Burt Bacharach is DEAD to me!

RIP

His MASTERPIECE

A true legend. RIP.

Link

Truly a sad death that a wide range of DL'ers will mourn.

From his days with Lili Marlene to his more recent collaborations with Elvis Costello......so many beats in between.

That’s a ripe old age. RIP.

He done good!

Any comments yet from Marlene Dietrich?

Has Miss Angie Dickinson commented?

One less bell to answer.

He wrote timeless music, that I've enjoyed from the 60s on up. Handsome, too. RIP and thank you Mr. Bacharach.

"Trains and Boats and Planes" by the Box Tops. My favorite.

Only 94! Some people just don't have any stamina.

The Guardian has a lot of great articles about him from its archives that show up when you click on the obit. Worth a read. This is one of them.

On Dietrich

He was the best.

I guess he'll Never Fall in Love Again

Another favorite

Miss Dionne Warwick

One of the best songwriters of the 20th Century. Up there with Porter and Gershwin.

I say a little prayer for Burt

Bacharach got a lot of shit for writing schmaltzy, feather light cocktail lounge music, but I think "Alfie" is an amazing song. It's also extremely vocally challenging and requires someone with superb vocal control and range to sing it correctly. For that reason, I give credit to Dionne Warwick for being able to do the song justice.

A Bacharach medley by The Carpenters, who I always assumed were a studio act. But they sound great live:

He knew when to leave.

Earlier Dionne

So many gorgeous songs. He deserved a stronger lyricist than Hal David, though.

Lots of his songs were used in 90s/early 2000s romcoms (presumably because there was so much 60s nostalgia around that time). I actually first heard of him through the Austin Powers films.

I loved his autobiog. It was worthing of him and his songs. Us gurls talked a lot about it at the time.

That special on Dionne Warwick didn't even mention him. Shame on them.

[quote]He deserved a stronger lyricist than Hal David, though.

Tell me about it!

[quote]That special on Dionne Warwick didn't even mention him.

You're kidding! How is that possible?

I guess there weren’t enough little prayers to save him.

Loneliness remembers what happiness forgets

Wasn't there some rift between Dionne and Burt at one time? Weren't there rumors that they once had a fling and she became kind of stalker-ish after it ended?

DL fave "Turkey Lurkey Time"

Thank you for posting that one R19. My Mom and my sister were BIG fans of Burt Bacharach and (of course, Dionne Warwick), so I've always been a big fan. "Message to Michael" is my all-time favorite, which I haven't heard in quite some time. Again, thank your for posting it.

That song @ R33 my parents had a country cottage nr. London from the 1960s until 2001 and we had the album that song came from. And every weekend for all those years we played that album. It was almost a joke. It never grew tired, which just shows you how classy it was.

The needle would hit the record and this would blare out! Here we go again!

[quote]Any comments yet from Marlene Dietrich?

"Ich brauchen noch eine flasche whiskey!"

The only one who could do justice to his songs was Miss Connie Francis.

I saw Bert's death on the BBC app and I rushed straight to DL for the 'Dead to Me' thread and I wasn't disappointed!

You guys are on the ball!

This beauty was also on that album. The best version, I think

wow - I know it's a cliché but they REALLY don't make them like this anymore.

I love the stories about Bert and Miss Dietrich!

What a gal!

“Raindrops Keep Falling On My Grave”.

Burt was in the Dionne special.

R28 - Not true!

BB appeared on the documentary several times. He even joked that he use to lecture Dionne Warwick about her bad habit of smoking. He laughed as he said that at one session, she came in wearing a t-shirt which read 'Stop telling me not to smoke!'

[quote]he said that at one session, she came in wearing a t-shirt which read 'Stop telling me not to smoke!'

They sound hysterical!

I always liked Baby It's You sung by The Shirelles

Unbelievable performance.

A lesser know cover of one of his greatest.

An even lesser known version of one of biggest hits.

Especially for our Cilla Black troll

And my local crooner. Take it away Englebert...

