Peak
4
Weeks
29
Score
3,824
Chart Year
1980
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This was the last Top 10 charting hit of Billy Preston's prolific career. He was active in music from the 1950s into the 2000s, and was then stopped only when he lost his battle with kidney disease. This song (and the entire album) was done in duet with Syreeta Wright, a soul and R&B singer best known for working with and being married to Stevie Wonder. Wright was married three times and each marriage was short. While Preston and Wright never married, you can hear chemistry in every lyric of this song. Songwriting credits here go to singer Carol Connors and songwriter/composer David Shire; Shire also had a hand in the scores to the films Saturday Night Fever and Return to Oz. As for Connors, she was in the group The Teddy Bears, which also included Phil Spector (busy man, wasn't he?), and co-wrote the theme to the 1976 film Rocky and several songs from Disney's the Rescuers film series. "With You I'm Born Again" was written specifically for the film Fast Break, a very routine sports-comedy film at the tail end of the '70s from producer Stephen J. Friedman, who made a name for himself in comedy flicks, especially sports-related ones. Today, the song is the most notable thing people remember about the film, which tells you something. A bit of trivia about the singers: Syreeta Wright was born and raised a Baptist, but apparently dropped it by the time she moved to Ethiopia to teach transcendental meditation, and then finally she converted to Islam. Billy Preston is also known for his work with the Beatles. His honors on that account extend to being called one of the "fifth Beatles," and being the title character in the unfortunate, delightfully horrible 1978 film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. So this hit followed that film's release, showing that not even Hollywood's biggest turkey in the film musical category can't keep a good man down.
Come bring me your softness Comfort me through all this madness Woman, don't you know, with you I'm born again Come give me your sweetness Now there's you, there is no weakness Lying safe within your arms, I'm born again I was half, not whole In step with none Reaching through this world In need of one Come show me your kindness In your arms I know I'll find this Woman, don't you know, with you I'm born again Lying safe with you I'm born again Come bring me your softness Comfort me through all this madness Woman, don't you know, with you I'm born again Come give me your sweetness Now there's you, there is no weakness Lying safe within your arms, I'm born again Woman, don't you know, with you I'm born again I was half, not whole In step with none Reaching through this world In need of one Come show me your kindness In your arms I know I'll find this Woman, don't you know, with you I'm born again Lying safe with you I'm born again
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dec 8, 1979 | 98 | 28 |
| 2 | Dec 15, 1979 | 94 | 32 |
| 3 | Dec 22, 1979 | 92 | 34 |
| 4 | Dec 29, 1979 | 92 | 34 |
| 5 | Jan 5, 1980 | 91 | 35 |
| 6 | Jan 12, 1980 | 91 | 35 |
| 7 | Jan 19, 1980 | 88 | 38 |
| 8 | Jan 26, 1980 | 78 | 48 |
| 9 | Feb 2, 1980 | 67 | 59 |
| 10 | Feb 9, 1980 | 55 | 71 |
| 11 | Feb 16, 1980 | 48 | 78 |
| 12 | Feb 23, 1980 | 44 | 82 |
| 13 | Mar 1, 1980 | 36 | 90 |
| 14 | Mar 8, 1980 | 31 | 95 |
| 15 | Mar 15, 1980 | 25 | 101 |
| 16 | Mar 22, 1980 | 22 | 104 |
| 17 | Mar 29, 1980 | 17 | 109 |
| 18 | Apr 5, 1980 | 15 | 111 |
| 19 | Apr 12, 1980 | 7 | 119 |
| 20 | Apr 19, 1980 | 4 | 122 |