@@schoolie ogni volta che as molto questo brano mi sembra di volare. La finezza fi Tommy poi è incredibile Come nuove le mani mentre suona l aemonica è sublime♥️👩🏭
Mmm. But the track was played by Toots Thielemans. " This achingly beautiful theme was composed by the great John Barry, who also had the role of music supervisor, in charge of choosing all pre-existing music that would be used in the movie. Barry also composed a few other themes of the film, as well. The harmonica player on the "Midnight Cowboy" theme was the Belgian virtuoso Toots Thielemans
The song and movie remind me of walking the streets of New York surrounded by millions of people but yet had a feeling of loneliness.A great song that brings back bittersweet memories.
The Ending to Midnight Cowboy along with this theme tune has been known to break even the hardest of men down into tears. Both are absolute masterpieces.
The first and last film to make me cry. Went with a couple of my mates when it first came out and I think the cinema had a problem with the air con, we all had a problem with watering eyes.
I was released from the US Army on, 26 August 1969, after spending two tours in South Vietnam as a combat medic. Therefore, I have a strong memory of the weeks following my discharge. I remember this song, Midnight Cowboy, Everybody's Talkin' At Me, A Time For Us, Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head, and, One Tin Soldier. All these songs were on movie soundtracks. I do remember other songs that were on the charts as well, that were entertainment related such as, Aquarius/Let The Sun Shine In, Good Morning Starshine, and, Easy To Be Hard. I remember other songs on the charts as well, but that is another matter.
Great movie. Great acting. Great music. This song and Nilsson's "Everybody's Talking at Me". But John Barry's harmonica playing is amazing, beautiful and sad at the same time.👍🏽🌹❤️
No, no. Toots Thielemans is the one who played the harmonica track. John Barry couldnt play a single note harmonica " This achingly beautiful theme was composed by the great John Barry, who also had the role of music supervisor, in charge of choosing all pre-existing music that would be used in the movie. Barry also composed a few other themes of the film, as well. The harmonica player on the "Midnight Cowboy" theme was the Belgian virtuoso Toots Thielemans".
Without a doubt the most underrated musical composer of all time. Who was better composing musical scores for movies? This sound he created for Midnight Cowboy put you right on the street in NYC. What a talented and gifted composer. RIP your music lives on!
Now I've always resided in St. Louis, Mo., & even though N.Y. C. is far more prolific, in my mind & on my phone, I STILL hear songs from the MIDNIGHT COWBOY SOUNDTRACK (ESP. MIDNIGHT COWBOY!) when I'm out & about on my journeys, esp. in Downtown St. Louis, "*EAST BOOGIE!*" & other areas in Illinois, & esp. where my "*OLD HAUNTS!*" used 2 b, & VERY FEW of them are STILL IN BUSINESS!
I remember this being played in the 70s in a restaurant in Coventry called Oaklahoma... a western themed restaurant...just some classic tunes stick in your mind I guess
Back in the Day this was the B movie to Midnight Express. This was the last Movie I took my Mother to. The harmonica score played by John Barry is beautiful yet haunting and forever in my memory as my Mother passed soon after. Still brings floods of tears to my eyes ! I'm now 51. RIP Mama.
It's quite normal for you to miss your mother like that. I'm sure she'd be touched to know how much she's missed. This pain you feel? It's cool - most of us have it.
This brings back so many memories. I was an 18 year old cowboy from Phoenix and found myself in NY City. I was young, naive and totally out of my element but I grew up quick. The looks I got in the city with my cowboy hat and boots were something I’ll never forget. This song brings me right back to that summer.
I remember hearing this song playing at a local movie theater back in the early 1970s while waiting for the movie to start. I had no idea where the song came from or what it was called, but it got stuck in my head and I remembered the song my entire life. Now here we are some 50 years later where technology makes it possible to whistle into your cellphone and Google Assistant will tell you the name of the song. Well, I tried doing that and it worked! Once I found out where the song came from, I learned how to play it on my harmonica. I don’t have a chromonica, but it can still be played on a diatonic harmonica (in the key of “C”) pretty well. You cannot believe the satisfaction it gave me to hear the tune that had haunted me my entire life to be coming out of my own mouth!
I feel you, man!! I still have a couple of these songs from childhood stuck in my head and not being able to find them so far! ... and I also learned to play this song in the harmonica, still the only song I know how to play at all!
@@Newfoundmike I've started using Easttop. They play really sweetly straight out of the box. Two-draw and three-draw are exactly as they should be at first play. They aren't expensive and the five-draw doesn't break in one set, like the last two Hohners I had. Have a look (you'll have to order them off the internet).
