You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me

"You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me"
Single by Ray Price
from the album You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me
B-side"What Kind of Love is This"
ReleasedJuly 1973 (U.S.)
Recordedca. May 1973
GenreCountry
Length3:50
LabelColumbia 45889
Songwriter(s)Jim Weatherly
Producer(s)Don Law
Ray Price singles chronology
"She's Got to Be a Saint"
(1972)
"You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me"
(1973)
"Storms of Troubled Times"
(1974)
"Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me"
Single by Gladys Knight & the Pips
from the album Imagination
B-side"Once in a Lifetime Thing"
ReleasedFebruary 1974 (U.S.)
Recorded1973
GenreSoul
Length3:44
LabelBuddah Records 403
Songwriter(s)Jim Weatherly
Producer(s)Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise; Gladys Knight and the Pips were co-producers
Gladys Knight & the Pips singles chronology
"I've Got to Use My Imagination"
(1973)
"Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me"
(1974)
"On and On"
(1974)

"You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me" — also known simply as "Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me" — is a song written by Jim Weatherly. It was first recorded in 1973 by Danny Thomas. Soon after it was done by Ray Price from his album You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me. The song enjoyed two runs of popularity, each by an artist in a different genre.

Weatherly told Tom Roland in The Billboard Book of Number One Country Hits that he wrote the song in 1971 and let his father-in-law first record it as a Christmas present for the latter's wife. "I thought it was really strange that nobody'd written a song with that title — possibly somebody had, but I'd never heard it — so I just sat down and let this stream of consciousness happen. I basically wrote it in a very short period of time, probably 30 minutes or an hour."