Wishin' and Votin' - the BURT BACHARACH SONGBOOK Poll Results

Burt

Tommy Hunt, the former lead singer of the Flamingos, a really terrific doo-wop group, had just had a big hit on Scepter with "Human," so the label decided to let him cut this as a follow-up. I did the arrangement and conducted the orchestra, and Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller produced the session.

I thought it was a terrific record, but because Florence Greenberg didn't like the fact that Tommy Hunt was dating one of the Shirelles while also being kept by some other woman, she did nothing to promote it and the song went nowhere. It didn't become a hit until Dusty Springfield covered it two years later.

Tommy Hunt original — https://youtu.be/7It1ATSCRxM

Dusty my number 1,totally personal, totally perfect, can't think of another pop song that nails that feeling so well

XP Naw, this was the Top. Dad claimed he bought their first album at the merch stand.

Dusty my number 1,totally personal, totally perfect, can't think of another pop song that nails that feeling so well

XP I figured you were referencing that.

i think it's WmC's coffee break time

The story of my life.

I think everything I voted for has charted except from three tunes so...

Except for

I know what one of them is and am too discombobulated to know the others

Eating lunch, getting a grocery list from my mother, and getting the online spreadsheet ready so y'all can check the full results in a little while.

One Dusty
Two Dionnes

Oh wait, only two. What am I missing?

Damn, I got #3 ready an hour ago and then accidentally closed that tab.

While lunch and technical hitches are being sorted, you may like to know that Dionne Warwick has a new album out today!

XPS One of the Dionnes is also heavily associated w/another singer.

One Dusty
Two Dionnes

I forgot the other Dionne which also has a famous version by someone else I almost voted for.

Overjoyed at 12-0 result for Dionne vs Cilla on AWHAH.

Don’t think I’ve ever even heard that one.

I honestly don't know if I've heard any Cilla record besides "Alfie"

It’s not on the Deep Dive playlist, although that does have a French version by Pet Clark.

https://i.imgur.com/cAPNsZ3.jpg

3. The Look of Love — 922 Points, 16 Votes, 3 first-place votes
Lyric: Hal David
Dusty Springfield, 1967 single, 572 points — https://youtu.be/e8o-XuTH68w
Isaac Hayes, 1970 single, 117 points — https://youtu.be/0IzxHKI8PJE
Shelby Lynne, from Just a Little Lovin' (2008), 51 points — https://youtu.be/CfS_uw_ugDs
Dorothy Ashby, from Afro-Harping (1968), 46 points — https://youtu.be/k4vpiqKjLc8

Ella Fitzgerald cut an album for Reprise in 69 with a bunch of Brit session players covering Motown, Beatles, Randy Newman etc. Her version of ‘The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game’ is particularly suited to her.

#2 for me

XPS I think "You're My World" was Cillia's biggest stateside hit, and I only really know it from Oldies Muzak.

My #1, what an astonishing vocal.

My #3 and #4 match the consensus but I think that’s where it stops.

Courtesy of Hideous Lump on the other thread, more versions of Dusty's "Look of Love." The one in the previous post is the "Dusty whispering in your ear" U.K. vocal mix

The inferior "drenched in reverb" U.S. vocal mix: https://youtu.be/bDnrzFWlZUg

The completely different "Casino Royale" soundtrack version: https://youtu.be/MPkp-pCJYCc

xxp My #1 too but it was the Hayes version on my ballot

That Shelby Lynne version seems to be off a Dusty tribute album.

The Casino Royale version is also the only Burt-produced for Dusty version.

Cilla's version of AWHAH was #1 in UK, Ireland and NZ, selling 950k copies in the UK. Warwick's version didn't break the top 40 here, but was huge everywhere else.

Catching up on this thread (and the playlist, thanks Nag! Nag! Nag!), wish I'd had more time these past few days but not sure I've got much more to add other than to say that so many of these songs are just perfect. Bacharach was someone I never really investigated properly until my mid-20s and even then not that deeply so there's been a lot of stuff that's new to me.

Also want to echo Noodle Vague's comment about the biography excerpts, definitely want to read up more!

not even "LoL" could make that Peter Sellers-Ursula Andress love scene sexy

Xxp Don’t think Dionne Warwick ever forgave Cilla for that.

Cilla Blecch

yooooou! hooooo!

https://i.imgur.com/0BQjtxe.jpg

2. I Say a Little Prayer — 1027 Points, 17 Votes, 2 first-place votes
Lyric: Hal David
Aretha Franklin, 1968 single, 708 points — https://youtu.be/KtBbyglq37E
Dionne Warwick, 1967 single, 244 points — https://youtu.be/kafVkPxjLYg
Gene, from To See the Lights (1996), 88 points — https://youtu.be/G7CxOtEqOmQ
Al Green, from Truth N' Time (1978), 77 points — https://youtu.be/ZeQQGjoFdI0

Even after we had cut "I Say a Little Prayer," I still thought I had blown it because the tempo was too fast, so I fought to keep it from coming out as a single. One thing I love about the record business is how wrong I was. Disc jockeys all across the country started playing the track, and the song went to number four on the charts and then became the biggest hit Hal and I had ever written for Dionne.

Aretha fine I guess, but I prefer the lead to handle the full chorus too

Wow, very heavily associated w/another singer.

So, that makes it pretty obvious what the top spot goes to.

https://i.imgur.com/VqilTvJ.jpg

1. The Blob — 1243 Points, 17 Votes, 3 first-place votes
lyric: Mack David
The Five Blobs, 1959 single, 1243 points — https://youtu.be/OG2-ccAEcWs

"it glides and slides across the floor..."

No, wait, I think I misread something...

https://i.imgur.com/vwwWOWH.jpg

1. Walk On By — 1181 Points, 17 Votes, 3 first-place votes
Lyric: Hal David
Dionne Warwick, 1964 single, 821 points — https://youtu.be/ijhL9Y7skQs
Isaac Hayes, 1969 single, 260 points — https://youtu.be/iqR4CZj0mJQ
Aretha Franklin, from Runnin' Out of Fools (1964), 100 points — https://youtu.be/Z51s22JR9HI

My #5 but undeniable really.

My #3 and #4 match the consensus but I think that’s where it stops.