@@Newfoundmike It really isn't What you might not know is that there is a huge harmonica world out there - all still playing, interacting and even sharing their music on the internet, on harmonica forums AND in person at Harmonica Conventions (yup). Both chromatic players and diatonic players get together once a year at SPAH (the Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica). This year's was held in Tulsa in August (I didn't go, but some of it was held on Zoom). Next year's will be back in St. Louis, Mo where it originated over 50 years ago. Players from around the World show up - including all the major manufacturers who bring their latest offerings. I have (at last count) over 100 instruments of all kinds but play mostly CX-12's in A (I'm partial to A) and now a Psardo Goldbar chromatic - a 16, also in A (it can be made in whatever key you wish). Harmonica players for the most part are pretty fantastic people --many still gig (Mickey Raphael still plays with Willie); Jon with Blues Traveler, Steve Tyler, Huey Lewis, Will Galison is among my top favourite chromatic jazz players here in NY. Robert Bonfiglio to me is one of the best classical chromatic players. Michal Adler in Israel (she's brilliant), Far too many to list here.
Man that harmonica sound always seem to capture all of the human emotions at once; joy, pain, hope, torment, reverence, decadence you name it and John Barry captures it right here. I'm always torn between John Barry's version and my favorite harmonica player 'Toots' Thielemans version. Discussion anyone?
@talkitover2099: John Barry wrote the music but he isn't playing it here. That's Tommy Reilly, a well-known classical English chromatic harmonica player seen in this clip and who was hired to play on the later-released vinyl record of Midnight Cowboy. I've NO idea why John Barry did not hire Jean 'Toots' Thielemans to record the album since HE was the one who played all of the harmonica in the entire Film - that sound which was so evocative and made so many of us fall in love with the characters and the Movie itself. I can only speculate that perhaps Toots was no longer available(?) and Tommy Reilly was (both John Barry and Tommy Reilly are Englishmen so it might well have been a matter of hiring the best in his own Country at the time if Toots wasn't available?) For MY money, it's Toots playing in the film which speaks to me far more - and when I watch clips from the film, especially that last 9 minute clip on the bus going to Miami. Heartbreaking - and the harmonica was just brilliantly played. I remember a hush broken only by tears and sobs in the Movie Theater where I first saw the film.
I'll tell you what Talk it Over your summary gave me goose pimples when you said it captures all human emotions at once....I couldn't have put it better and the movie is off the scale
@@ElizabethGS Yes Elizabeth it's hard to find a sadder and more moving section of a film when on the bus so near and yet so far from paradise. I suppose I can think of a similar sadness when Cher's son dies in the film 'Mask' (not quite sure of charecter names)
@@Habu2 Habu2; while I thoroughly enjoyed TalkitOver's appreciation of the wonderful harmonica playing, Toots' playing wasn't a 'version' since he was the original player IN this incredible film and whose chromatic harmonica is heard through the entire soundtrack behind the characters we come to feel so deeply about. John didn't play harmonica. This is Tommy Reilly (in the video above) who is much better known as a classical harmonica player in the UK. I play chromatic harmonica and am part of this world so have come to know quite a bit about these wonderful players. Most of us think of our instrument as our 'other voice' and I think that's what it conveyed in the Film--a deeply felt 'voice' for Joe Buck and Rico I still feel Jean 'Toots' Thieleman's playing is so much more human and personal - he focused on jazz for most of his career, but could also play anything he put his mind to. Nevertheless, it was John Barry's score which allowed for all of this brilliance and emotion. I still find it astonishing that the FIRST ever X-rated Movie which wasn't expected to win since they refused to cut out a single scene to have it comply with 'regulations', was so loved and won Best Picture from the Academy, even when the producers/directors were on set in Britain (I believe) and decided not to attend since they were sure it couldn't possibly win. Quel surprise! :)
Yeah but nah, it's pretty talented what music producers can compose on their computers as well, the computers their instrument and computers introduced thousands of never before used in music sounds.
They depended on their instruments. It takes talent to make a song on a computer. Compositional talent for one. Plus I love the new sounds. I'm kind of bored of the regular old instruments' sounds'. (Excuse the grammar.) Guitar, trombone, trumpet etc. Enough songs have been made with those instruments for decades. Imo the sounds are kind of boring now.
It is hauntingly beautiful.The harmonica played expertly like this is A sound like no other. John Barry to my mind has written amongst the finest film theme music ever.The main bond theme, then the best bond theme ever in goldfinger.Born free , Somewhere in Time. They all have some element of stardust about them.. He was absolutely gifted.
When cavatina was first heard on the deer hunter all my family / aunts & uncles were all alive sadly only my dear old beautiful mum is the last one standing life is good & sad at the same time 🙏🙏🙏
He most certainly did! Speaking of black holes,the great Mr.Barry scored the Disney sci-fi film from 1979-“The Black Hole”! He even scored the film many thought should have gone to a black hole instead of their local multiplexes-“Howard The 🦆 Duck”!!!
@@asacarrick1385 A song doesn't have to have words - but it usually does. A song is also "Any musical composition." or "A song is a music piece that may contain words with melody and vocals or instrumentals without words. "
@@michaelbabbitt3837 thank you Michael. WELL said. I tried to explain to another person being equally as literal as 'one can play a song as an instrumental, no'? but yours is far better a description.
This is a sad and very harrowing tune. It always reminds me of the bus scene in the final stages of the film Midnight Cowboy which is shown in this video. When you are down and out, the World can be very cruel to you.