Dionne's 20-minute "Hits Medley" which is all Bacharach except for "Then Came You" tacked on the end. I saw her do this in concert when she still had her voice. Amazing.

R33 Dionne had a falling out with Bacharach and David at some point in the 70s - if I remember right, they did an album with her that didn't fare well, and had made an agreement to do the following one, but they said no. There was a lawsuit involved and they had a falling out, which didn't get repaired until the era of That's What Friends Are For.

I don't think there was a lot of warm feelings after that, either - they didn't do much with her and I know Bacharach had a few pointed criticisms of Dionne in later years - saying she couldn't perform their work with her voice damaged by cigarettes, if I recall.

Back in the day before Dionne became The Talking Cigarette

Burt even won 2 Oscars for his songwriting skills.

The famous team: Hal David, Dionne Warwick, and Burt Bacharach.

Great songwriter. Find the version of Alfie that Streisand sang on her 2000 tour. It’s the best by far.

Burt and Dionne had a stormy relationship at times but they made beautiful music together.

R57 This one?

Burt, Hal, and Dionne working together with Dionne smoking throughout .

One of the all time Greats!!!

R46:

BTW, that's Burt Bacharach's voice you hear singing 'Sha-La-La-La-La' along with the Shirelles in the background.

Good riddance. SOB. Cheated on Angie Dickinson fucked underage black girls did nothing to support their autistic daughter who eventually committed suicide. Angie did it all. A real prick.

His autobio is very good and he’s very honest about what a cad he’s been. But ex-wife Carol Bayer Segar’s is even better. One of the dishiest reads in history. Should be DL required reading.

Burt help get Whitney Houston, who was high and unable to remember the words to a song, out of a performance during the Oscars.

Too bad he didn’t receive a Kennedy Center Honor while he was still alive and healthy. Maybe Miss Warwick will receive it as a way to honor his incredible output. RIP.

I have his memoir. Good read!!

Always liked Cilla's version of Anyone Who Had a Heart

He didn't really help her, r65, he got angry and kicked her out of the performance.

I had to laugh at this article about the disaster, where they claim Garth Brooks was so upset that Houston had been replaced with Faith Hill that he started crying!

Did he sing too, or was he only a songwriter?

He was a dreadful singer.

How can you help someone who comes to work under the influence?

I like blue.

With no discernible difference in his ability to sing.

[quote]Find the version of Alfie that Streisand sang on her 2000 tour. It’s the best by far.

I'm sure she would agree. I always loved her humblebrag about being in a cab and hearing "a wonderful girl" singing "Alfie" and making it her mission in life to find out who the gifted singer was. It was her.

Dionne's version of Alfie is a classic, sorry Babs.

RIP

Delia Mae sang it before Marie D.

This version will always remind me of "The Boys in the Band".

Oh Mary, don't ask!

Dionne singing, live, Alfie. Check it out.

Bacharach and Hal David wrote it and B.J. Thomas sang it...

R71: He use to have TV special in the late 60's, early 70 and I'd watch them with my Mom who was a big fan. Even at a young age, I thought he was an awful singer. It was an off-key whisper. I'm surprised that someone as ballsy as Miss Dionne would have told him not to sing, but maybe his ego thought otherwise.

Marilyn McCoo of the 5th Dimension sang "One Less Bell To Answer"; she's a really wonderful, underrated singer.

Dionne was probably delighted at his singing. He was never going to have hits with his own voice.

I like Rosie Clooney's version of "One Less Bell to Answer." Such an emotive singer.

Yeah, he was a terrible singer. He was talking more than singing.

I never rated B.J. Thomas as a singer. I would have been happy to rate his B.J.'s

Verificatia of sizemeat?

I always thought the lyrics to Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head were written by a seven-year-old.

[quote] He use to have

Oh, dear!

Richard Chamberlain

What do you think about the lyrics of Turkey Lurkey Time?

Dude HAD to possess a big ole donger.

