This is perhaps my favorite Burt Bacharach/Hal David song. It started with Keely Smith before super producer Bones Howe discovered her version and did a splendid version of the song for the Fifth Dimension with a great Marilyn McCoo lead vocal. It's been said that part of the reason for the friction between Dionne Warwick and McCoo (besides "Solid Gold" that Warwick believed McCoo stole from her) is because McCoo had a monster hit with a Bachrach/David song. Warwick tried it herself with good results. Although McCoo is arguably the least talented of the many singers who've done the song, hers remains the standard, due in no small part to Howe. It was also prominently featured in the Robert Wagner show "To Catch a Thief". Sheryl Crow did the song on a Bacharach tribute and did a very respectable job.
Only familiar with The Fifth Dimension's version of it - they did a great job, I bought it, and it was a big hit.
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | May 20, 2020 4:25 AM |
This should have been a poll.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | May 20, 2020 4:25 AM |
I liked the version on Glee by Kirstin Chenoweth. Can't say I ever really got into the show but it introduced me to the song, so there's that. And she has a pretty voice.
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | May 20, 2020 4:33 AM |
Regardless of who sings it, it's a real downer of a song - don't listen to it when your in an inner turmoil!
| by Anonymous | reply 12 | May 20, 2020 4:44 AM |
Back in the day, a good drag queen could pay her rent with this song.
| by Anonymous | reply 13 | May 20, 2020 4:49 AM |
McCoo, definitely. I love Warwick's Bacharach/David recordings, but her versions are not always the definitive ones.
| by Anonymous | reply 14 | May 20, 2020 4:52 AM |
I agree with r14. McCoo brings a sweetness to the slow rhythms that Warwick cannot--Warwick's great art was singing beautfully and expansively but not overemotionally, which works beautifully with most of Bacharach's other songs since Hal David's lyrics are usually so sentimental (think of how awful "A House is not a Home" or "Walk on By" can be when singers overwork the pathos). But in this song you really need a singer who can convey both warmth and her sadness and regret at what she's singing, and McCoo does that much better than Warwick.
| by Anonymous | reply 15 | May 20, 2020 4:58 AM |
Fewer!
| by Anonymous | reply 17 | May 20, 2020 5:08 AM |
[quote] Although McCoo is arguably the least talented of the many singers who've done the song, hers remains the standard, due in no small part to Howe.
No one would argue that. I saw Marilyn McCoo perform "One Less Bell To Answer" in 2018. She was about 75 at the time. She still sounds wonderful and the song is definitively hers. She is a gifted vocalist and all the other versions have been based on her vocal arrangement. Bassey or Streisand may have more lung power but they can't match McCoo's mixture of anguish and patrician restraint.
| by Anonymous | reply 18 | May 20, 2020 5:19 AM |
R16, wow, don't know much about Bassey but she really had a great take on the song.
| by Anonymous | reply 20 | May 20, 2020 6:16 AM |
Marilyn McCoo of course. Her voice rings out like Whitney on this one. I guess she was the Whitney of her time. I would compare this to Houston's I Have Nothing. But this is one of the best recordings of the Fifth Dimension. I love most 5th Dimension, but you can't compare her to others or vice versa. Just like one could love not compare Karen Carter with McCoo - different styles, different sound, "melisma"...
| by Anonymous | reply 21 | May 20, 2020 8:33 AM |
R21. Oops, meant Karen Carpenter, not Carter.
| by Anonymous | reply 25 | May 20, 2020 9:12 AM |
I used to have a pair of socks with pictures of a forlorn woman singing "One less egg to fry," on them. I think I found them at Marshall's or TJ Maxx.
| by Anonymous | reply 26 | May 20, 2020 9:21 AM |
McCoo and 5th Dimension, fer shur.
She had amazing pipes, a clear, strong voice. She transitions flawlessly from hushed sadness to fierce anguish. The tempo is perfect, not too fast or to slow, and the harmonies are lush. Plus the bitch looked good.
| by Anonymous | reply 27 | May 20, 2020 10:32 AM |
The Fifth Dimension had the perfect sound for the song---Marilyn McCoo made the awkward phrasing work and the production and backups kept the middle of the road, tinpan alley sound without getting sappy or dull.
| by Anonymous | reply 28 | May 20, 2020 12:16 PM |
There's a lot to like in the various performances and some really wonderful vocal choices but in the end McCoo is the clear winner and for me, a surprise second was Crow.
| by Anonymous | reply 29 | May 20, 2020 7:27 PM |
r29, I agree.
| by Anonymous | reply 30 | May 20, 2020 8:48 PM |
I like Helen Keller's Version best
| by Anonymous | reply 31 | May 20, 2020 10:00 PM |
Well I say Mariyn fit the win. Her voice is perfect for that song. Smoky and with angst. I did enjoy the glee version with Kristin Chenoweth and Matthew Morrison
| by Anonymous | reply 32 | May 21, 2020 12:58 AM |
The egg part always takes me out of the song.
| by Anonymous | reply 33 | May 21, 2020 1:14 AM |
Marilyn really needs to consider sleeves.
Or Crepe Erase.
| by Anonymous | reply 34 | May 21, 2020 1:49 AM |
That was a dreadful song. I like her voice, though.
| by Anonymous | reply 35 | May 21, 2020 1:54 AM |
The Glee version was lifted directly from Barbra's arrangement. Barbra's recording of this is one of the greatest in her entire canon.
| by Anonymous | reply 36 | May 21, 2020 2:52 AM |
"...one less egg to fry"
Miss Marilyn's version snatches all the wigs.
| by Anonymous | reply 37 | May 21, 2020 4:21 AM |