You probably have to be of a certain age to fully grasp how enormous was Burt Bacharach’s talent, how ubiquitous his intricate pop songs were and how he created a high-gloss sheen with his music that helped define an era. It’s not just that he crafted ear-worm melodies with Hal David’s lyrics—he created a mood (sometimes glamorous, sometimes bouncy, almost always romantic) that was distinctly his. Amid the shifting fashions of the 1960s and early 1970s and the growing dominance of rock, his songs transcended the times.
In a tribute to Bacharach, who died this week at the age of 94, Carole King (herself a gifted songwriter) described her stunned silence when first hearing “Don’t Make Me Over” sung by Dionne Warwick in 1962. “When the song was over, I exclaimed: ‘What was that?’ By ‘that’ I meant the time signature changes, the instrumentation, and the unpredictable chords that allowed the melody to flow over them and carry the power of Warwick’s performance downstream.”
Reflecting on the brilliance of Burt Bacharach’s craft as a composer and arranger, you quickly realize how many poignantly memorable songs he and Hal David created. If he had only written melodies for Dionne Warwick, the catalog would be breathtaking: In addition to “Don’t Make Me Over,” there’s “Walk On By,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?,” “Walk On By,” “Alfie” and “I'll Never Fall in Love Again.” But his hits with other singers—he had over 70 top 40 hits—include “The Look of Love” (Dusty Springfield), “This Guy’s In Love with You” (Herb Alpert), “What’s New Pussycat?” (Tom Jones) and “They Long to Be (Close to You)” (The Carpenters). Many ended up in films, most notably “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” (B.J. Thomas) for Paul Newman and Robert Redford’s 1969 masterwork Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which earned Bacharach two Oscars for Best Song and Best Score. While his songs risked becoming cheesy—Exhibit A: “Raindrops”—the pop artistry succeeded in lifting them up and beyond.
If you don’t know the songs, it’s worth your time to check them out. If you didn’t know Burt Bacharach before, you may know him for his famous cameos in the Austin Powers movies. There he was, popping up at the piano, clad in a tux, touchingly singing “What the world needs now is love sweet love/No not just for some, but everyone.” The song is almost a theme song for Mike Myers’ title character. You also might know him through his collaboration with Elvis Costello. (Here’s “In the Darkest Place” from 1998.)
But for this day, whether you’re just discovering him now or have been listening to him for decades, I’m wondering about your favorite from Bacharach’s catalog. If you had to pick just one song: What song would you pick? As always, I look forward to reading your thoughts and reflections—and to the opportunity for this community to share with each other.
I love so many but the one that always gets me is the Oscar winner that took four of the greatest song writers to create one sone: Arthur's Theme: Bacharach, ex-wife Carol Bayer Sager, Chris Cross, and Peter Allen all because someone got stuck in a pattern trying to land in New York. "If get stuck between the moon and New York City, the best that you can do is fall in love."
It would have to be A House Is Not a Home, for me. I remember exactly where I was when I heard it the first time. And every subsequent time, I would struggle to keep doing what I was doing each time I heard it. It touched a part of me unknown even to me.
Being of that certain age, it’s a toss up between Walk on by - sung by Dionne Warwick and Say a little prayer sung by Aretha - given Aretha’s voice the edge goes there but both of these songs were prominent in the sixties pop canon. Even though I was a Beatles fan through and through and still am, the songs sung by the female artists still resonate with me..
I don’t know if I can choose just one! If pushed, I would say Close to You. I loved the Carpenters and used to play their albums over and over until they started to skip. 😄 Those were the days.
The first time I heard Bacharach’s song “This Guy’s In Love With You” sung by Herb Alpert, my jaw hit the floor. Gorgeous song, and it made me become an instant fan of The Tijuana Brass.
Real tie between The Look of Love and Walk on By. He was a genius composer and song writer. Some wonderful music for sure! He will be missed by a generation of people who loved his music and I hope the generations following us, will learn to love it also.
