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

24. A House Is Not a Home — 262 Points, 6 Votes
Lyric: Hal David
Luther Vandross, from s/t album, 1982, 166 points — https://youtu.be/CGib6okEeZ4
Dionne Warwick, from Make Way for Dionne Warwick (1964), 96 points — https://youtu.be/Mk7CNHHIuH4
Terrific Dionne live TV version — https://youtu.be/olvaDzUi8c8
No love for the original Brook Benton single, 1964.

The original is great, but Luther Vandross...

Luther Vandross version live at the NAACP Image Awards (not sure of the year), Dionne looking on admiringly — https://youtu.be/Gu2JBMNBbKo

23. Promises, Promises — 263 Points, 6 Votes, 1 first-place vote
Lyric: Hal David
Dionne Warwick, 1968 single, 163 points — https://youtu.be/dGqPbfjJarI
Erik Friedlander, from Great Jewish Music: Burt Bacharach (1997), 100 points — https://youtu.be/ti8_LA-_OdE

The Friedlander version was my #1...

That's pretty cool. I kept meaning to get back to the Great Jewish Music stuff.

22. One Less Bell To Answer — 284 Points, 8 Votes
Lyric: Hal David
The Fifth Dimension, 1970 single, 262 points — https://youtu.be/pjW_z02EjaA
Barbra Streisand, from Barbra Joan Streisand (1971), 22 points — https://youtu.be/Txyd1fkJxmg

Streisand version is a medley with "A House Is Not a Home," but the vote was for just "Bell" so I didn't split the points.

Had the 5D version at #14

And Dionne version of “Promises, Promises” at #22, almost right on the consensus.

That's pretty cool. I kept meaning to get back to the Great Jewish Music stuff.

There are 3 songs on that comp that keep it from being one of the best records I own -- Yuka Honda/Sean Lennon "The Look of Love," Medeski Martin & Wood "San Jose," and Lloyd Cole/Robert Quine "Just don't know what to do w/myself."

ok, here's the song with points from seven different versions -- the last couple of ballots knocked it out of the top 20.

21. Trains and Boats and Planes — 375 Points, 10 votes
Lyric: Hal David
Dionne Warwick, 1966 single, 129 points — https://youtu.be/nuBumHuouug
Astrud Gilberto, from Lo Mejor De Astrud Gilberto (1975), 77 points — https://youtu.be/e2n-x3hovJE
Fred Frith, from Great Jewish Music: Burt Bacharach (1997), 43 points — https://youtu.be/juNwNdYic5w
The Box Tops, from The Letter/Neon Rainbow (1967), 40 points — https://youtu.be/-gNB-6WNk7E
Burt Bacharach, 1965 single, 36 points — https://youtu.be/58db0IGpiVM
The Everly Brothers, from The Hit Sound of the Everly Brothers (1967), 34 points — https://youtu.be/nA0bVfCpSR0
Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas, 1965 single, 16 points — https://youtu.be/wIEpKZLH1GY

I couldn’t figure out how I felt about that song, so didn’t vote for it. Never paid much attention to it before, but like a lot of artists that sang it and am enjoying their versions of the song. Also, I’ve met the guy who arranged the Astrud Gilberto record. He also played on a lot of Burt’s Scepter sessions.

The Astrud version is A+...her accent totally makes it and drives home the storyline.

I'm probably going to count down to 16 today and do the top 15 tomorrow. Gathering the discogs info and youtubes takes a bit of time and I probably wouldn't finish until evening, and I have a thing to go to tonight.

Don’t go, please stay.

lol

https://i.imgur.com/e6Q9yD5.jpg

20. Alfie — 378 Points, 7 Votes
Lyric: Hal David
Cilla Black, 1966 single, 310 points — https://youtu.be/glpIgnmKrZc from the recording session.
Stevie Wonder, from Eivets Rednow (1968), 36 points — https://youtu.be/sY6KW-Fxy68
Dionne Warwick, 1967, 32 points — https://youtu.be/cW2fLeD5Pow

Stevie Wonder at the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song ceremony, 2012 — https://youtu.be/gMQ_Hj7_mxc (the Bacharachs and Obamas in the front row)

I really don't think anyone had ever put Cilla through something like this before. She had a really strong pop voice but what I wanted her to do on "Alfie" was go for the jugular. We did twenty-eight or twenty-nine takes and after each one, I kept saying, "Can we do better than that? Can I get one more?" The way Cilla remembers it, George Martin finally asked me, "Burt, what are you looking for here?" I said, "That little bit of magic," and he said, "I think we got that on take four."

Mike Myers: If you've seen the video of that session on YouTube, Burt breaks Cilla in the studio. He was going to do it until it was right and I love the quote from her, "I wanted to foo-kin' kill him but he was so foo-kin' gorgeous."

great rollout so far, although i just can't get down with "arthur's theme" or "casino royale" lol sorry !

aretha's "april fools" and dusty's "in the land of make believe" were my #7 and #8, respectively

jim o'rourke's "something big" my favorite discovery so far

Makes you wonder what the point is of working with a professional lyricist.
"Hal, you had ONE job..."

so fucking otm

I was the Ribot voter, specifically for the solo acoustic version, but that's not on youtube. It's not quite as outside as if Eugene Chadbourne had covered the song, but it's got some sharp edges on it.

