| "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Freddy Fender | ||||
| from the album Before the Next Teardrop Falls | ||||
| Released | January 1975 | |||
| Format | 7" | |||
| Recorded | 1974 | |||
| Genre | country, pop | |||
| Length | 2:33 | |||
| Label | ABC-Dot Records 17540 | |||
| Writer(s) | Vivian Keith, Ben Peters | |||
| Producer | Huey P. Meaux | |||
| Certification | Gold (RIAA) | |||
| Freddy Fender singles chronology | ||||
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"Before the Next Teardrop Falls" is an American country and pop song written by Vivian Keith and Ben Peters, and most famously recorded by Freddy Fender.
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The song was written in the late 1960s and had been recorded more than two dozen times. At best, the song had achieved modest success by other performers. For example, Linda Martell sent her version to No. 33 on the country charts.
In 1974, record producer Huey P Meaux approached Fender about overdubbing vocals for an instrumental track. Fender agreed, performing the song bi-lingual style — singing the first verse in English, then repeating the verse in Spanish.
"The recording only took a few minutes," Fender once told an interviewer. "I was glad to get it over with and I thought that would be the last of it."[1]
However, "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" immediately took off in popularity when released to country radio in January 1975. The song ascended to No. 1 on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart in March, spending two weeks atop the chart. Thereafter, the song caught on just as strongly at Top 40 radio stations, and it wasn't long before Fender had a No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit as well.
The song is about a man's undaunted determination to save his heart for the just-departed object of his deep (but unrequited) love, and sincere hope that should the woman's new relationship not work out, she will remember his love and return to him.
A showcase of Fender's fluttering tenor and Meaux's Tex-Mex musical styling, "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" jump-started his career. (Fender's career had stalled in 1960 after his arrest on drug charges.[2]) In the months and years that followed, Fender recorded several bi-lingual standards which became major hits, most notably "Secret Love."
BMI Songwriter Sterling Blythe claimed authorship and recalled having sold the rights to a portfolio of songs, among them "Before the Next Teardrop Falls," for $4,500 to settle debts when he left Nashville for the West Coast prior to Fender's recording. Until his death in Sacramento in 2001, Blythe carried a newspaper clipping about Fender's bankruptcy filing in his wallet.
"Before The Next Teardrop Falls" was certified gold for sales of 1 million units by the Recording Industry Association of America. [3] The song also won the Single of the Year award from the Country Music Association in 1975, and was instrumental in Fender also winning that year's Album of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year awards.[3]
"Before the Next Teardrop Falls" was one of six songs released in 1975 that topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard Hot Country Singles charts. The other songs were "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" by B.J. Thomas, "Rhinestone Cowboy" by Glen Campbell; "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" and the two-sided hit "I'm Sorry"/"Calypso," both by John Denver; and "Convoy" by C.W. McCall.
| Chart (1975) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks | 18 |
| Canadian RPM Top Singles | 6 |
| Canadian RPM Country Tracks | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Singles | 19 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| Australian Kent Music Report | 1 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart | 2 |
| Dutch Top 40 | 6 |
| Preceded by "Linda on My Mind" by Conway Twitty |
Billboard Hot Country Singles number-one single March 15-March 22, 1975 |
Succeeded by "The Bargain Store" by Dolly Parton |
| RPM Country Tracks number-one single March 29, 1975 |
Succeeded by "Everybody's Going to the Country" by Hank Smith |
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| Preceded by "Shining Star" by Earth, Wind & Fire |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single May 31, 1975 |
Succeeded by "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" by John Denver |