The Look of Love & This Guy's In Love With You. I remember when he was married to Angie Dickinson, she of Dressed to Kill, a favorite movie. A coststar of that was Ken Baker who was a realtor colleague of mine at Coldwell Banker in Ramsey, NJ. He waved the glove out of the taxi window.. ( One thought leads to another. )
Oh gosh there were so many great songs and we had them all memorized so we could sing along, right? If I had to pick one it might have to be Say a Little Prayer.
If I were to sit down an go through the catalog of his tunes I would find others that I have forgotten about that were memorable for me over the years..However, when considering this question, I must default to my never ending appreciation and affection for Aretha Franklin.."Say a Little Prayer"
Burt's specials on PBS will live on, thank goodness. Favorites are hard to name as so many have noted because they all thweaked something deep inside all of us, but Dionne's Walk on By had deep meaning for me as a lad and was later recorded by the We Five which is a classic version. And, all Dusty Springfield songs were great beginning with The Look of Love.
Steven, “What The World Needs Now, Is Love, Sweet Love” sung by the inimitable Dionne Warwick. I saw her at Philharmonic Hall in 1965 or so. Will never forget the thrill!
Wow. This is 1 of the hardest questions you have posed in all of these months of our great discussions. I love every song you listed, every song Burt Bacharach composed. I was really shaken by his passing, as his music was so much a part of my growing up. And his music always resonates in my head. So, if I have to select just 1 song, I select: What The World Needs Now Is Love Sweet Love. And although it was written a long time ago, it has a message very important for our world today.
Thanks for asking. Most of the news coverage dismisses BB as a mere pop composer from a bygone age. Apparently the obit writers don’t “get” the sophistication or complexity of his music, and its influence. My top song pick would be “I Say a Little Prayer.” It’s such a relatable song, with the singer going through all the routines of her day, but with her life enlivened by love. Three versions stand out: Aretha’s, with her earthy, yearning crooning; Dionne’s beautiful soprano floating above a propulsive bass line that gives the song edge and energy; and Bacharach’s lush orchestration, with him at the piano. Oh, and don’t forget the song’s use in the rom-com “My Best Friend’s Wedding, where the tune sets all the diners in the restaurant singing and swaying!
Very, very tough. As much as I love Aretha's version of "I Say A Little Prayer" and Dusty Springfield's "The Look of Love" (the dry version from her Dusty! lp), "A House is Not a Home" is my favorite. Dusty's version and Luther Vandross are 1 and 1A for me.
Let's face it: Most of Hal David's lyrics were pretty cheesy and sexist and very awkward to sing unless you're a pro. But Burt's compositions, esp his melodies and arrangements, are really superlative. If someone put new words to his music, these songs would last another 100 years. Not so if you add new music to "Do you know the way to San Jose/I've been away so long, I may go wrong and lose my way." 😬
I like your tribute and get your point. Asking me to pick my favorite BB song is like asking me which of my four children I would keep. Plus I’m a Libra so can’t make decisions.
Assuming you’re not a Libra, which song would YOU select?
I did not know until this week that My Little Red Book by Love - a psychedelic pop confection was written by Bachrach. The swells, drums and crescendoes are timeless.
Thanks for asking. Most of the news coverage dismisses BB as a mere pop composer from a bygone age. Apparently the obit writers don’t “get” the sophistication or complexity of his music, and its influence. My top song pick would be “I Say a Little Prayer.” It’s such a relatable song, with the singer going through all the routines of her day, but with her life enlivened by love. Three versions stand out: Aretha’s, with her earthy, yearning crooning; Dionne’s beautiful soprano floating above a propulsive bass line that gives the song edge and energy; and Bacharach’s lush orchestration, with him at the piano. Oh, and don’t forget the song’s use in the rom-com “My Best Friend’s Wedding, where the tune sets all the diners in the restaurant singing and swaying!
