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

3 versions of "The Look of Love" Dusty Springfield:

The superior "Dusty whispering in your ear" U.K. vocal mix: https://youtu.be/e8o-XuTH68w

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

Nice! (that reverb version is more funny than nice)

"Me Japanese Boy I Love You" — released just before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. The incorrect grammar makes me squirm, but a beautiful tune.

Bobby Goldsboro, 1964 — https://youtu.be/xMOWttB17OU

Pizzicato Five, 1994 — https://youtu.be/lx57hRa6VHI

The full single isn't on youtube, but here's Richard Chamberlain singing part of "Rome Will Never Leave You" on a Dr. Kildare episode. https://youtu.be/Q0t_zDIUSvQ

I have The Fear that this poll will get 8 or 9 ballots.

for tunes i will probly just list the 30 i saw him rip thru at Coney Island about 15 years ago

(excepting "That's What Friends Are For")

Cool, glad you plan on voting -- don't forget to include artists with those tunes. I guess for ballots that don't include artists I will default the artist name to BB.

I yesterday watched Lost Horizon, to see a few songs in their original context. BB's claims that it almost ended his career was also a major selling point. LOL. It was... quite an experience.

Good morning! Don't forget to vote!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7pgAAW9pEU

Morbs, did he do a lot of between song patter and reminiscing when you saw him?

nice stylistics tune !

i'm feeling torn on which version of "i just don't know what do with myself" i like best. i haven't listened to the white stripes since i was probably 13 but i just listened to their version and it kind of rules ?

anyone have a fav / rec beyond dusty / white stripes / lloyd cole version upthread ?

some discoveries from the spotify playlist i've liked:

dionne warwick - that's not the answer (incredibly beautiful)
the three sounds - the look of love (nothing too special i suppose but it grooves)
nat king cole - once in a blue moon (when was this recorded ? lovely playing for sure)
james brown - a message to michael (love that organ tone)

some non-playlist stuff that's caught my ear:

eddy mitchell - toujours un coin qui me rapelle (nice french-language adaptation of "always something" - love the arrangement)
the rangoons - moon guitar (moody guitar instrumental)
the boots - another tear falls (pretty cool german beat / psych rendition with killer drums)

finally, it's totally killing me that i can't track down the soulful strings version of "message to michael" because i'd really like to hear it.

Discogs lists that Nat King Cole tune, which is subtitled "Based on Rubinstein's Melody in F," as from a 1955 album, but on second look it may not be by Bacharach after all; there's a 1952 version of the same album that has the songwriting credit as "arranged by Nat Cole" with no credit to BB. It's the earliest BB credit as songwriter/arrangers in Discogs.

ah, okay. perhaps this poll could use a bit of mystery. i’ll try to do some more research and report back if i find anything

I see the flipside of that Rangoons track ("My Heart Is a Ball of String") is also Bacharach-David. Here's both of them together on youtube, but a terrible transfer from the vinyl. https://youtu.be/jh2OjNXZwUg

i'm going to have to try not to miss the deadline for sure, i'm definitely trying to absorb this man's fantastic work before i do!

A PERFECT song and performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8fzpPK1NGM

also, i'm definitely appreciating the youtube posts of highlights, since i don't spotify...

Rushomancy, here are some youtube mixes/playlists to save from having to go track by track.

163 tracks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75lAZuzOEwk&list=PL5DBD438DE93F7200
50 tracks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dDGnl8_Dzg&list=RDEM9Aij9DVsEj1dHoZTAzaLfQ&start_radio=1
80 tracks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoN2Egw_zN4&list=PLED2157694D9F62CA

120 tracks in a single file (time markers included): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtZEu9YCSYA

Wow, that last one is crammed with obscure tracks including the Della Reese one I was looking for. Vic Dana, "The Story Behind My Tears," that's gotta be top 10 on everyone's ballot for sure. It's got the Mel Torme "These Desperate Hours" I was looking for...

Crap, I meant to do short URLs.

xxp - "Are You There" has jumped from not on my radar to top half of my ballot...

My ballot will be mainly the hits and in their best known versions, I suspect, with a few exceptions. Gotta plug 'Bond Street' (aka Home James Don't Spare the Horses from the o.g. Casino Royale OST) although I'll be voting for the Reach Out version.

Speaking of Casino Royale, this Geoff Love version of the title theme is canon.

Finally, a plug for the Burt & The Posies version of What the World Needs Now (from the 'Austin Powers in: Goldmember' OST), which is my favourite arrangement of the song and I always like it when Burt himself sings.

I like that Burt + Posies version, though the seams are pretty apparent between the 2 artists' parts.

Here's a 1-hour Burt documentary from BBC Four -- not sure what year this was broadcast.
https://youtu.be/hcGDvUgewu4

Definitely considering Casino Royale selections, in some form or another.

One thing that could have had an alternative life in a film score IMHO is BB's own wordless arrangement of Twenty-Four Hours from Tulsa from Hit Maker! The drumming in the second half is kinda bonkers. I've listened to it an insane number of times this week and might opt for it over Gene Pitney's.

XXXP: OTM re Warkwick's "Are You There..." Easily top 5 here.

A track I'm glad to have discovered through this exercise is Gloria Lynne's response to Tower of Strength. Not least for the rhythm section. Almost proto-ska or something?!

("Tower of Strength" itself, Gene McDaniels', is also sitting on my longlist at present.)

it’s funny, i’ve always known (eu)gene mcdaniels had a pop vocal career before he re-emerged in the late ‘60s / early ‘70s as a militant black power soul / jazz singer-songwriter. but i’ve never listened to as much of his early liberty records period as i have this past week. i can’t say i like it so much. dude has a stellar voice obv but i just can’t dig the arrangements and the vocal performances can be grating (tho tbf i’ve had friends gripe about the vocal theatrics on “outlaw” so idk).

i’ll give “tower of strength” another listen tho

The drumming in the second half is kinda bonkers.

haha, wow, that is wild.