First heard on my Dad's 8 Track in his Ford Capri in the 70s......stayed with me all my days and as I've grown older I appreciate the melancholy all the more. A beautiful, haunting slice of nostalgia.
I heard this when I was 7 in my dads Mk1 cortina and that was only 8 years ago so we’re still out there with the classic fords listening to great music 👍
“Has it ever struck you that life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quick you hardly catch it going?”― Tennessee Williams
@@davidjadunath1262 what a terrible way to die! Trying to help yourself turns into killing yourself, sometimes. Just like people paying too much attention to their safety who end up run over crossing a street. The fact is our brains are not designed to concentrate on one single goal all of the time, it has to wander about enentually. Inattention being friend with danger... It goes boom!! 💣
The 1970s was the best time in my life. I was born in 1965, I am 58 years old, I never saw the film, but this instrumental was played on the radio every day back in the 1970s ❗️
Fantastic melody ! Beautifully played..One of the nicest harmonica songs ever. It brings it all back in my memory. The sadness of the story and the great performances by John Voigt and Dustin Hoffman.
Hear, hear. This movie captured loneliness and also friendship; the saddest thing was that when this lonely dude got a friend, the friend was taken away all too quickly.
@@RobertSmith-zi4cn Toots was probably pathetic the first time he picked up a harmonica, too. The trick is to stick with it. Don't worry that you don't sound good now, just focus on the playing. Good luck!
@@JohnHolton hi there,this isn't my post but thank you John Holton,Onwards and upwards,god loves a trier (sp) if you dont know you're way there,ask someone on their way back, Your positivity has just boosted my morale,Im going to try and learn this too,Such a beautiful tune played so beautifully,Im just thinking to myself what an achievement to be able to play this,Fingers crossed 🥂
Buy yourself a fairly good one like a lee oskar and make sure you get your preferred key so it suits what you type of style you want to play, no point in getting a cheap harmonica you'll just wanna give up and fuhgeddaboudit. Best of luck peace
Much easier to have scripts calling for CGI explosions and violent fights than difficult themes in extreme limits of human existence, even in the dregs of society.
Who is still listen to this masterpiece in the dark days Covid19? "Midnight Cowboy" cuts into bones in many aspects of real life we experience now .......
@@joejoe7702 I LOVE THIS FILM! JOHN VOIGHT AND DUSTIN HOFFMAN WERE BRILLIANT! THE SONG IS SAD, BUT PERFECT ! I CRIED A LOT BYTES SEEING IT! 02/27/2021, RIO DE JANEIRO, BRASIL! 💚💛💚💛💚💛💚💛💚💛💚💛💚💛
@@joejoe7702 SORRY about my terrible English! I studied it a very long time ago! But I agree with you when you said that it is time to see it again! And always we need! Nice to talk with you! RIO DE JANEIRO, BRASIL! 02/27/2021.😉😂💚💛
John Barry - Genius.
👍👍👍vero. Fantastico❤
Played by Tommy Reilly
@@schoolie ogni volta che as molto questo brano mi sembra di volare. La finezza fi Tommy poi è incredibile
Come nuove le mani mentre suona l aemonica è sublime♥️👩🏭
Yes! 100%
Mmm. But the track was played by Toots Thielemans.
" This achingly beautiful theme was composed by the great John Barry, who also had the role of music supervisor, in charge of choosing all pre-existing music that would be used in the movie. Barry also composed a few other themes of the film, as well. The harmonica player on the "Midnight Cowboy" theme was the Belgian virtuoso Toots Thielemans
Absolutely love this song. Reminds me of being 8-9 years old and feeling ultra safe in my mom and dad’s presence. Life is short, isn’t it…
It sure is, my friend, it sure is.🍻
May 13, 2023
yes, and no one ever convinces us at the time.
Eu também 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 tinha a mesma idade
I remember my dad having a John Barry CD and this would play. Good memories.
I absolutely love this comment! So very true.
The 1960's were a dream.
4561s my number n hav a grandson yes life is sweet not mud
CORRECT.!
That harmonica speaks
Amazing how much emotion can be packed into such a small musical instrument. John Barry was a genius
The emotion isn't packed into the instrument it is in the human being ❤
More then a genius....
John Lennon played the mouth organ on a number of early Beatles hits.
There's not many people I would have loved to have met.
John Barry was one of them. Even just to say a simple, "Thank you for your music."
You are correct
66 and just stumbled upon this in 2024
Have always loved the song and the movie
Yes this song really takes me back to 1969.
This is the most beautiful song on a harmonica I ever heard of in my life.
Can we meet im from Stockholm in Sweden and my name is Ted
This song get my emotional
100%
It has a beautiful sadness to it especially when you hear it at the end of the movie Midnight Cowboy.It can well your eyes up.
I agree!
I miss the 1960s and 1970s....those 20 years gave us great music 🎵🎶🎶 and memories!
For me, the 50s and 60s. I could skip the 70s folk songs.
The song and movie remind me of walking the streets of New York surrounded by millions of people but yet had a feeling of loneliness.A great song that brings back bittersweet memories.
I’m with you. Great times and memories.
A great time to be in your teens.
yes. every generation has their faviiorites, like you, 60-70 music was mine. truely un repeateable.
