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Burt Bacharach
was the master of the mellow jazz-infected orchestral melody.
If Cole Porter's songs had been the quintessence of calculated
aristocratic elegance, the songs of Bacharach were the quintessence of
spontaneous middle-class elegance: casual, unassuming, almost involuntary.
His golden years were the ones with lyricist Hal David, a collaboration
that yielded several classics of easy listening, often interpreted (from 1963
on) by Dionne Warwick:
The Story of my Life (1957), sung by Marty Robbins,
Magic Moments (1958), sung by Perry Como,
Baby It's You (1961) for the Shirelles,
Liberty Valance (1962), Only Love Can Break a Heart (1962) and 24 Hours from Tulsa (1963) for Gene Pitney,
Blue On Blue (1963) for Bobby Vinton,
Anyone Who Had a Heart (1964) and Walk On By (1964) for Warwick,
Wishin' And Hopin' (1964) for Dusty Springfield,
Send Me No Flowers (1964) for Doris "Day" VonKappelhoff,
Always Something There to Remind me (1964) for Lou Johnson and then Sandie Shaw and then Warwick,
Don't Go Breakin' My Heart (1965) and Trains And Boats And Planes (1965) for himself (one of the few singles released under his own name),
What The World Needs Now Is Love (1965) for Jackie DeShannon,
Alfie (1966) for Warwick,
I Say A Little Prayer (1967), Do You Know the Way to San Jose? (1967) and Valley of the Dolls (1968) for Warwick,
The Look Of Love (1968) for Sergio Mendes,
Message to Michael (1968) and I'll Never Fall in Love Again (1969) under his own name and then for Warwick,
This Girl's In Love With You (1969) for Warwick,
Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head (1969) for B.J. Thomas,
Close To You (1970) for the Carpenters.
Bacharach also scored Clive Donner's film What's New Pussycat? (1965),
that contained What's New Pussycat (for Tom Jones)
and My Little Red Book,
and
George Roy Hill's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).
Replacing David with his wife Carole Bayer Sager, Bacharach still delivered
Arthur's Theme/ The Best that You Can Do (1981) for Christopher Cross,
That's What Friends are For (1986) for Warwick and
On My Own (1986) for Patti Labelle.
At This Time (2006) employed a number of contemporary vocalists,
including rappers and rockers
Elvis Costello and
Rufus Wainwright.
Bacharach died in 2023.
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(Translation by/ Tradotto da Massimo Orioles)
Burt Bacharach č stato il maestro delle melodie jazz-orchestrali suadenti e sdolcinate. Contrariamente ai brani di Cole Porter, quintessenza della calcolata eleganza aristocratica, quelli di Bacharach furono il simbolo della spontanea eleganza borghese: informale, senza pretese, quasi inconsapevole. I suoi anni d'oro furono quelli con il cantante Hal David, una collaborazione che diede vita a molti classici di facile ascolto, spesso interpretati (dal 1963 in poi) da Dionne Warwick: The Story of my Life (1957), cantata da Marty Robbins, Magic Moments (1958), cantata da Perry Como, Baby It's You (1961) per le Shirelles, Liberty Valance (1962), Only Love Can Break a Heart (1962) and 24 Hours from Tulsa (1963) per Gene Pitney, Blue On Blue (1963) per Bobby Vinton, Anyone Who Had a Heart (1964) and Walk On By (1964) per Warwick, Wishin' And Hopin' (1964) per Dusty Springfield, Send Me No Flowers (1964) per Doris "Day" VonKappelhoff, Always Something There to Remind me (1964) per Lou Johnson e poi per Sandie Shaw e per Warwick, Don't Go Breakin' My Heart (1965) e Trains And Boats And Planes (1965) per Bacharach stesso (uno dei pochi singoli usciti con il suo nome), What The World Needs Now Is Love (1965) per Jackie DeShannon, Alfie (1966) per Warwick, I Say A Little Prayer (1967), Do You Know the Way to San Jose? (1967) e Valley of the Dolls (1968) per Warwick, The Look Of Love (1968) per Sergio Mendes, Message to Michael (1968) e I'll Never Fall in Love Again (1969) uscito con il suo nome e per Warwick, This Girl's In Love With You (1969) per Warwick, Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head (1969) per B.J. Thomas, Close To You (1970) per i Carpenters. Bacharach compose sia la colonna sonora per il film di Clive Donner What's New Pussycat? ( titolo italiano: Ciao Pussycat) (1965), che contiene What's New Pussycat (cantata da Tom Jones) e My Little Red Book, sia quella del film di George Roy Hill Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). Dopo aver rimpiazzato con sua moglie Carole Bayer Sager, Bacharach compose Arthur's Theme/ The Best that You Can Do (1981) for Christopher Cross, That's What Friends are For (1986) per Warwick e On My Own (1986) per Patti Labelle. At This Time (2006) include un certo numero di cantanti contemporanei, compresi rappers e rockers come Elvis Costello e Rufus Wainwright.
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