I remember this commercial. The reality of their marriage was one thing, but the image they projected was that they were rich, beautiful and in love::

Awww, that’s a shame. Poor Ernie must be devastated.

I have to admit though I didn’t know he even had a last name.

I remember reading that Richard Rodgers was a bbig fan of "Raindrops."

[quote] His MASTERPIECE

Not at all. "Turkey Lurkey Time" is the masterpiece of the choreographer, Michael Bennett. As many people have noted, the music itself is one of the weakest and most forgettable pieces in the show. And Hal David's lyrics are dreadul.

If it weren't for the choreography, no one would remember this song at all--Bacharach had nothing to do with the actual choreography.

Have no idea what he was really like as a human being, but in the mid-70s I was a waiter at a Skokie IL restaurant and he was appearing at a local arena with his live show. He'd come in after the show with a pal and I waited on him several times. We started discussing female singers and he started to test me with a different young singer every night to see if I knew of their work—Rita Coolidge, Carol Bayer Sager (before he married her) were the ones I remember. He was very nice, tipped well, and invited the waitstaff to his last performance—and to a small party in his dressing room. A true gent.

It sort of feels like the end of an era. He so represented something that has now completely gone.

Ms. Warwick has commented.

[quote]We started discussing female singers and he started to test me with a different young singer every night to see if I knew of their work—Rita Coolidge, Carol Bayer Sager (before he married her) were the ones I remember

Who knew CBS as a singer or even as a famous person before he married her?

R99:

How dare you?

CBS's first album was in 1977. I worked in a record store so knew her work. She also got a foothold by co-writing a Bette Midler song, Moving Out Today.

Ain’t that the truth, Dave?

Who got all his money, and copyrights to his songs?

Did he leave it to Angie?

Inquiring minds and all that shit!!

[quote]Who knew CBS as a singer or even as a famous person before he married her?

I did. She wrote some of my favorite Melissa Manchester songs. Peter Allen co-wrote with her, too.

Here's "Midnight Blue," a little ditty she wrote that Melissa recorded in 1975. Carole and Peter wrote "Don't Cry Out Loud." And there was "Come in from the Rain."

Burt was such a talented man. He was among Brian Wilson’s top influences. His use of slash chords and minor sevenths gave so many of his songs a jazzy, timeless quality. RIP.

Another Carole Bayer Sager song for r101. (Seriously, how did you not know who she was?)

Adding to both threads

Very good BBC documentary about him and his music - not like the ghastly ones they make these days with 95% people talking boringly to the camera with occasional 2 seconds of music, but tons of music and the people who do talk, actually were important parts of his musical legacy.

Nobody could sing Alfie like Dionne. Her version is the best.

Liked Cher's version used in the film

[quote] His use of slash chords and minor sevenths

What does this mean?

And I’m not being snarky, I’m genuinely interested.

I swear we've planned all along to have my relationship with Burt and how much my recordings did for his career be a part of the Part II of my now-legendarily successful television series. Or maybe III.

Still planning on it.

You know you can trust me on that, baby.

Cilla's version of Alfie ruled.

I love Dionne and prefer her version of most other songs (especially the ones that heffa ReRe tried to snatch from her) but Cilla nailed the whole attitude and story for Alfie.

How did he not win a Kennedy Center award with all the too young and ridiculous people they give it to like they're scraping the bottom of the barrel?

They may have offered, and he declined.

[quote]Who got all his money, and copyrights to his songs?

Probably his last wife of 30 years, their two children, and his son from his marriage to Carole.

[quote] They may have offered, and he declined.

I don't think that was the case. He did an interview with Carole Bayer Sager a year or so ago and she mentioned that she hope he would get a KCH soon as he deserved one. He could've responded then by saying he declined, but he didn't. Bacharach wasn't one to decline honors.

KCH often flubs it. The live onstage tribute could have been amazing.

R109, great memory, I'd forgotten about Dave Koz. Cheers.

Home to Myself is Melissa's best album.

