(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)
Billy Preston - "Nothing from Nothing"
Hit Number 1: October 19, 1974
Stay at Number 1: 1 Week
October 11, 1975 was the debut show of Saturday Night Live. As we all know, over the years the show has had many artists come on and perform their music to a live audience. Well, in case anyone has wondered who the first one was to perform on the show, it would be Billy Preston. Preston, a phenom piano player, was an interesting pick to play on the first Saturday Night Live broadcast, as he wasn't the biggest star around, but he was nonetheless still someone who was doing well for himself. He got the chance to play with the Beatles on their 1969 smash "Get Back", became close friends with George Harrison and also achieved his first #1 hit in 1973 with "Will It Go Round in Circles". In 1974, he was able to duplicate the success of "Will It Go Round in Circles" with "Nothing From Nothing", which is said to be the first song performed live on Saturday Night Live. He got to perform on the show with Janis Ian, who was a rising star in the music world herself with her global smash "At Seventeen". ("At Seventeen" made it to #3 in 1975. It's a 7)
Before "Nothing From Nothing" made Saturday Night Live history, it was written by Preston in a nightclub in Atlanta where he was performing. He had heard the saying "Nothing from nothing leaves nothing," and wanted to write a song that had the saying in it. His goal was to make a song that was fun, and had a friendly sing-along vibe. That's exactly what "Nothing From Nothing" ended up being, though it's not clear on what exactly the song is about. My own theory is that it's about a guy who is pretty wealthy, but doesn't want anyone to take advantage of him in any potential relationship. He doesn't want a gold digger around, I guess you could say. To be honest, "Nothing From Nothing" is just another one of those songs where it's easy to throw the meaning of it out the window. Who cares what the song is about? The song is a ball of joy with stabbing horn riffs and escalating piano riffs. It's abundantly silly, especially with that intro that sounds like something you'd hear in some stupid silent movie film. It's pretty great.
Preston's also able to bring a decent amount of soul into the song, as well as some personality. I like the "brrr" sound he makes after saying "That zero is too cold for me!" and the "oh baby" towards the end of the song. The piano solo is also an easy-to-dance-to anomaly, at least in these times. It's like a throwback to 1940s swing music. I'm beginning to sound like a broken record here, but "Nothing From Nothing" is just another one of those fun songs that are nothing more than a fun song. Preston wasn't a genius songwriter, but judging by this song and "Will It Go Round in Circles", he's one of the most reliable guys if you want something fun. The two songs are twins to one another; catchy and unique, but not something that's going to change your day around.
Preston won't appear in this blog again, but he remained active in the music industry for many years after "Nothing from Nothing". Unfortunately, Preston's story does not have a happy ending. He got addicted to cocaine in the early '90s, and also had sexual assault charges against him around the same time. He tried to clean himself up, but his cocaine addiction only got worse, and he ended up serving more time in prison because of it. His kidneys began to fail in 2005, and in November of that year, he went into a coma before dying in 2006. But one little silver lining about Preston's hard later life is that after struggling with his homosexuality for much of his life, he was able to come out of the closet just before his coma. He did some things that are hard to defend, but considering he got to play with the Beatles, scored two #1 hits and even gets referred to sometimes as the Fifth Beatle? You can't deny that the guy had an envious life, at least for a good moment there anyway.
GRADE: 7/10
IN POP CULTURE:
It's just a small snip-it, but here's an appearance of "Nothing From Nothing" in the South Park episode "The Mexican Starting Frog of Southern Sri Lanka", where the actual Billy Preston recording is made to look like it's being performed by some random white guy on Jesus' show Jesus and Pals. That's easily the most random sentence you'll ever see on this website. Anyway, here's that clip:
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