― WmC, Wednesday, May 15, 2019 8:18 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i remember feeling that i should have spent more time with the "great jewish music" comp when i voted; now i'm pretty sure i'll have to spring for a copy

Medeski Martin & Wood "San Jose,"

just out of curiosity, what don't you like about this track ? that they take too many liberties ?

also loving the vh1 behind the music bits, A+

It just seems like an exercise for Medeski to play with some keyboards, including a Mellotron, looking for interesting timbres; the song he uses for this workout is an afterthought. xp

Saw Burt B a couple of years ago at the Royal Festival Hall. He gave the perfectly competent guest vocalists a break at the end and did "Alfie" himself. Poor guy got croaky on first verse and started over. "This is too good a song to mess up." It was magnificent.

Nice. You and Morbs may be the only ilxors to see him live.

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

19. (There's) Always Something There To Remind Me — 385 Points, 12 Votes, 1 first-place vote
Lyric: Hal David
Wendell Stuart and the Downbeaters, s/t album (1969), 100 points — https://youtu.be/qxzvmw1iXug
Sandie Shaw, 1964 single, 96 points — https://youtu.be/hp-FnGb4wbY
Lou Johnson, 1964 single, 61 points — https://youtu.be/MOQ1NUdkg50
Naked Eyes, 1983 single, 53 points — https://youtu.be/lVrELhxOFnM
Dionne Warwick, 1968 b-side of "Who Is Gonna Love Me?", 32 points — https://youtu.be/ZamEcNgtw4o

Don't think I've ever heard 'One Less Bell to Answer', I see it was massive in the US but nowhere to be seen in the UK.

Never really been a Cilla fan and i think that influenced me not choosing Alfie or her other notable BB hit

Yeah, me neither so the same.

Yes but are you a “Where’s Cilla” fan?

^er you may have to be a Britisher to get that reference

I am not therefore I am not.

Wonder what, um, Alfred, thinks

wendell stuart was my #1

What put that version on your radar? I'd never heard of him before.

p sure i voted for the last seven

Cher's version of "Alfie" is good too (it was on US prints of the movie)

https://i.imgur.com/T1aecjz.jpg

18. Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head — 394 Points, 12 Votes
Lyric: Hal David
B.J. Thomas, 1969 single, 318 points — https://youtu.be/hziG9Nr6KHU
Dionne Warwick, from I'll Never Fall in Love Again (1970), 52 points — https://youtu.be/mcmaqoCCxmI
Manic Street Preachers, bonus track on Everything Must Go reissue (recorded 1996?), 24 points — https://youtu.be/we1_bT2elEg

^ roy ayers version was on my ballot

to answer your question, i heard it through a friend of a friend, maybe at a record store ? it was very random and i wasn't expecting most people to be familiar

had always loved the song, wendell's vocal delivery really seals the deal imo

like many americans i was familiar with the naked eyes version via radio since childhood

^ roy ayers version was on my ballot

― budo jeru, Thursday, May 16, 2019 12:51 PM (four minutes ago)

Crap -- the total points are right but the version breakdown should include Ayers, sorry about that.

B.J. Thomas should be 292 points
Roy Ayers, from Ubiquity (1970), 26 points — https://youtu.be/8gHPNshin1g

similar to "Wives & Lovers," the megahits of the late '60s are so familiar to me, some I know as well as the Beatles' records. They were ubiquitous on TV variety as well as radio.

ubiquitous on TV variety

I don't think the Youth of Today realize how many hours of variety shows were on every week back then. The music clearances situation, I assume, makes it almost impossible to collect these on home video or streaming. I can't see a picture of Glen Campbell without thinking of him coming onstage in his series and doing the "HI! I'M GLEN CAMPBELL!" bit.

Some of those shows *have* gotten the boxed set treatment. Cash, Smothers Brothers, Sonny & Cher (I think)....

Speaking of which, recent Ben Monder album has versions of both “The Windows of the World” and “Galveston.” (He’s a big Jimmy Webb fan)

UK variety shows tended to be slightly different from what i remember - less of them based around a single personality, at least by the 70s, tho i'm sure Cilla and Lulu had shows. They were just as ubiquitous tho.

If anything these songs are so familiar to me because tapes of Dionne and Dusty were two of my dad's car favourites, and he didn't have many favourites.

not to mention the decades channel xp

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

17. Any Day Now — 403 Points, 8 Votes
Lyric: Bob Hilliard
Elvis Presley, 1969 b-side of "In the Ghetto," 249 points — https://youtu.be/bgM0yxh9Dlc
Chuck Jackson, 1962 Wand Records single, 154 points — https://youtu.be/RPgE991VDwM
really good Elvis alternate take minus the sweetening — https://youtu.be/xg0D_E1WLn8