Burt Bacharach

 

One of my earliest memories is being left in the car with the radio on and there were was one song that stood out - `I’ll Never Fall In Love Again`. Of course at such a young age I had no idea what the lyrics were about but there was something engaging about that tune, something memorable. The way the middle eight soars out of the verse is spectacular. Like all great songs it feels unusual yet familiar. Burt Bacharach, who died this week, was the composer of that and many, many more gems. Its incredible now how he was viewed for a while as outdated when these are songs with a timelessness that allows them to be updated and remade.

 

Listening to Bacharach’s music right now, it’s impressive how many rhythms ,styles and different approaches he took from the waltz time of `What The World Needs Now is Love`, the light jazzy chords that support `The Look of Love`, the Spanish favoured arrangement of `Blue on Blue` or the country music speckled `24 Hours From Tulsa`. It was lyricist Hal David who humanised his best songs and their canon is impeccable- there is not a more joyous song than ``Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head` and I love the way, like all great Bachrach, it spools on slightly longer than most songwriters would take it. That was his skill, drawing out the music of the verse just a bit more, taking it to a high. He even gives it an instrumental coda that doesn’t need to be there but somehow makes it even better.  

`Say a Little Prayer` provides a perfect platform for Aretha Franklin and shows how his songs crossed the much stricter musical genres that existed back then. It’s hard to imagine the music of Perry Como or Aretha Franklin otherwise overlapping. `What’s New Pussycat` is a glorious stomper, banging piano and a wonderfully circuitous tune. I love the epic Bacharach as evidenced equally on `Make It Easy on Yourself`.

Unlike a lot of songwriters he also arranged a lot of his work and whenever you hear those familiar aspects- especially his trumpets – it sounds like nobody else. Those trumpets are happy-sad just like many of his tunes. When he did pen sadder songs- like `A House is Not A Home` - they really work so well; another well known example is `Walk on By` which captures the lyric’s sense of regret so much that you can picture a mini drama.

His tunes are untethered by convention, wandering where they will; the exquisite way they glide never palls; `Do You Know the Way to San Jose` spirals ahead as if you’re actually in that car headed for that place. He understood that joy and sadness are linked so even if his music is celebratory- like `Close To You`- it could just as well be melancholy if that relationship fizzled out. Yet other times he would be unashamedly straightforward- `Magic Moments` has no artifice at all and saunters along so jauntily. `Story of My Life`, an earlier song hints at the kaleidoscopic quality that would become more prominent. A surprising later career collaboration comes with Elvis Costello on `God Give me Strength` which recaptures those Sixties triumphs so well.

My favourites? Hard to say but I’ll go for `Anyone Who Had A Heart` which is so dramatic whoever sings it- Dionne Warwick’s version is softer, the Cilla Black interpretation is harder but I like them both. And the simple sentiment of `What The World Needs Now Is Love` which is perhaps the only song that can get away with such a suggestion. `Make It Easy On Yourself` and `Raindrops Keep Falling on Your Head` are in there.  Oh and `This Girl’s’ in Love With You` which has been covered by all sort of people and when it gets to the chorus, well, this is surely what love is about!

Then again I always go back to `I’ll Never Fall In Love Again` from way back in that car to now.  That’s the thing with his music; whatever your age you can always go back to it and see it in a different light.  If you haven’t already, every home should have a cache of Burt Bacharach songs in whichever format you prefer because they are some of the best songs ever written.