"The Windows of the World"

R75- he wrote it for Streisand-

And that’s not how she told the story R75, not at all.

[quote] he wrote it for Streisand-

No, he didn't. As with all the music Hal David and Burt Bacharach wrote back then, Dionne Warwick was always the first person they had in mind to perform the songs as she was considered their greatest interpreter. Paramount wanted someone from the UK to sing it for the movie, which is why they went with Cilla Black, even though Dionne was Hal and Burt's first choice.

Why do birds...

R98 great story! According to his autobio, that was a bad period for him. He was in a creative freeze. According to Carol Bayer Sager, he sought her out because he thought her lyrics could get him out of a slump. Might be why he asked you about her!

The King sings Bacharach

He kept two early Woody Allen films from death with his great scores for them: What's New Pussycat and Casino Royale.

Didn't Cher sing the song "Alfie" at the end of that Michael Caine film? No one ever seems to talk about that version, which I recall was fine, but Dionne's is so wonderful. Did she not have already recorded it by the time the film was finished?

No. Dionne was something like the 42nd, 47th person to record and release a version.

I've seen claims that Millicent Martin was the first to sing "Alfie" on initial prints of the movie. But that seems doubtful.

Are there different release prints of the film "Alfie" that have different vocal versions of the song at the end?

Dionne even sang it at the Oscars when it was nominated for Best Original Song. Hal and Burt always wanted Dionne to be the first to perform the song, as they knew she would deliver the definitive version.

Why didn'y they have her perform "The Look of Love" first?

*didn't

The Look...'03

One of Brasil '66's biggest hits. Lead vocal by Janis Hansen.

They denied Bacharach but yet Debbie fucking Allen got a KCH? Are you kidding me?

[R39] DL is where I learn about/confirm all the celebrity death news; the home page on my phone

Bert was Burt's father.

Why was the Sergio Mendes version of "Look of Love" a bigger hit than Dusty Springfield's version? Better promotion?

Sheesh, that r47 Streisand performance is too much.

I write this with love for Barbra, she's my favorite singer, but, hell, one of her at a time is overwhelming. Two of her at a time? No thanks.

Her version of OLBTA is way, way over sung. The song doesn't need it. It's melodramatic enough as it is.

Yes, it's all subjective; in the ear of the beholder, but every interpretation by Streisand is not the best version.

McCoo owns OLBTA and that Clooney version is sublime, too.

Don't Make Me Over - love this one

What the world needs now is Seconal!

Condolences to all his baby mommas and various children by different women.

r146: She realized the song sucked.

[quote]Didn't Cher sing the song "Alfie" at the end of that Michael Caine film? No one ever seems to talk about that version

R112 talked about it.

Was Burt married to Angie in 1971? Because he and Barbra were definitely fucking during this special.

Guess it was blocked for some other nonsense elsewhere.

r143: They performed it on the Academy Awards broadcast in April 1968.

This will always bring me back to C-Street in Chicago, circa 1990.

This is another good one

What a handsome guy he was, too.

r39 r41 As r142 pointed out, BERT Bacharach was Burt's father and was a well-known syndicated columnist. Which, of course, makes BURT a NEPO BABY!

My all-time favorite by him is "Wanting Things"...originally sung by Edward Winter in "Promises, Promises", but it just feels more like a song that should be sung by a female.

Dionne Warwick and Astrud Gilberto both recorded it, but the first time I heard it was by the Pointer Sisters (actually just one Pointer Sister...June, maybe?)

I've got the DVD release from 20 some years ago, and Cher sings Alfie during the credits.

R134 Although the song "Alfie" (as recorded by Black) had served as a promotional tool for the film's UK release, it did not serve as an official theme song, because director Lewis Gilbert felt the song would distract from the jazz score he had had Sonny Rollins provide for the film. United Artists compromised with Gilbert in keeping the song out of the main body of the film, instead having it play during the closing credits. The song was also not included on the soundtrack album of the film's UK release. However, the film's US distributor, United Artists, wanted the song featured on the US release of the soundtrack album.