Lovely, j'ai simplement eu la joie d'y voir ce classique en 70 ...au grand écran, alors que j'avais 16 ans ! ❤
The Ending to Midnight Cowboy along with this theme tune has been known to break even the hardest of men down into tears. Both are absolute masterpieces.
Yeah... I was doing just fine till they had to show that last scene from the movie. Powerful stuff. :(
The first and last film to make me cry. Went with a couple of my mates when it first came out and I think the cinema had a problem with the air con, we all had a problem with watering eyes.
right on dude.
I'm not afraid to admit it either
That bond between Joe Buck and Rico Rizzo.
Tenderness and empathy.
Still chokes one up to watch this film.
I was released from the US Army on, 26 August 1969, after spending two tours in South Vietnam as a combat medic. Therefore, I have a strong memory of the weeks following my discharge. I remember this song, Midnight Cowboy, Everybody's Talkin' At Me, A Time For Us, Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head, and, One Tin Soldier. All these songs were on movie soundtracks.
I do remember other songs that were on the charts as well, that were entertainment related such as, Aquarius/Let The Sun Shine In, Good Morning Starshine, and, Easy To Be Hard. I remember other songs on the charts as well, but that is another matter.
Thanks for SERving America...This we'll defend
Fair play mate , you made it 🍺
🙂from Tiger-Balm and Chandra (Tiger-Balm is my authentic Bengal Tiger mix).
Hey thanks for chiming in. I was about 4 years old when you were released! I still remember my parents playing this this music and much more.
Lovely musical memories that will last a life time Michael
This old Marine and retired Phoenix, Arizona Police Officer will have this played at my memorial service service when I cash in my chips.
sir may you have many more years in front of you love from not so merrie england
Thank you for your Service to your Country. Let’s hope you have many years of Retirement still ahead of you. 🏴🇬🇧
I too wish you well. From a neighbor 150 miles to your north. Live on Cowboy.
I’d want Erik Estrada to sing at mine when I cash my CHiPs.
Amen to that, ol'e pard. Thks for serving the nation..
This type of music could only be made in the late 60s.
Ceci Est immortel
So beautiful.....This world neads peace and love. and not idiot politicions who send our children into an crazy idiot war.
懐かしきわが青春時代の映画、真夜中のカウボーイとタクシードライバー！ブルースの音色奏でるしんみりとした感情が何とも言えない。東京砂漠！
It's a simple descending line of notes, but so evocative of loneliness, quiet times, contemplation. Unforgettable.
Great description
It´s a lullaby. No more, no less. Rainman has spoken. Period. q.e.d. --added the oldest Henderson boy (schrillte der Ilt)
Listening to this makes me drive slower, be calmer, kinder and a better persons to be around.....now that's the power of great music...
Yes, because
remember, “ we are all walking here “ 👍
It needs more music like this and people like you.
I want to laearn
How to learn harmooicc
i.have that i CD and play it again and again.
This is one of the most emotional harmonica solos of all time. I can't hardly describe these feelings I feel now! Just beautiful! THANKS EVERYONE!!!
Exactly this!
I feel the same feelings
had this at my fathers funeral.. just a gentle song to carry him into the service .. love you daddy xxx
We lost a musical genius the day John Barry passed away , rest in peace sir
Great piece of music 1969 right there
Música que marcou o final de uma década esplendorosa, O filme foi perfeito, atores maravilhosos, saudade.
Absolutely
Totally agree,listen to the Dances with wolves soundtrack.Breathtakingly beautiful.
great composer man
Takes me back to 1969. I wish I could stay there.
Me too... 🙁
Me too. I wish it was possible.
I remember vividly when I saw this movie for first Time in Argentina over 50 years ago, I terribly miss that Time.
Richard Lawson me too brother great times.
Yup👌💔
LOVE!!!! Tommy Reilly’s perfection of this song. Could listen too all day long. Worlds BEST harmonica player!
Its the best that I've heard.
@@T.Z.M4N It's not bad, but I wish Toots Thielemans had played it. Much more inventive.
@@giovanna722I’ve heard toots play this and it’s not a patch on Tommys.
What about Larry Adler
@@paulpurves484 I think Toots is on the original soundtrack
I feel sadness, but beauty all at the same time.
Exactly what I feel; I watched this movies when it was released, in 69;
@@nuil501 Wow - you too.
Though I was way too small to see it til the 80s.
@@peterbrown6224 I was minor at that time, watched the movie with my sister...
@@nuil501 Awkward.
But with you, sneaking into films. We were outlaws :-)
@@peterbrown6224 hahaha , yeap
Someone listening this wonderful music in 2024???
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Me…..God bless
It reminds me of walking the streets of NY one night surrounded by millions but yet I felt a bittersweet feeling as one of the loneliest of all.
Absolutely. Love it.
Oh yes! Beautiful.....
just lost a great friend and i can't stop playing this, thank you John Barry - RIP Scott Kayes, gonna miss you brother, built of steel!
I sorry for your loss
Good luck fella.....
Sorry for your loss… x
I'm sorry for your loss.
