Living Together, Polling Together — it's the BURT BACHARACH SONGBOOK Ballot Poll

Fun fact: "How About?", a BB-written b-side to "How Can You Not Believe Me" by Della Reese (Jubilee Records, late 50s) isn't on Spotify OR Youtube.

Manfred Mann's "My Little Red Book," which isn't on Spotify:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=se7Ywa668aw

Can't check at the moment, don't suppose this is on Spotify? Love the version of After the Fox in particular, but it's all p sweet:

https://www.discogs.com/Jim-ORourke-All-Kinds-Of-People-Love-Burt-Bacharach/master/803741

Sadly no.

Handy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_written_by_Burt_Bacharach

wonderful ! can't wait for this.

first things first: i think all burt fans will greatly appreciate this version of always something there to remind me by WENDELL STUART AND THE DOWNBEATERS, an amazing late '60s bahamian calypso-soul group. this song changed my life. it's worth three minutes of your time.

love's "little red book" will be very high on my ballot.

"reach out" is my favorite example of burt playing his own tunes. glad to see it's on the playlist. i also really like the cover:

https://img.discogs.com/57VQh9PTnwpFXt8Ja7gcZp6oikw=/fit-in/551x548/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-532165-1239442175.jpeg.jpg

excited to dive deep, as it were, into the playlist and elsewhere. long live burt !

also thanks for that jim o'rourke tip xp

also, while i'm here:

"baby it's you" by the shirelles is one of the most beautiful recordings i know. really magical production by luther dixon, nice and spacious with plenty of reverb, super-earnest and oh-so-sweet vocal delivery, it's just so classic. check it out on youtube

Yeah, thanks for mentioning that Jim O'R album, Ward, I've had it for about a year and need to give it another listen or two. O'Rourke was one of my avenues in to BB's work via the cover of "Something Big" on Eureka.

Speaking of great Burt tribute albums, I love the Great Jewish Music BB album that John Zorn produced in 1997. There are a couple of clunkers but mostly fantastic.

i just realized that the "sweet jane" bridge is a reference to "anyone who has a heart" !!

speaking of which, how do we feel about interpolations and (prominent) samples -- particularly when burt is credited ? (n.b. i'm not trying to vote for "sweet jane")

Great stuff WmC, looking forward to going through the deep dive playlist.

In a crossover with the Bob Stanley thread, I recently heard this great (and unreleased until 1992) Bacharach/David song via the Saint Etienne Present Songs for the Carnegie Deli comp:

Irma Thomas - Live Again

xp - If Burt's name is on it just because his work is sampled and not because of any active involvement in the creation of the song, it doesn't belong here imo.

Thanks for that Irma Thomas link, Gavin, I've added it to the big playlist. Everything upthread that I hadn't previously added was also added, assuming it was available. I'm ashamed to say I didn't know about the Stranglers track.

When I ran across the Smith cover of "Baby It's You" last night I kind of flipped, I hadn't heard that version in 35 years probably.

OK, the full youtube url embeds, let's see if the short one does too. This is Trini Lopez's "Made in Paris," not on Spotify:
https://youtu.be/eu4z52bJPU0

OK, good. Here are the available youtubes from Great Jewish Music: Burt Bacharach.

Wayne Horvitz, “Close To You” - https://youtu.be/MhliDovlMpA
Marc Ribot, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” (electric, with band) - https://youtu.be/K6de2BkfhEo
Dave Douglas, “Wives and Lovers” - https://youtu.be/CkUW_Fc2xj0
Guy Klucevsek, “Who Gets the Guy?/This Guy’s in Love With You” - https://youtu.be/1ofUIdRc5_A
Kramer, “Walk on By” - https://youtu.be/8pvEZKaYIbA
Erik Friedlander, “Promises, Promises” - https://youtu.be/ti8_LA-_OdE
Fred Frith, “Trains and Boats and Planes” - https://youtu.be/juNwNdYic5w
Medeski, Martin & Wood, “Do You Know the Way to San Jose” - https://youtu.be/0EK2RuhfVfM
Elliott Sharp, “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” - https://youtu.be/MXd92r8dQaQ
Mike Patton, “She’s Gone Away” - https://youtu.be/avhABirTsgE
Lloyd Cole w/Robert Quine, “I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself” - https://youtu.be/uW6muHCqqnc
Anthony Coleman/Selfhaters, “A House Is Not a Home” - https://youtu.be/HogOIYRVkXM
Bill Frisell, “What the World Needs Now Is Love” - https://youtu.be/CuEHSvWcV64