Rather than utilize Black's version, United Artists commissioned a new version of the song "Alfie" by the 20-year-old American singer/actress Cher, who was on the roster of Imperial Records. Cher recorded the song at Gold Star Studios, in a rendition produced by her then-husband Sonny Bono, which followed a similar production style to that of Phil Spector. Cher's version of "Alfie" was released at the end of June 1966, almost two months prior to the film's US premiere (August 25, 1966). Despite being the follow-up to her #2 hit "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)", "Alfie" rose no higher than #32.[10] It was also a top 40 hit in Canada, reaching #36.[11]

The more I see of poor, put-upon Judy, the less I like her.

Thanks for these memories, everyone. Seriously. Some of the songs I didn't know were his. Others I just forgot.

Debbie Allen before Burt Bachrach indeed. SMDH.

Here's Cher on The Smothers Brothers Show, singing ALFIE. My expectations were low. Meh. Why did she even cover this song.

On one documentary, Dionne trashes poor Cilla, and her recordings of songs Dionne had sung first, but I still like Cilla's version of Alfie best.

god I fucking hate Alfie. I like Bacharach, but fucking alfie, fuck that noise. And it's just the sort of shit that artistes get all stupid about. Tedious.

Whitney does her vocal gymnastics on Alfie

For me one of the great theater songs of the era. And Buckley's clarion times are unmatchable. (And the orchestrations by the young Jonathan Tunick are great).

Of course she did. Hope she was stoned at least.

I wish Whitney had covered this song pre-Bodyguard (or maybe around the time of The Bodyguard) because she was clearly in vocal decline around the late 90s. Her cover can't touch her cousins' (Dionne and Dee Dee).

Simply the best performance of a Bacharach song to ever exist. Nothing else even comes close.

R104, Steve, it's time to let go....move toward the light...

[quote] Simply the best performance of a Bacharach song to ever exist. Nothing else even comes close.

Wrong. This is

r169 Babs dueting with her favorite artist.

A couple of tweets from Jackie DeShannon.

Jackie DeShannon @JackieDeShannon

I’ll never forget that day. I was such a big fan of Burt Bacharach and was so excited that he was going to produce a recording session for me. As we were rehearsing a few songs one stood out the most..

Off we went to New York to Bell Sound studios to record one of the greatest songs ever written - the original “What THE WORLD NEEDS NOW IS LOVE.” My life was never the same. Thank you Hal David, Thank you Burt. You will be missed. Jackie DeShannon

Oh nice, Jackie DeShannon. Very sweet.

Jackie DeShannon? Jackie DeNasty!

I though BJ Thomas doing 'Everybody's Out Of Town' was equal to 'Raindrops...'

R163, Dionne has a great legacy of song and I can’t under stand why she is so resentful and so ungenerous towards other talented singers. I just don’t think she is a very nice or even happy person.

Dionne sounds great here

Loved how they used that song it in an otherwise off-the-wall movie, even gave Burt a quick cameo.

I *never* miss...

I've never heard the Rosemary Clooney version of OLBTA and it is sublime! Thank you thank you to the person who posted that.

I really like this one, too

My all time favorite. Jill O'Hara singing "Whoever You, I Love You."

Tonight, in honor of Burt Bacharach, I played the big hit single I Say A Little Prayer. It was the first record that Dionne Warwick received a gold record for - courtesy of Burt and Hal David.

The very first record I ever bought was Theme From The Valley Of The Dolls by Dionne Warwick. Oddly enough it wasn't written by Burt Bacharach but it was produced by Burt and Hal David.

R169 is James Brolin.

I always felt sorry for poor Hal David. Burt had that cool, handsome Ladies Man aura about him, while Hal always looked like a poor schlub.

"Baby It's You" is such a great song. It's been done as a sha-la-la Motown hit (Shirelles), a GREAT rocker (Smith) and a gorgeous ballad (Carpenters).

