Fender didn’t care for ‘Before the Next Teardrop Falls’
One of the many old sayings we’ve all heard from our childhoods “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. And I suppose that’s as true today as back then and that old saying certainly seemed to apply to Freddy Fender’s 1975 hit record “Before the Next Teardrop Falls.” The song had already been recorded by more than 30 different artists before Fender heard of it. And at that time the most successful version was recorded by Duane Dee on Capitol Records which peaked at No. 44 on the charts in 1967.
The idea for the song came from a Nashville publishing company secretary named Vivian Keith who came up with the title “Before the Next Tear Falls.” She showed the title and idea to songwriter Ben Peters who liked it but added the word “drop” to make it “Before the Next Teardrop Falls.”
Peters began working on the lyrics and wrote the song in a couple of days. He showed it to record producer Huey Meaux who liked it and began working on music tracks for the tune. Meaux already had the music tracks recorded when he played it for Freddy Fender during Fender’s recording session for a rhythm and blues album.
Fender didn’t like the song and didn’t even like the whole idea because he was not into country music and didn’t want to be.
But after a lot of persuasion from Meaux ,Fender agreed to record the tune just to please Meaux.
According to Fender, “So we booked a session and went into the studio to record the song.
“The recording session lasted only a few minutes and I was glad it was over. I was finally finished with that song – or so I thought. I was thinking that I was through with it but I was wrong.”
But that certainly was not to be the last of it.
“Before the Next Teardrop Falls” came on the country music charts Jan. 11, 1975 at No. 96 – which was not a very good initial showing for a record which was destined to wind up at the top of the charts on March 15th for two weeks. It was Fender’s first charted song and was on the charts for 17 weeks.
The single also scored a No. 1 on the pop charts and received a gold certification on May 2, 1975. It was also named Single of the Year by the Country Music Association.
Freddy Fender was born Baldemar Huerta in 1937 in San Benito, Texas.
He placed 21 songs on the country music charts between 1975 and 1983 – including four No. 1s. Nine of his 21 country chart singles also placed on the pop charts.
Freddy Fender died in 2006.