of the 1970s ranked from worst to best". Cleveland.com. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ Bronson, Fred (1992). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits - revised & enlarged. New York: Billboard Books. p. 139. ISBN 978-0-8230-8298-8.
- ^ Baldwin, James (1978). Just Above My Head. New York: Dell Publishing. p. 26.
- ^ Kennedy, Mark (15 February 2024). "Franklin stars in new 'Peanuts' special on Apple TV+". staradvertiser.com. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1974-10-19. Retrieved 2020-04-03.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 468.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 197.
- ^ "Top 100 1974-10-12". Cashbox Magazine. Retrieved 2015-05-25.
- ^ a b "Charts singles Top 50 en France: 16 Mars 1975". 2017.
- ^ "Top 100 Hits of 1974/Top 100 Songs of 1974". musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved March 20, 2015.
- ^ "Top 100 Year End Charts: 1974". Cashbox Magazine. Retrieved 2015-07-16.
- ^ "Lazlo Bane's Guilty Pleasures". cdbaby.com. Retrieved 2017-01-10.