[quote] The very first record I ever bought was Theme From The Valley Of The Dolls by Dionne Warwick.

That song is a tear-jerker. I love it.

The entertainment industry has lost one hell of a musical giant today! Burt Convy wrote some of the all time great songs of the 60s, and he was a hell of a Baccarat player, too! LOVED Vegas! Everyone from my generation remembers the first time they heard his smash hit "Anyone Who Hadda Fart" sung by his muse, Diana Warwick. He wrote his best songs while collaborating with wife number three, Bayer asprin and Seagram's ginger ale heiress, Carol Baker. We'll have wife number two, Janice Dickins, on later in the hour but first lets take some calls - YOU know the way, San Jose. You're on!

And now for the worst rendition…

Ed "Mingo" Ames' specialty is tomahawks. He's still alive at 95. I had no idea he charted about a dozen AC hits on Billboard in the mid-60s. Wait for Carson's punch line in the link.

[Quote] Dionne has a great legacy of song and I can’t under stand why she is so resentful and so ungenerous towards other talented singers.

If you became a star singer in the time where a hotel would drain the pool after you swam in it, you might be testy too.

Oh no! I loved Yes Sir I Can Boogie

Ed Ames and his brothers released the 3rd #1 hit of the 50s 21 years before Ed released his11 Bacharach-Davids.

Will no one honor this classic?

I will!

R146 OMG! Garland just murdered that song. That is the most mechanical, apathetic version of a Bacharach song I've ever heard.

To be fair, Garland was just rehearsing.

has dionne warwick held forth yet?

This made it to Broadway! Ed Ames would have been better.

Polly Bergen also did a version of "What the World Needs Now Is Love", probably at the height of her smoking habit. That song doesn't really suit a heavy contralto.

[quote]To be fair, Garland was just rehearsing.

Exactly. She was marking the song, not performing it. This clip shows both the rehearsal footage and her actual performance.

I actually like this version from American Idol:

R203 She looks so much better in the broadcast, but she still assassinates that song with her ballpark diction and sloppy phrasing.

Let's face it. That song is not in Garland's sweet spot. It has a boring melody and the lyric tells no story.

It sounds like the schlock it really is when Judy sings it. She's too good a singer to be able to hide it. She can't help but reveal it.

R22

Cher sang the theme song from Alfie, the movie.

Marlene was jealous of Angie

He wrote that while Marlene was down in South Africa, she would have voodoo dolls made to look like his wife only to “put pins in them.” When he and Angie got married in Vegan in 1965, Dietrich confronted him calling his wife every name under the sun. The screen actress would admit later in life that he “broke her heart.”

Cher recorded Alfie for the movie? I never knew that!

[Quote] It sounds like the schlock it really is when Judy sings it. She's too good a singer to be able to hide it. She can't help but reveal it.

What a load of nonsense.

That it's a schlock song? Well it is. Like The Candyman. Imagine Sinatra singing it..

What I always thought was weird was how, when he was working with Hal David in the 60's, his music was very inventive, with unusual melodies and time signatures.

When he wrote with Carole Bayer Sager in the 80's, it became very schlocky...just your typical, average pop balladry that anybody could have written.

What happened?

Though to be fair Sinatra did sing a fair number of schlock songs And Ella never sang despite its enormous popularity at the time. As far as I can find. But Lena did. Still it's embarrassing.

I don't believe there is one good song in Lost Horizon. And when you had a huge musical coming out there would be covers to get radio play and publicity. Were there any from this film?

I thought the score for Lost Horizon was good. But Hal David's lyrics were embarrassing and made a bad movie to begin with worse.

Sinatra sang "Something Stupid." Enough said.

I love the score to LOST HORIZON even with the terrible lyrics. Unfortunately, the songs laughably sucked in context.

[Quote] That it's a schlock song? Well it is. Like The Candyman. Imagine Sinatra singing it..

"Too good a singer to be able to hide it." That's nonsense. Total nonsense.