Missing: Joey Baron, "Alfie" (solo drums); Zeena Parkins, "Freefall"; Marc Ribot, "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" (solo acoustic version, really fucking fantastic, it kills me that it's not available); Marie McAuliffe, "I Say a Little Prayer"; Yuka Honda & Sean Lennon, "The Look of Love"; Shelley Hirsch, "What's New Pussycat"; Eyvind Kang, "I Took My Strength from You (I Had None)".

Oh my god, this will be a tough one. I don't use spotify so I'll lobby for a couple near and dear to my heart with youtube links.

When I moved back to New Orleans about a month after fleeing Katrina I drove around the city in a daze with Everybody's Out of Town by BJ Thomas on loop. The vertiginous horns and strings. BJ's awshucks tone while singing about what to any sane person would be a total nightmare. The most menacing Burt ever got: https://youtu.be/qiLII1skGOU

The Shirelles - "Long Day Short Night". Somehow even sweeter and tauter than Dionne's version. Didn't get released until the 80s for some reason. Few songs capture the excitement of new love as well as this one does: https://youtu.be/Lt1FqpqOVAE

Also, Mo Plen Bacharach another good comp of Burt songs, all in Italian.

Love Sylvester’s version (with Two Tons O’ Fun) of “I Took My Strength From You” on his Step II album:

You Tube link

Cool, some of the songs on that Italian comp were on spotify, added to the playlist.

Excellent! Nice thread title. *starts playlist*

The Hammond Brothers, "Thirty Miles of Railroad Track" (Bacharach-Hilliard) - Abner, 1962
https://youtu.be/otsJwO83m7s

Big Ups to WmC, you're doing everything I would have done with this poll and then some.

I would have called this thread "ILXORS Can Be VOTERS* Too" tho.

*or POLLERS. Indecision like that stifled my stewardship.

Cool, thanks for letting me pick it back up.

I just found the wildest "Wives and Lovers" yet, by Japanese "death jazz" sextet Soil & "Pimp" Sessions.
https://youtu.be/iqwmOxlnT80
also added to the big list

1st ballot received! The songs came with artists, which leads me to a clarification about this poll. You can include artists with your song choices, but it's not necessary, because votes for, say, Aretha's and Dionne's versions of "I Say a Little Prayer" will be combined, and the results will just be for the songs irrespective of their performers. This is a Burt poll, after all.

What would be a good side poll or two? Favorite performer of BB songs would be a race for 2nd place, I assume...

One less well-known song I'd like to call to your attention is Dream Sweet Dreamer, a Dionne Warwick b-side : https://youtu.be/j8npRt-7L18
The followup single, "The April Fools" is grand: https://youtu.be/UuNMlfYvmuc
Elvis Presley's version of "Any Day Now" was my #1 pick in the Elvis poll last summer: https://youtu.be/xg0D_E1WLn8

Nice. Elvis is a major blind spot for me, didn't know about this version.

and the results will just be for the songs irrespective of their performers. This is a Burt poll, after all.

is there a way you can roll out the results with the (different, according to votes) performers listed with the tracks ?

for me at least — and this was partially informed by yr op — the performances were a p big part of the ranking. so i was envisioning a roll out where there was a possibility of al green doing “say a little prayer” but also dionne would place in a separate slot for the same song. is that not the case ?

because like. if the songs get combined anyway, what is even the point of us all sharing different renditions of the same tune ?

i feel very strongly that burt’s songs work or don’t work so well based on who is performing. naked eyes and lou johnson are totally different entities to me, even tho the “song” is the same.

either way, let me know. it’s your poll after all and in the end i’m just happy to talk and rank burt

Agree with both points: your poll, your call, but; versions supersede songs.