Thank you for this. I love Burt Bacharachs songs. I think my favorite is Walk on By. And I especially love it when they are a jazz cover. (Shout out to the amazing jazz radio station KMHD Portland) Timeless music for everyone.
It's almost impossible to pick just one. For me, it's pretty much a tie between Alfie and Walk On By, but the others are all close to the top! His talent has always been amazing, and I think the collaborations between him and Dionne Warwick are the best of the lot. (Although I do love Arthur's Theme too.)
Feb 11, 2023·edited Feb 11, 2023Liked by Steven Beschloss
So many, but you asked. Let's try "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself." I'd never want to break up with my love, but if I did, this would be the song for the moment. Precisely. The version by Colin Hay if I can be more specific.
I would pick this version of “Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head”. I must have watched this movie at the drive in theater at least 10 times. https://youtu.be/_VyA2f6hGW4
More importantly, as I read each title I hear the song in my head, realizing that I know them all!! And enjoying that feeling of being transported back to where I was in space and time.
The Look of Love - Sergio Mendez & Brazil 66 1967 cover is great. However, my absolute fav of that song is Sergio’s 2008 cover on his album Encanto ( https://youtu.be/a0QLtjlSqLk ) Burt’s music has covered so many genres!
The soundtrack of my youth! The answer to your question will depend on the mood I'm in, since this music was encoded in me during those tempestuous and moody years of adolescence. Right now over coffee I'm listening to "I Say a Little Prayer for You" because my sweetheart here in Italy is convalescing from covid.
Waited a bit to answer. Happy I did. All the comments are so moving. Love his music - the soundtrack of my life. Have to go with That's What Friends are For, Raindrops and One Less Bell to Answer. Do I get a top ten instead of one?
His songs were the background music of my childhood. My favorite is “Say a Little Prayer” but it was tough since “Do you Know the Way to San Jose” is such a fun rhythm.
First let me thank you for your excellent news letter which enriches and carries on the enlightened and liberal traditions of our America, counteracting the misinformation and disinformation unfortunately so currently prevalent. Great contribution to the documentaries of Ken Burns also where I first encountered you! And now thanks for including important pop culture icons like Burt Bacharach. As with many other folks it's hard to choose. As a singer myself I would probably pick "The Look of Love" and "They Long to Be (Close to You)"--especially loving Karen Carpenter's voice! Keep up the good fight!
I love so many but the one that always gets me is the Oscar winner that took four of the greatest song writers to create one sone: Arthur's Theme: Bacharach, ex-wife Carol Bayer Sager, Chris Cross, and Peter Allen all because someone got stuck in a pattern trying to land in New York. "If get stuck between the moon and New York City, the best that you can do is fall in love."
What the World Needs Now. So timeless, still.
It would have to be A House Is Not a Home, for me. I remember exactly where I was when I heard it the first time. And every subsequent time, I would struggle to keep doing what I was doing each time I heard it. It touched a part of me unknown even to me.
Being of that certain age, it’s a toss up between Walk on by - sung by Dionne Warwick and Say a little prayer sung by Aretha - given Aretha’s voice the edge goes there but both of these songs were prominent in the sixties pop canon. Even though I was a Beatles fan through and through and still am, the songs sung by the female artists still resonate with me..
Walk on by
All of them. He was a genius.
Raindrops…. As I loved the movie.
I don’t know if I can choose just one! If pushed, I would say Close to You. I loved the Carpenters and used to play their albums over and over until they started to skip. 😄 Those were the days.
They Long to be (Close to You). Carpenters. High School love.
So hard to choose! He was brilliant, and the stories in his songs so memorable. I think "Do You Know the Way to San Jose."
Promises, Promises. It’s such a damn hard song to sing. My dad loved Alfie.
The first time I heard Bacharach’s song “This Guy’s In Love With You” sung by Herb Alpert, my jaw hit the floor. Gorgeous song, and it made me become an instant fan of The Tijuana Brass.