Marlene Dietrich was nearly 30 years older than Burt Bacharach yet she was delusional enough to believe that Burt would actually be hot to trot for her. JFC.

Excuse me! I vas the vorld's sexyist grandmozer!

I still wonder if Marlene and Burt got busy.

I bet they did.

I've been wondering if Dionne and Burt got busy.

Burt's memoir, which has sections writen by others, including Angie and Carole, mentioned that Burt brought Angie to see Dionne in concert and that Dionne made a point of donning a blonde wig for her performance. Dionne was not known for wearing blonde hair in the 1960s.

Something tells me Dionne's moustache was not enticing to Burt.

"I was stunned to see Dionne seated at a small table directly in front of the stage, and every time I looked in her direction her eyes were throwing daggers of hate at me. I could feel the rage spewing forth without even looking at her."

R227 In fairness to Dionne, anyone who had to sit through Carole Bayer Sager singing would be looking at the stage with searing hatred.

And Dionne is a lezzie. She didn't want that Bacharach peen.

But she sure was into Dietrich!

Connie & Burt on The Golden Globes when Connie had the unusual task of singing all of the nominated songs.

I can't forgive this man for the ungrammatical lyrics in 'You're just too good to be true'.

[quote] Can't take my eyes off of you.

That lyric needs to be re-worded!

That wasn't a Hal David lyric. Nor a Bacharach tune.

Composer and lyricists work together in simpatico to avoid glaring ugliness as that lyric.

Don't confuse R231 with facts!

I've never liked Dionne Warwick. I knew someone who worked with her and he said she was a horrible person (plus, the ripping of AIDS charities thing).

But I listened to the Fresh Air interviews with Bacharach (who barely let Hal get in a word) today and they played Dionne singing "Promises, Promises." I was really taken by how great her singing was. That song changes timing about 20 times and she effortlessly glided over it, making every word crystal clear.

I thought it was interesting that both Burt and Hal said that Aretha Franklin's version of "I Say A Little Prayer" is far superior to Dionne's. I disagree and thought it was an ungallant thing to say about someone who had helped make their careers. Even if she is a cunt.

That wasn't a comment on Dionne's singing. Bacharach said that he made the tempo too fast on Dionne's version.

There’s a video on YouTube where Bacharach, Hal David, Dionne, along with auntie Cissy and others from the Sweet Inspirations, working on the song, and throughout the video, Bacharach kept stopping and saying, “I don’t like it. I don’t like it.” He was criticizing himself as he wasn’t liking the tempo. Dionne’s performance on the track which was impeccable.

Burt also criticized the tempo of Dionne's "Promises Promises." He thought it was too slow.

"Knowing When to Leave" was slowed down for her as well.

I've always thought it strange that Burt conducted Dionne's "Valley of the Dolls" but the arrangement was by Pat Williams. It didn't really track with Burt's control freak nature. Not to mention the fact that he didn't write the track, a theme tune to a big movie.

He and David are credited on the label for Dionne's version of "You've Lost That Loving Feelin'" even though they had nothing to do with it. It was a contractual thing.

This was in 2022.....he definitely was nearing the end, but still sharp mentally.

Has anyone mentioned Marlene drooling over him.

What good songs are there in Lost Horizon? I must have not noticed them being in shock from the awfulness of everything.

Promises was the last good old fashioned musical. A linear narrative, a good book, and a knockout score. They attempted a few after but they were pretty bad and the concept musical took over jet propelled by Company.

[quote]Broadway Thrillers: SLEUTH, DRACULA, ANGEL STREET (A/K/A GASLIGHT), DIAL 'M' FOR MURDER, NIGHT MUST FALL, ROPE, CHILD'S PLAY, ARSENIC AND OLD LACE, WAIT UNTIL DARK.

"Arsenic and Old Lace" involves a series of murders, but it's a wacky farce in which zany complications ensue, not a thriller.

Two women are serial killers and it's still a funny light hearted diversion. Kind of remarkable.