My condolences Jim
Thank you God for giving us John Barry.
You better thank his parrents....God didnt do it at all ? Maybe he was only witness ?
John Barry musical genius
Absolutely!
Agreed
He was better than Williams.
👍
One of the few composers that is right at the top of the tree. Only eclipsed by Hans Zimmer.... Just
Hello all from Ukraine. Thanks for posting this masterpiece! Be happy everyone!
I never get tired of listening to this!
I'm too.
Totally agree,could listen to this piece of movie magic all day.🙋♂️
Amen
tooo
Same here
Great movie. Great acting. Great music.
This song and Nilsson's "Everybody's Talking at Me". But John Barry's harmonica playing is amazing, beautiful and sad at the same time.👍🏽🌹❤️
No, no. Toots Thielemans is the one who played the harmonica track. John Barry couldnt play a single note harmonica
" This achingly beautiful theme was composed by the great John Barry, who also had the role of music supervisor, in charge of choosing all pre-existing music that would be used in the movie. Barry also composed a few other themes of the film, as well.
The harmonica player on the "Midnight Cowboy" theme was the Belgian virtuoso Toots Thielemans".
Without a doubt the most underrated musical composer of all time. Who was better composing musical scores for movies? This sound he created for Midnight Cowboy put you right on the street in NYC. What a talented and gifted composer. RIP your music lives on!
HENRY MANCINI! Just take a look at all the awards he received throughout his career. John Barry is also among my all-time favorite gifted composers.
John Barry was a genius. His music could take a movie to another level. 'The Ipcress File' and 'Out of Africa' to name but two.
John Barry is my absolute favorite. Every bit as good as John Williams, Ennio Morricone, Henry Mancini or Elmer Bernstein. A true master composer.
Got to agree with these guys, I wouldnt say better but comparable, Ennio Morricone and Henry Mancini were excellent!
Now I've always resided in St. Louis, Mo., & even though N.Y. C. is far more prolific, in my mind & on my phone, I STILL hear songs from the MIDNIGHT COWBOY SOUNDTRACK (ESP. MIDNIGHT COWBOY!) when I'm out & about on my journeys, esp. in Downtown St. Louis, "*EAST BOOGIE!*" & other areas in Illinois, & esp. where my "*OLD HAUNTS!*" used 2 b, & VERY FEW of them are STILL IN BUSINESS!
Life is better because of John Barry.
I remember this being played in the 70s in a restaurant in Coventry called Oaklahoma... a western themed restaurant...just some classic tunes stick in your mind I guess
Back in the Day this was the B movie to Midnight Express. This was the last Movie I took my Mother to. The harmonica score played by John Barry is beautiful yet haunting and forever in my memory as my Mother passed soon after. Still brings floods of tears to my eyes ! I'm now 51. RIP Mama.
It's quite normal for you to miss your mother like that.
I'm sure she'd be touched to know how much she's missed. This pain you feel? It's cool - most of us have it.
Never.2.Shabby moms are the best
@@peterbrown6224 ... I know that Peter x
@@Doors067 ... And always will be ! Dad's are OK !
The score was written by John Barry ( Prendergast ) but the harmonica was played by Tommy Reilly.
To actually see John Barry perform this..wow..a time machine to the past. I love RUclips.
That’s Tommy Reilly playing - Barry was the composer
2024 . Real music has died. We are only left with wonderful memories of our past and times of true genius.
It has died. But like all things, the cycle will come to an end and then all things will be renewed
Now got to cope with rubbish riff raff rap and hip hop promitive drivel
Mixture of sadness, melancholy; bathed in nostalgia as I was 16 years old in 1969.
Me too Kurt. I too was 16 in 1969. The best music ever. The best times ever.
I was just 2 years old . Watched the film in my early teens . Just brilliant 🤩
I was the same age.
Eu 9.
I was 12 fabulous music
Ladies and Gentlemen…..the great John Barry.
Pure nostalgia!!
Nothing like this exists any more. We've lost it....
No, we haven’t lost it ,you just have to look for it,I can assure you it’s there.
There but for the grace of GOD go I. 🙏 from uk in uncertain times …GOD BLESS EVERYONE
Same to you mate 🙏
This brings back so many memories. I was an 18 year old cowboy from Phoenix and found myself in NY City. I was young, naive and totally out of my element but I grew up quick. The looks I got in the city with my cowboy hat and boots were something I’ll never forget. This song brings me right back to that summer.
I remember hearing this song playing at a local movie theater back in the early 1970s while waiting for the movie to start. I had no idea where the song came from or what it was called, but it got stuck in my head and I remembered the song my entire life. Now here we are some 50 years later where technology makes it possible to whistle into your cellphone and Google Assistant will tell you the name of the song. Well, I tried doing that and it worked! Once I found out where the song came from, I learned how to play it on my harmonica. I don’t have a chromonica, but it can still be played on a diatonic harmonica (in the key of “C”) pretty well. You cannot believe the satisfaction it gave me to hear the tune that had haunted me my entire life to be coming out of my own mouth!