Walk on by! Beautiful words and music! Ms Warwick’s voice is smooth and flawless!
Real tie between The Look of Love and Walk on By. He was a genius composer and song writer. Some wonderful music for sure! He will be missed by a generation of people who loved his music and I hope the generations following us, will learn to love it also.
He was just incredible. "One Less Bell To Answer" If I have to pick just one.
The Look of Love & This Guy's In Love With You. I remember when he was married to Angie Dickinson, she of Dressed to Kill, a favorite movie. A coststar of that was Ken Baker who was a realtor colleague of mine at Coldwell Banker in Ramsey, NJ. He waved the glove out of the taxi window.. ( One thought leads to another. )
Wow, you’re really making us pick? I think I played each one in my head before picking, “Walk on By”.
Oh gosh there were so many great songs and we had them all memorized so we could sing along, right? If I had to pick one it might have to be Say a Little Prayer.
If I were to sit down an go through the catalog of his tunes I would find others that I have forgotten about that were memorable for me over the years..However, when considering this question, I must default to my never ending appreciation and affection for Aretha Franklin.."Say a Little Prayer"
Burt's specials on PBS will live on, thank goodness. Favorites are hard to name as so many have noted because they all thweaked something deep inside all of us, but Dionne's Walk on By had deep meaning for me as a lad and was later recorded by the We Five which is a classic version. And, all Dusty Springfield songs were great beginning with The Look of Love.
Steven, “What The World Needs Now, Is Love, Sweet Love” sung by the inimitable Dionne Warwick. I saw her at Philharmonic Hall in 1965 or so. Will never forget the thrill!
Wow. This is 1 of the hardest questions you have posed in all of these months of our great discussions. I love every song you listed, every song Burt Bacharach composed. I was really shaken by his passing, as his music was so much a part of my growing up. And his music always resonates in my head. So, if I have to select just 1 song, I select: What The World Needs Now Is Love Sweet Love. And although it was written a long time ago, it has a message very important for our world today.
Thanks for asking. Most of the news coverage dismisses BB as a mere pop composer from a bygone age. Apparently the obit writers don’t “get” the sophistication or complexity of his music, and its influence. My top song pick would be “I Say a Little Prayer.” It’s such a relatable song, with the singer going through all the routines of her day, but with her life enlivened by love. Three versions stand out: Aretha’s, with her earthy, yearning crooning; Dionne’s beautiful soprano floating above a propulsive bass line that gives the song edge and energy; and Bacharach’s lush orchestration, with him at the piano. Oh, and don’t forget the song’s use in the rom-com “My Best Friend’s Wedding, where the tune sets all the diners in the restaurant singing and swaying!
Very, very tough. As much as I love Aretha's version of "I Say A Little Prayer" and Dusty Springfield's "The Look of Love" (the dry version from her Dusty! lp), "A House is Not a Home" is my favorite. Dusty's version and Luther Vandross are 1 and 1A for me.
Let's face it: Most of Hal David's lyrics were pretty cheesy and sexist and very awkward to sing unless you're a pro. But Burt's compositions, esp his melodies and arrangements, are really superlative. If someone put new words to his music, these songs would last another 100 years. Not so if you add new music to "Do you know the way to San Jose/I've been away so long, I may go wrong and lose my way." 😬
Steve,
I like your tribute and get your point. Asking me to pick my favorite BB song is like asking me which of my four children I would keep. Plus I’m a Libra so can’t make decisions.
Assuming you’re not a Libra, which song would YOU select?
Wendy Stebbins
I did not know until this week that My Little Red Book by Love - a psychedelic pop confection was written by Bachrach. The swells, drums and crescendoes are timeless.