Fun fact: "How About?", a BB-written b-side to "How Can You Not Believe Me" by Della Reese (Jubilee Records, late 50s) isn't on Spotify OR Youtube.

― The Mod Who Banned Liberty Valance (WmC)

the deep cuts on this thread brought me to the ace records comp "always something there", which contains this _and_ "dream sweet dreamer". i'm going to have to check out the whole thing

If you haven't heard it before, check out "This Empty Place," Dionne's non-hit follow-up to "Don't Make Me Over." That will be in my top 5.

So I'm looking forward to learning about all those songs I didn't know were written by BB. Like There's Always Something To Remind Me. No idea BB wrote it. Guess I would have known if I'd seen Black Mirror.

Side poll suggestion: top BB-penned songs from 1980 or later.

I feel I should have heard "The Things I Will Not Miss" before today. Originally from the soundtrack of Lost Horizon apparently, but it's mostly the Ross/Gaye rendition blowing my little mind just now.

all those songs I didn't know were written by BB

I think this is the first time I became aware that BB wrote "The Story of My Life."

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gzk0bdlDr3Y

Not the original, not very Bacharach-like, but one the great whistling songs ever.

i love "The Story of My Life", i think there are Bacharchy elements in the melody, will probably give it a vote

OK, I've given it some thought and as long as everyone includes the artist/version with each song on their ballot, there's no reason I can't generate 2 sets of results -- one for specific recordings/performances, and then a combined one for the compositions. I'm more interested in the songs, but I can see budo jeru's and clemenza's viewpoint too.

The one version of a song per ballot rule still applies, though. If you're performances-minded and "I Say a Little Prayer" just became an impossible choice, well, that's the fun of it.

i'm far happier voting for the songs than trying to pick apart whether i prefer say Dionne and Isaac Hayes (tho the answer is pretty much all Dionne versions are my canon)

Isn't the logical compromise to do what budo jerk suggested, i.e.

is there a way you can roll out the results with the (different, according to votes) performers listed with the tracks ?

*jeru! dya

(And since "I Say A Little Prayer" is indeed an impossible choice, I'll vote the Bomb the Bass version)

Esoteric sub-category: most Bacharach-like non-BB songs.

Neil Young's "Till the Morning Comes"; David Bowie's "Kooks"; Anne Murray's "Talk It Over in the Morning"; Ginette Reno's "Beautiful Second Hand Man."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=3vX7ZWzocec

xps - That would make an easier rollout for me but I see the appeal of 2 sets of results, especially if they have major differences and surprise finishers. I have a couple of weeks to think about it.

Post-1980 tracks isn't a bad idea.

(And since "I Say A Little Prayer" is indeed an impossible choice, I'll vote the Bomb the Bass version)

― dorsalstop

i think i'll wind up going with ground zero!

Richard Chamberlain, "Blue Guitar," 1963

https://youtu.be/ccY1Fg_3oxc

The b-side was the first recording of "Close To You."

https://youtu.be/tft09VpllvU

Am I crazy or did Bacharach write one of Starship's '80s hits? I was thinking it was 'Built This City' but I see that was Bernie Taupin (which is equally weird).

NM, just went to the actual Wikipedia page.

Had no idea he wrote 'Heartlight'. Beautiful. Just belted that gem out at karaoke the other night.

Anita Harris, "London Life" — Pye, 1965
https://youtu.be/p-olFlO7gsk

I'm going to be posting links to non-spotify rarities and obscurities like this one regularly, hope everyone's cool with that. Not an endorsement, not campaigning, just more Burt.

Are we purposely focusing on lesser known covers? If not, I'm going to throw out the obvious ones:

Walk On By - Dionne Warwick
What The World Needs Now Is Love - Jackie DeShannon
What's New Pussycat? - Tom Jones
Alfie - Cilla Black
Baby It's You - The Shirelles
The Look Of Love - Dusty Springfield
This Guy's In Love With You - Herb Alpert
Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do) - Christopher Cross
Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head - B.J. Thomas
(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me - Lou Johnson

I count a dozen or so unballoted posters upthread who said they'd vote or vaguely indicated interest -- please give a few minutes to hammer out your ballot! NV, Morbs, rushomancy, Euler, Darin, et al...

