Tune Tuesday: Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me 1974
Forty-five years ago, today, the #1 song on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart was Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me by Gladys Knight & The Pips. Written by Jim Weatherly, a former quarterback for the University of Mississippi, is the same songwriter that penned what became known as Midnight Train to Georgia, a previous hit for Gladys & her Pips. The song was originally recorded in 1973 by country music artist Ray Price.
From Wikipedia:
Weatherly told Tom Roland in The Billboard Book of Number One Country Hits that he wrote the song in 1971 and let his father-in-law first record it as a Christmas present for the latter’s wife. “I thought it was really strange that nobody’d written a song with that title — possibly somebody had but, I’d never heard it — so, I just sat down and let this stream of consciousness happen. I basically wrote it in a very short period of time, probably 30 minutes or an hour.”
Other artists to cover the song were Dean Martin, Steve Lawrence, Andy Williams, The Persuaders and, James Cleveland & The Charles Fold Singers.
The song made it to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
April 16, 2019 at 7:32 PM
I remember my big sister playing this song over and over again. Got into my soul.
April 17, 2019 at 1:51 AM
It is grand. No doubt.
I discovered them on my own. I don’t recall my parents playing them.
April 16, 2019 at 8:34 PM
I think Gladys Knight has been overlooked when compared to other acts in that era. She sounded great at the Super Bowl a couple months ago.
April 17, 2019 at 1:53 AM
I agree, totally. Everyone raves about Aretha. Gimme Gladys. She had that voice, smooth scat and she was SO pretty.
And, I didn’t watch the Super Bowl…
April 17, 2019 at 4:08 AM
She sang the National Anthem before the Super Bowl.. I forget who was the half time show- but Gladys outshined them. The game was in her native Atlanta, She should have been the half time show!
April 17, 2019 at 3:49 PM
I wonder if that is on YouTube…
SEE. We agree on stuff…😁💕
April 17, 2019 at 3:52 PM
Yes we do we probably agree more than we disagree- i bet it is.. she did a great job! I still can’t remember the half time Moron 5 maybe?
April 17, 2019 at 5:15 PM
😄
April 16, 2019 at 10:35 PM
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart???? They didn’t have that word in 74 right? Was it the R&B Chart? or Soul Chart?
April 17, 2019 at 2:01 AM
Here is some history for you:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_number-one_rhythm_and_blues_hits (1942-1959)
Judging by this, the ‘Hip-Hop’ was added in 2012 (scroll to the bottom):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_number-one_R%26B_singles_of_1960_(U.S.)
I put R&B/Hip-Hop because, Billboard, even on their charts archive, changed the name on EVERYTHING:
https://www.billboard.com/archive/charts
I link to both…Wiki & Billboard. Wiki shows the names of what they were. If something isn’t political, Wiki is usually straight. Sometimes, citations aren’t there so, I end up doing further research on my own.
April 17, 2019 at 1:23 PM
Now I do go to Billboard but Billboard can be confusing at times. I think it’s way too many charts now.
That is interesting.
April 17, 2019 at 4:39 PM
Oh dear GOD, I agree. I just looked at Billboard’s site on my phone. They finally merged Mainstream Rock & Alternative Rock into Hot Rock and, new categories of Web & GOAT…Greatest of all Time.
April 17, 2019 at 5:19 PM
They must put everything in a neat box
April 18, 2019 at 12:31 AM
*eyes rolling*
April 18, 2019 at 12:32 AM
lol…
Oh hey…. stupid question and me too lazy to search…how do you post just an image? I found a meme I gotta post but just the pic
April 18, 2019 at 1:10 AM
Add New
Title the post…
Cursor in the body, select ‘Add Media’. Link to a URL or upload.
Does that help?
April 18, 2019 at 1:13 AM
You know I googled it but I got a lot of add images…I only get one shot lol…
What I did was what you said…add media and picked the pic from my folder… and post format “image”…I haven’t posted it yet…
Thank you
April 18, 2019 at 2:48 AM
I’ve never done a ‘post format’. I just Add New, type a title (make sure I like my slug), put my cursor in the body & select add media. From there, I upload what I need or, in another tab in the browser, I find what I want, grab the URL & use that. I use ‘Alt’ in the link (in case the image won’t load, it is a textual marker) and I use captions for information. I also adjust alignment if I need to.
Am I making sense?
April 18, 2019 at 9:27 AM
Yes you are…That is what I did so we will see when I publish it.
April 17, 2019 at 12:00 AM
Always loved this song. Gladys was one of my favorite Motown singers!
April 17, 2019 at 2:01 AM
Yeah. She is AWESOME.