As for my all time fave I would go with Alfie!
https://youtu.be/z7SFpxWpcOw
Thanks for asking. Most of the news coverage dismisses BB as a mere pop composer from a bygone age. Apparently the obit writers don’t “get” the sophistication or complexity of his music, and its influence. My top song pick would be “I Say a Little Prayer.” It’s such a relatable song, with the singer going through all the routines of her day, but with her life enlivened by love. Three versions stand out: Aretha’s, with her earthy, yearning crooning; Dionne’s beautiful soprano floating above a propulsive bass line that gives the song edge and energy; and Bacharach’s lush orchestration, with him at the piano. Oh, and don’t forget the song’s use in the rom-com “My Best Friend’s Wedding, where the tune sets all the diners in the restaurant singing and swaying!
Thank you for this. I love Burt Bacharachs songs. I think my favorite is Walk on By. And I especially love it when they are a jazz cover. (Shout out to the amazing jazz radio station KMHD Portland) Timeless music for everyone.
Promises, Promises is a tour de force of Bacharach-isms. Time signatures, harmonies, melodic lines, all combined spectacularly unconventionally.
Ok, I’m game. And I’ll go for The Look of Love with What the World Needs Now as runner up.
A master. His genius was genuine.
One Less Bell to Answer sung by the 5th Dimension. Oh, my poor record player…..😜💝
It's almost impossible to pick just one. For me, it's pretty much a tie between Alfie and Walk On By, but the others are all close to the top! His talent has always been amazing, and I think the collaborations between him and Dionne Warwick are the best of the lot. (Although I do love Arthur's Theme too.)
Close to You
So many, but you asked. Let's try "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself." I'd never want to break up with my love, but if I did, this would be the song for the moment. Precisely. The version by Colin Hay if I can be more specific.
I Say a little Prayer
"What the world needs now is love sweet love". I was born in Dec of 1970 butt I had always heard of or
known of Burt Bacharach. I never realized he composed or arranged these songs. It's a great loss of our time.
Too hard to name just one! So many were great.
I would pick this version of “Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head”. I must have watched this movie at the drive in theater at least 10 times. https://youtu.be/_VyA2f6hGW4
More importantly, as I read each title I hear the song in my head, realizing that I know them all!! And enjoying that feeling of being transported back to where I was in space and time.
Soooo hard to choose! But Alfie regularly pops into my head more than any other. I love its message.
Alfie. I was secretly an Alfie, last year of high school, and never forgot it for long.
The Look of Love - Sergio Mendez & Brazil 66 1967 cover is great. However, my absolute fav of that song is Sergio’s 2008 cover on his album Encanto ( https://youtu.be/a0QLtjlSqLk ) Burt’s music has covered so many genres!
The soundtrack of my youth! The answer to your question will depend on the mood I'm in, since this music was encoded in me during those tempestuous and moody years of adolescence. Right now over coffee I'm listening to "I Say a Little Prayer for You" because my sweetheart here in Italy is convalescing from covid.
Waited a bit to answer. Happy I did. All the comments are so moving. Love his music - the soundtrack of my life. Have to go with That's What Friends are For, Raindrops and One Less Bell to Answer. Do I get a top ten instead of one?
Thank you for the wonderful tribute. Love his music and Ms. D. Warwick. I in America in 1970.
Mine would be Alfie--the song seemed perfect for Michael Caine's character in the movie.
His songs were the background music of my childhood. My favorite is “Say a Little Prayer” but it was tough since “Do you Know the Way to San Jose” is such a fun rhythm.
This Guys In Love With You.
But so many are treasures.
I loved that Burt enjoyed the horse races too and we often saw him at Santa Anita
First let me thank you for your excellent news letter which enriches and carries on the enlightened and liberal traditions of our America, counteracting the misinformation and disinformation unfortunately so currently prevalent. Great contribution to the documentaries of Ken Burns also where I first encountered you! And now thanks for including important pop culture icons like Burt Bacharach. As with many other folks it's hard to choose. As a singer myself I would probably pick "The Look of Love" and "They Long to Be (Close to You)"--especially loving Karen Carpenter's voice! Keep up the good fight!