B.J. Thomas | Home Where I Belong
Today’s lengthy slow and steady drizzle of raindrops seemed more than appropriate. Music lost a legend this past weekend.
He was a five-time Grammy award winner and a member of music’s Hall of Fame. His recordings hit the top ten charts 26 times and sold over 70 million albums worldwide. Though he scored with “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” “Hooked on a Feeling,” and “Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song,” B.J. Thomas will always be synonymous with the Bacharach and David song “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” from the movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”
Billy Joe (B.J. Thomas) was born in Hugo, Oklahoma on August 7, 1942. He grew up around Houston, Texas, singing in the church choir and quietly graduating from his high school. He put a band together in the early 1960s and achieved a hit cover of Hank Williams’ song with his group The Triumphs in 1966.
Early Success
With success comes pressure and struggle. After the amazing success of “Raindrops,” substance abuse came creeping around every corner. A record producer in Houston suggested that he take pills to keep his energy level high. He toured and popped dozens of pills daily. And each day, a piece of his marriage slipped through the grasp of his fingers.
In 1975, after seven years of marriage, his wife Gloria asked him to leave. Shortly afterward, on his way to a performance in Hawaii, he swallowed an estimated 80 pills, nearly ending his life. By January of the following year, he recommitted his life to Christ and reconciled with his wife. He had been sober every day since.
Christian Commitment
Later in 1976, B.J. Thomas released Home Where I Belong on Myrrh Records, the first of several gospel albums. It became the first Christian album to go platinum, pushing Thomas to the position of the biggest contemporary Christian music artist of the era.
The words to the title cut, as did so many of the Christians songs that he wrote, spoke to his understanding of doctrine and Scripture.
They say that heaven’s pretty
And living here is too;
But if they said that I would have to choose between the two
I’d go home;
Going home,
Where I belong.
B.J. Thomas and Me
I met B.J. Thomas one summer at a Christian bookseller’s convention. He was autographing copies of an album of favorite hymns that he was releasing. He said that no matter where he sang, even in a local church, people always requested that he sing “Raindrops.” According to the standards of the music industry, it was his defining song.
The words to the final verse of his first Christian single are really the words that define the man, the life and his tomorrow.
One day I’ll be sleeping
When death knocks on my door;
Then I’ll awake to find that I’m not
Homesick anymore;
Cause I’ll be home,
Going Home,
Where I belong
Welcome home, B.J.
