♫ Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me ♫ (Redux)

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

I was in the mood tonight for some James Taylor, so … I’m giving you Glady’s Knight!!!  See how my mind works … it takes huge leaps and even I am left scratching my head and saying … “WTF just happened???”  This is a redux of one I last played back in late 2020 and it seems to be crying out to be heard again …

What a strange weekend this has been.  When it rains, it pours, as it is doing outside my window right this moment, and has been doing all day and all evening.  Daughter Chris is out of town for the weekend — Chicago — and it seems that the entire weekend is determined to be one of stress and distress.  As I write this, the tornado siren behind our house is blaring loudly, and we have a tornado watch until 2:00 a.m. … another 3 hours!  So, I went looking for a happy song to take my mind off my troubles, and I found my ol’ friend Gladys Knight waiting for me.

Singer/songwriter Jim Weatherly wrote this. He also wrote Midnight Train to Georgia, and Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye), which were also million-selling hits for Gladys Knight & The Pips. Weatherly had his own solo #11 US hit the same year with The Need to Be. He was an All-American quarterback before choosing songwriting as a career.

Country singer Ray Price was the first to have a hit with this – his version, titled You’re the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me, went to #1 on the Country charts. Producers Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise heard Price’s version and brought it to Gladys Knight And The Pips. They produced Knight’s previous hit, I’ve Got to Use My Imagination, and used the same rhythm section on this.

Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me
Gladys Knight

I’ve had my share of life’s ups and downs
But fate’s been kind, the downs have been few
I guess you could say that I’ve been lucky
Well, I guess you could say that it’s all because of you

If anyone should ever write my life story
For whatever reason there might be
Oh, you’ll be there between each line of pain and glory
Cause you’re the best thing that ever happened to me
Ah, you’re the best thing that ever happened to me

Oh, there have been times when times were hard
But always somehow I made it, I made it through
Cause for every moment that I’ve spent hurting
There was a moment that I spent, ah, just loving you

If anyone should ever write my life story
For whatever reason there might be
Oh, you’ll be there between each line of pain and glory
Cause you’re the best thing that ever happened to me
Ah, you’re the best thing that ever happened to me

I know, you’re the best thing, oh, that ever happened to me

Songwriters: James D. Weatherly
Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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23 thoughts on “♫ Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me ♫ (Redux)”

  2. I love this song, and I love Gladys Knight and the Pips. I spend a few weeks one summer learning all the Pips’s dance steps so I could dance whenever they came on the radio. It was fun! They are great.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Ah, tornadoes. Went through a couple in Ohio, one more in Texas, and one in West Virginia. Almost worse than typhoons and hurricanes.
    Glady’s voice elevates most songs for me. Such dignity and emotion somehow blending into a delicious vocal flavor.

    Hugs ‘n cheers

    Liked by 2 people

  5. In 2014 we drove from Buffalo to Boston. About 20 to 30 miles before Boston tornado warnings were sent over the radio, and my daughter even got it on her cell phone although the internet was turned off. That freaked me out. I was so scared looking at this black sky while driving on the motorway fearing a tunnel forming downwards. It was the first time I was confronted with a tornado. But my kids weren’t anxious at all. They even made fun of me… gosh! So, I can only imagine you sitting there and waiting is more than nerve-wracking.
    But I think you picked a good song to distract yourself.

    Liked by 3 people

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