I feel you, man!! I still have a couple of these songs from childhood stuck in my head and not being able to find them so far! ... and I also learned to play this song in the harmonica, still the only song I know how to play at all!
Wow, beautiful story and song
ITS HARD TO FIND a good HARMONICA NOWADAYS 😎✌️
@@Newfoundmike I've started using Easttop. They play really sweetly straight out of the box. Two-draw and three-draw are exactly as they should be at first play. They aren't expensive and the five-draw doesn't break in one set, like the last two Hohners I had. Have a look (you'll have to order them off the internet).
@@Newfoundmike It really isn't What you might not know is that there is a huge harmonica world out there - all still playing, interacting and even sharing their music on the internet, on harmonica forums AND in person at Harmonica Conventions (yup). Both chromatic players and diatonic players get together once a year at SPAH (the Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica). This year's was held in Tulsa in August (I didn't go, but some of it was held on Zoom). Next year's will be back in St. Louis, Mo where it originated over 50 years ago. Players from around the World show up - including all the major manufacturers who bring their latest offerings. I have (at last count) over 100 instruments of all kinds but play mostly CX-12's in A (I'm partial to A) and now a Psardo Goldbar chromatic - a 16, also in A (it can be made in whatever key you wish). Harmonica players for the most part are pretty fantastic people --many still gig (Mickey Raphael still plays with Willie); Jon with Blues Traveler, Steve Tyler, Huey Lewis, Will Galison is among my top favourite chromatic jazz players here in NY. Robert Bonfiglio to me is one of the best classical chromatic players. Michal Adler in Israel (she's brilliant), Far too many to list here.
Utterly beautiful.
Very sad and haunting music fully in keeping with the storyline of the Midnight Cowboy film.
I cry everytime I listen to this... The expression and compassion that he played this song, is hauntingly beautiful.
I totally agree with you
No more tears..
I'm all cried off
i was 13 years old....wonderful age
@@kaduoliveira2726 I was 14☺️
Beyond beautiful. Period. End of discussion!!!
Man that harmonica sound always seem to capture all of the human emotions at once; joy, pain, hope, torment, reverence, decadence you name it and John Barry captures it right here. I'm always torn between John Barry's version and my favorite harmonica player 'Toots' Thielemans version. Discussion anyone?
@talkitover2099: John Barry wrote the music but he isn't playing it here. That's Tommy Reilly, a well-known classical English chromatic harmonica player seen in this clip and who was hired to play on the later-released vinyl record of Midnight Cowboy. I've NO idea why John Barry did not hire Jean 'Toots' Thielemans to record the album since HE was the one who played all of the harmonica in the entire Film - that sound which was so evocative and made so many of us fall in love with the characters and the Movie itself. I can only speculate that perhaps Toots was no longer available(?) and Tommy Reilly was (both John Barry and Tommy Reilly are Englishmen so it might well have been a matter of hiring the best in his own Country at the time if Toots wasn't available?) For MY money, it's Toots playing in the film which speaks to me far more - and when I watch clips from the film, especially that last 9 minute clip on the bus going to Miami. Heartbreaking - and the harmonica was just brilliantly played. I remember a hush broken only by tears and sobs in the Movie Theater where I first saw the film.
I'll tell you what Talk it Over your summary gave me goose pimples when you said it captures all human emotions at once....I couldn't have put it better and the movie is off the scale
@@ElizabethGS Yes Elizabeth it's hard to find a sadder and more moving section of a film when on the bus so near and yet so far from paradise.
I suppose I can think of a similar sadness when Cher's son dies in the film 'Mask' (not quite sure of charecter names)
Thank you@@Habu2 I appreciate it.
@@Habu2 Habu2; while I thoroughly enjoyed TalkitOver's appreciation of the wonderful harmonica playing, Toots' playing wasn't a 'version' since he was the original player IN this incredible film and whose chromatic harmonica is heard through the entire soundtrack behind the characters we come to feel so deeply about. John didn't play harmonica. This is Tommy Reilly (in the video above) who is much better known as a classical harmonica player in the UK. I play chromatic harmonica and am part of this world so have come to know quite a bit about these wonderful players. Most of us think of our instrument as our 'other voice' and I think that's what it conveyed in the Film--a deeply felt 'voice' for Joe Buck and Rico I still feel Jean 'Toots' Thieleman's playing is so much more human and personal - he focused on jazz for most of his career, but could also play anything he put his mind to. Nevertheless, it was John Barry's score which allowed for all of this brilliance and emotion. I still find it astonishing that the FIRST ever X-rated Movie which wasn't expected to win since they refused to cut out a single scene to have it comply with 'regulations', was so loved and won Best Picture from the Academy, even when the producers/directors were on set in Britain (I believe) and decided not to attend since they were sure it couldn't possibly win. Quel surprise! :)
Pay attention today’s generation! Pure talent here with Barry playing that harmonica and the best soundtrack ever! Soul, emotions and love ❤️
It's Tommy Reilly playing.