I am putting one together right now!

Promises, promises.

Obviously the results thread has to be called One Less Poll to Answer.

dunno if ongoing life crash will permit

voted

Sorry, Morbs, hope things improve for you.

Highest-ranked song with all points from one version: {redacted} place
Lowest-ranked song with points from more than one artist: 60th place

Make it easy on yourself, Doctor.

One of the weirder bootlegs in my music collection is Zumpano on the radio on “Burt Bacharach” night in 1999 playing:

24 Hours From Tulsa
Anyone Who Had A Heart
What The World Needs Now
Always Something There To Remind Me
My Little Red Book

It’s a fun listen if nothing else, and I can’t remember where I got it.

OK, I have a better sense of my work schedule (I hope). The thing is, my work client has newly-discovered cancer and is putting 95% of her time and attention into dealing with that, so a big project that should have been finished on the 1st isn't getting finished until next week. My part should be mostly done by Monday, fingers crossed. So I'm calling a hard deadline on ballots: MONDAY, MAY 13th by end of day. I will work on tabulations and artwork Tuesday and roll out results starting Wednesday.

Sorry this is dragging out past a month, I hate it when these polls do that. But you have plenty of time to vote!

I have a job application and a ballot scheduled to do tomorrow/Sunday, hangover permitting. Might well just vote for the songs rather than versions tho

Haven't found the time to put together a ballot unfortunately, but here's a new interview with BB:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/may/10/burt-bacharach-trump-is-dangerous-my-songs-are-a-form-of-resistance?fbclid=IwAR3_2HB0-eNWHKODPiBio6ib_yJYcgOI0SP2_1uXymcs7ggrCQz_EPIP5gA

Last 3 days to vote! Do it if you're gonna do it!

already voted, but still listening and finding new stuff to be interested in

91 years old today! (or whenever Sunday arrives in the western hemisphere anyway)

Nice Guardian article btw.

Interesting article!

I am pretty sure I could stay cool and collected in the presence of any individual but Dionne Warwick would be the exception. "Anyone Who Had A Heart" is just the greatest song

Happy Burtday! Vote if you haven't already!

Up to 103 different songs, represented by 110 artists, receiving votes.

Drafting Ballot Now.

Needs To Be Said: The Rhino Box Is ALL-TIME.

Yup

Last day to vote!

Come on ILM

And there are
Only
Twenty four hours to POLL, sir

Ballot #15 received and added to the spreadsheet.

I just want to say that one of these years real soon, Burt's going to die and somebody's going to say "hey we should do a ballot poll in tribute" and I'm going to be real tempted to ban that fucker if stet doesn't catch me and unmod me first.

Pretend he's dead now and vote in the memorial poll!

might do a short ballot tonight

Just sent my top 20

One song has points from seven different artists, still not enough to push it into the top 10.

"Long Day, Short Night" is the greatest song the (English) Beat never recorded.

Wm there really isn't a mu in yr email, is there?

No, it's a u.

sent

failed to perversely include Ella Fitzgerald's "Wives and Lovers"

No "Beware of the Blob," no credibility

One song has points from seven different artists, still not enough to push it into the top 10.

Going to hazard a guess that it’s ‘This Girl/Guys in Love With You’.

No "Beware of the Blob," no credibility

thought about it, left it out for accounting reasons

OK, no ballots came in overnight so this dish is DONE with 17 voters. Thank you to everyone who sent in a ballot! I could start the results right now if previous polls hadn't raised the graphics game so high.

A sense a bit of perfectionism in you, not unlike Mark Hudson.

Ah, got the wording slightly wrong, should be a *bit* of the perfectionismt

for my part, I don't ever look at the graphics in poll rollouts, with images off.

OK, I don't see any reason to delay the results, but I'm still waiting on a big work dump that is 2 weeks late at this point. If it comes in today, I'll have to pause the rollout and give 100% attention to that.

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

Good to have NV and Dr M in the polling

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

lol whoops

WTF is Paul Hampton?

Oh wait this is first thread