Thanks everyone who is linking and posting tracks -- I'm struggling with work and an AGING PARENT. I've been listening to that Audiosonic 120-track comp with all the really obscure stuff -- I doubt any of it will make my ballot but it is entertaining cheese. Paul Hampton's "Two Hour Honeymoon," wtf.

Two ballots in btw!

Here's Jim O'Rourke's "Something Big" — https://youtu.be/1TVVQvk5KbM
I can't believe there aren't a hundred versions of this song, so joyful and yet a dark undercurrent in the lyric.

It's impossible to say how good or how successful Burt would have been without Hal David, but it's still something I think about a lot. I don't think a body of work worth polling would have happened without him. And this may be more of a challop, but I'm not sure we'd be talking about him as much if he hadn't had Dionne Warwick on hand to give voice to his musical ideas almost as soon as he had them. Burt has said that he wrote differently and took greater chances because he could write for her...

The lyrics to "Wives and Lovers" still make me cringe, though.

on the “wrote differently” thing, i’ve been meaning to post an excerpt from the hype from that “great jewish music” comp because i feel like it’s otm, and bc we haven’t talked so much about the architecture of the songs itt:

Burt Bacharach's compositions explode the expectations of what a popular song is supposed to be. Advanced harmonies and chord changes with unexpected turnarounds and modulations, unusual changing time signatures and rhythmic twists, often in uneven numbers of bars. But he makes it all sound so natural you can't get it out of your head or stop whistling it. Maddeningly complex, sometimes deceptively simple, these are more than just great pop songs: these are deep explorations of the materials of music.

That "Something Big" is great. I have to pay more attention to stuff on BB's own records. (No idea why I don't own them all really, given the charity shop ubiquity of many of them.)

The lyrics to "Wives and Lovers" still make me cringe, though.

I know it via Goodfellas--I'm blanking out on the scene, but whatever it is, it works.

I checked out BB's memoir, Anyone Who Had a Heart, from the library today and Burt is refreshingly crude early on. By 2013, when this was published, he had no reason to give a fuck about offending anyone. In high school he came in second in a piano competition, winning 15 lessons from jazz pianist Joe Bushkin. "Although I never got high with him, Joe did show me how to roll a joint. He also told me how to go down on a girl." On Paula Stewart, his first wife: "The attraction between us was physical, because she was really good looking and had great tits, which back then could not be prefabricated."

TS: Burt & Hal David's "Only Love Can Break a Heart" vs. Neil Young's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart"

Second beats every other song ever written (more or less).

WmC let me know if he's diplomatic about Angie D

The lyrics to "Wives and Lovers" were tailormade for Lounge Bill Murray

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBLMbJnN69c

some favorites from today's listening:

patti labelle - always something there to remind me (starts out heartbreakingly beautiful, ends up being kind of a wild ride !)
soul incorporated - my proposal (just some rare soul)
walter jackson - they don't give medals (enjoy the production -- real crisp guitar -- and vocal delivery)
the litter - little red book (killer heavy psych re-working of the tune)
conjunto académico joão paulo - i just don't know what to do with myself (this one is so goofy i just had to share it)
wynton kelly - walk on by (excellent bop workout from '66)
the free design - the windows of the world (nice ethereal version produced by enoch light)
willie bobo - the look of love (dang this version kills; the congas sound really sexy drenched in echo)
dorothy ashby - the look of love (dorothy rules; if you like deeply funky / polyrhythmic / earthy psych vibes + soaring harp runs, this one's for you)
dusty springfield - the land of make believe (a truly beautiful rendition; the sparse arrangement really suits the super-delicate vocals)

Morbs, I can tell you when they first met they bonded over baseball. That's as far as I am in the book right now, but it's a very short book.

when i saw Burt play, his patter included the agent calling every year to see if they wanted to do the Martini & Rossi spot again.

the year they split it was "...nope."

heh.

btw burt bacharach's official website is called "a house is not a homepage"

Thanks for those links, budo jeru -- lots of great versions there.

Hey, he has a concert coming up on June 14th in Rancho Cucamonga if anyone wants to shell out for that.

There were only six people at the wedding — me and Carole; Neil Diamond and his wife, Marcia; and Neil and Joyce Bogart. We all had an ample amount to drink and I smoked some dope. Then this guy who I guess was a judge in Santa Monica said, "Do you, Burt Bacharach, take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?" I said, "I'll try," and Neil Diamond said, "Holy shit!"

Very diplomatic about Angie, Morbs, and takes the blame for every fracture with her, with Hal David, with Dionne.

LX on BB — The Box Tops, "Trains and Boats and Planes" — https://youtu.be/-gNB-6WNk7E

I just found this pretty handy site: https://www.whosampled.com/Burt-Bacharach/covered/

"The Look of Love" has 150 covers, "Walk On By" has 86, lol

i cannot reveal my source who dealt professionally w/ BB and C.B.S. after they married, and calls her "Carole Bayer Aspirin" for the tsuris she caused

Today's find: the first recording, by Tom Jones, of 'Us' (written by Bobby Russell and BB) from 1975 - not easily Googleable so here is the Spotify link. A toss up for me whether to vote for this or Burt's version on his Futures album, with a stunning lead vocal by Jo Armstead, but think I slightly prefer the melodrama of the arrangement in the Jones version.

so the rollout is for songs, but for each of those you give the breakdown as to which versions contributed how many points to the total?

This is how the results will roll out, btw. After they're done I'm sure I'll do a one-post data dump with a ranking of the individual versions.

Everybody keep listening and voting!