Taking notes!! 📝
@@y0rkiebarI was convinced it was Barry… Sorry for the mistake! I wasn’t born but I LOVE Midnight Cowboy since I discovered it in 1994! 😎
@@y0rkiebarAre you sure it’s Tommy Reilly? Everywhere they say it’s John Barry… 😮
@@hectorlabbe 100%, google Tommy Reilly and compare with this video.
Take note would be pop stars of 2019 and beyond...this is what u call TALENT.
Absolutely
Yeah but nah, it's pretty talented what music producers can compose on their computers as well, the computers their instrument and computers introduced thousands of never before used in music sounds.
@@jala1081 true
@@jala1081 back then they were musicians who didn't depend on computers . Then it was talent now its fake
They depended on their instruments. It takes talent to make a song on a computer. Compositional talent for one. Plus I love the new sounds. I'm kind of bored of the regular old instruments' sounds'. (Excuse the grammar.) Guitar, trombone, trumpet etc. Enough songs have been made with those instruments for decades. Imo the sounds are kind of boring now.
This song should be played at my funeral
I dont think any other instrument could have conveyed such melancholy as did the harmonica
John Barry was a super talented musical genius. Quite brilliant!
It is hauntingly beautiful.The harmonica played expertly like this is A sound like no other. John Barry to my mind has written amongst the finest film theme music ever.The main bond theme, then the best bond theme ever in goldfinger.Born free , Somewhere in Time. They all have some element of stardust about them.. He was absolutely gifted.
Such a wistful sound. It’s sweet and sad all at once.
That's it!
Reminds me of Sharon Tate
Yes so true . Wistful and plaintive sound . The film doesn't measure up to the music at all . same with the film The Graduate .
beautifully haunting melody , sad and melancholy and a sense of nostalgia for lost youth , lost childhood and lost INNOCENCE .
maria mcdermott
Yep. Just beautiful.
If I have a funeral,
This is the song I want played
When cavatina was first heard on the deer hunter all my family / aunts & uncles were all alive sadly only my dear old beautiful mum is the last one standing life is good & sad at the same time 🙏🙏🙏
It’s a good thing to have been alive when John Barry scored films! He did his job like no one else has-or EVER will! The Mozart of Motion Pictures!🎬
Perfect!
Thank you! I agree with you 💯 percent! This tune IS perfection!👍👌
Well,the great man certainly lifted the black hole with the soundtrack to that,RIP John Barry,the master
He most certainly did! Speaking of black holes,the great Mr.Barry scored the Disney sci-fi film from 1979-“The Black Hole”! He even scored the film many thought should have gone to a black hole instead of their local multiplexes-“Howard The 🦆 Duck”!!!
@@jamesmonroe7903 Thanks for that gem of information, I never knew that, I'm going to have to check that soundtrack now
So haunting a melody and with such an amazing delivery. Songs like this show us the beauty of the Divine even within sadness.
Well said 💯👌
It's not a song
@@asacarrick1385 A song doesn't have to have words - but it usually does. A song is also "Any musical composition." or "A song is a music piece that may contain words with melody and vocals or instrumentals without words. "
So true. Exactly.
@@michaelbabbitt3837 thank you Michael. WELL said. I tried to explain to another person being equally as literal as 'one can play a song as an instrumental, no'? but yours is far better a description.
This is a sad and very harrowing tune. It always reminds me of the bus scene in the final stages of the film Midnight Cowboy which is shown in this video. When you are down and out, the World can be very cruel to you.
Not many movies stick in your head forever but Midnight Cowboy sure does.
First heard on my Dad's 8 Track in his Ford Capri in the 70s......stayed with me all my days and as I've grown older I appreciate the melancholy all the more. A beautiful, haunting slice of nostalgia.
Your Dad sounds pretty cool ..Driving a Capri and listening to this ....Your Dad basically was the Seventies
Dude.... remember the slingshots ...playing football and risk
@@couldbedodgy Never made it to a Capri, but my first car was a '73 Cortina with a tape deck... Boy, I sure do miss the 70's...
Ford Capris and Chevy Vegas. That was a time. And then came along the Datsun 240Z!
I heard this when I was 7 in my dads Mk1 cortina and that was only 8 years ago so we’re still out there with the classic fords listening to great music 👍
That Is A Lovely Tune From John Barry
“Has it ever struck you that life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quick you hardly catch it going?”― Tennessee Williams
I've thought of that as well, enjoy the moment it will be a memory NOW
And of all ironies, his life would end by accidental asphyxiation, when a medicine bottle cap fell into his throat.
@@davidjadunath1262 what a terrible way to die! Trying to help yourself turns into killing yourself, sometimes. Just like people paying too much attention to their safety who end up run over crossing a street. The fact is our brains are not designed to concentrate on one single goal all of the time, it has to wander about enentually. Inattention being friend with danger... It goes boom!! 💣
He wrote such beautiful music. A real treasure.
John Barry, one of our greatest, we miss your music and talent John!
The 1970s was the best time in my life. I was born in 1965, I am 58 years old, I never saw the film, but this instrumental was played on the radio every day back in the 1970s ❗️
Absolutely one of the top 5 movie pieces.
With a simple harmonica, John Barry shows us how an unforgettable tune can be composed. Thats the genius of the great Barry.
rare harmonica
Fantastic melody ! Beautifully played..One of the nicest harmonica songs ever. It brings it all back in my memory. The sadness of the story and the great performances by John Voigt and Dustin Hoffman.
Sensational.
Hear, hear. This movie captured loneliness and also friendship; the saddest thing was that when this lonely dude got a friend, the friend was taken away all too quickly.
C'est Toots Thielemans à l'harmonica et non John Barry !
Indeed 👍
Especially Voight
This guy is amazing. I have never heard such beautiful harmonica. I am speechless.
The music and the film so haunting and beautiful ❤
Classic, timeless, one of the greatest, ever.
John Barry was the god of movie soundtracks. Compare something like this to out of Africa, to the James Bond themes.
He's great. Like Henry Mancini. Love them both 💕.
And Lalo Schifrin !
Toots Thielman anybody?
Ennio Morricone for me, but this is also fabulous
I'm from Liverpool and remember this on my aunties record playing. Oh how free and happier those days were 😢..
One of the most memorable movie scores ever! Beautifully haunting 🌹✨
Whenever I’m feeling down I play this. Haunting close your eyes and listen I forget all my troubles. Fantastic I wish I could play the Harmonica
You can play the harmonica.
Sushi Ming. Sushi I’ve tried and I’m pathetic that harmonica from Toots is amazing. 😊
@@RobertSmith-zi4cn Toots was probably pathetic the first time he picked up a harmonica, too. The trick is to stick with it. Don't worry that you don't sound good now, just focus on the playing. Good luck!
@@JohnHolton hi there,this isn't my post but thank you John Holton,Onwards and upwards,god loves a trier (sp) if you dont know you're way there,ask someone on their way back, Your positivity has just boosted my morale,Im going to try and learn this too,Such a beautiful tune played so beautifully,Im just thinking to myself what an achievement to be able to play this,Fingers crossed 🥂
Buy yourself a fairly good one like a lee oskar and make sure you get your preferred key so it suits what you type of style you want to play, no point in getting a cheap harmonica you'll just wanna give up and fuhgeddaboudit. Best of luck peace
I hope the universe listening to this
3030
The perfect music for the truly devastating final scene for this magnificent movie.
It practically rips your heart out.
Wow..beautiful...!!..so gentle..ahh
Bitter sweet memories of old. Of a time when things were so different. Crying for a lost time.
映画もこの曲も全部好きです。大切な青春の1ページそのものです。
It fitted perfectly with the film.
Loved this song, “ think of Midnight Cowboy”!!!! days of ole went by in a blink of an eye!!!!😢
What a tune, there's no words for this, none.
Singing would spoil it.
@@brianligat9493 no I mean I have no words for a tune this good
Genius!
So many of these comments are as beautiful as the music.
Bealtiful song .. Top .. congratulations from Brazil
TommyReilly and his silver harmonica...simply wonderful!
He’s brilliant
Must be one of the most beautifully haunting pieces of music I’ve ever heard
Check out the Faith No More cover of it....
Equally as chilling
Reassuringly flawless in this chaotic world.
Bestornillante film, destornillador 🪛. Con el famoso compositor. Barry
Only ever watched this film twice, it tells the tale of love and caring of another human being. So sad there isn't more of this nowadays.
Much easier to have scripts calling for CGI explosions and violent fights than difficult themes in extreme limits of human existence, even in the dregs of society.
This song brings tears to my heart just thinking how tough life's journey is..for far too many. They will meet with God.
Who is still listen to this masterpiece in the dark days Covid19? "Midnight Cowboy" cuts into bones in many aspects of real life we experience now .......
Linda interpretação de Belo tema! 31/01/2021 , RJ ,BRASIL!❤❤❤
The dark days of global hysteria at incalculable cost to humanity.
@@joejoe7702 I LOVE THIS FILM! JOHN VOIGHT AND DUSTIN HOFFMAN WERE BRILLIANT! THE SONG IS SAD, BUT PERFECT ! I CRIED A LOT BYTES SEEING IT! 02/27/2021, RIO DE JANEIRO, BRASIL! 💚💛💚💛💚💛💚💛💚💛💚💛💚💛
@@veramalta5943 yes, a beautiful and heart wrenching film. Sums up life. Think it’s time I watched again.
@@joejoe7702 SORRY about my terrible English! I studied it a very long time ago! But I agree with you when you said that it is time to see it again! And always we need! Nice to talk with you! RIO DE JANEIRO, BRASIL! 02/27/2021.😉😂💚💛
R.I.P John Barry 😢😢😢
When Midnight Cowboy first came out, it was rated XXX
The 50s lasted well into the 60s. Decades don't unfold in neat uniformed little packages.
@@johnprovince5304 I find that most decades spend about 5 years stuck in the previous decade.
Music is everything.This is beautiful.
This musical gem fits in with a time long passed when life wasn’t so over burden with expedience.
My favourite tune of all time. After years of listening to it, still creates an emotion 😢
Yes a sublime antidote to the horrors of the modern day world. We are wonderful l, powerful beings! Never lose sight of that! Praise the Lord! X