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Why do birds, suddenly appear, every-Time, you are near?
Just like me, they long to be, close to you.
— “Close to You” (1963)
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Burt Bacharach died recently.
He left a catalogue of music which stands not just with the greatest music of the 20th Century, but with all of recorded music. Of course, I’m biased, having been raised on three minute symphonies laid down on 45 RPM records.
He had seventy-three Top 40 hits, including several chart toppers: (1) “This Guy’s in Love with You” (Herb Alpert, 1968), (2) “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” (B.J. Thomas, 1969), (3) “Close to You” (the Carpenters, 1970), (4) “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)” (Christopher Cross, 1981), (5) “That’s What Friends Are For” (Dionne Warwick, 1986) and (6) “On My Own” (Carole Bayer Sager, 1986).
He won six Grammys: (1) best arrangement for “Alfie,” (2) best score for “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” (3) best score for “Promises, Promises,” (4) song of the year for “That’s What Friends Are For,” (5) best pop collaboration for “I Still Have That Other Girl,” and (6) best instrumental album for “At This Time.” He was nominated sixteen other times, including four more times for song of the year: (1) “Wives and Lovers,” (1964), (2) “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,” (1970), (3) “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” (1970), and (4) “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do),” (1982).
He also won three Oscars, two for best original song: “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” (1969) and “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)” (1981), and one for best score, for “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” He was nominated three more times for the best original song: (1) “What’s New Pussycat?,” (1965), (2) “Alfie,” (1966), and (3) “The Look of Love” (from “Casino Royale”) (1967).
Those are just facts. It’s the groove that’s important:
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And the tremendous intelligence.
He didn’t like having his music classified as “easy listening,” just because it is easy to listen to. Most of it is complex, and involves jazz harmonies, modulations, syncopation, and varying meters. The arrangements are very precise, and difficult to internalize, but they are conducted and executed so well that the listener never has the sense of the stress on the performers. No effort is spent on looking cool; it just is.
He studied music formally, including classical piano, but it was jazz that he loved, and he grew up in the bebop era. Charlie Parker was one of his favorite musicians, and the way that Charlie Parker could, at his best, float on or soar above harmonies and rhythms seems to be a major musical influence.
There’s no formula to Burt Bacharach’s music. There’s nothing that someone could imitate and expect like results. However, there are some clever techniques he used with some frequency.
One thing that he likes to do is substitute the 3 and 6 chords for the way the I and the IV are usually used in a standard progression, although he rarely works strictly within the standard pop structures. The effect of this substitution is that his music seems to float, while at the same time, remaining grounded in the key.
A brief explanation: A chord is two or more notes played together. Usually, to avoid dissonance, chords are formed by playing every other note. For example, a basic C chord is C, E, and G. To give the chord more color and sophistication, you add the 7, which is a B.
If the song is in the key of C, the I chord is C Major, and this chord will be the foundation of the song’s harmony. Most of the time, this means that this chord will start the progression, and will be returned to after harmonic excursions (which are used to keep the music interesting and moving forward).
Burt Bacharach likes to leave the tonic note off, and add the 9. The 9 adds a bit of softness, to my ear. It’s gentle, and smooths out the edges.
In this C Major example, the I chord would be a C Major 9, but it would be played essentially as an E minor 7, which is the iii chord, since it does not include the C note and starts on the E note. Most of the time, this would imply a minor harmony, but this is not the effect, at least not a strong one, because he uses instrumentation and orchestration to maintain the sound of the major key. For the sake of contrast, a few popular rock songs in minor keys include “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Hotel California,” “It’s Too Late,” “Stairway to Heaven,” “Sunny,” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” and “You’re So Vain.”
You can hear his use of this substitution in “The Look of Love.” The floating, and then the exquisite timing of landing on the tonic in the chorus. Not too late; but not too early. Always implied. It’s almost as if the 7 and 9 hold the tonic between them, so that you hear it, even though, it’s not there.
I can hardly wait to hold you, feel my arms around you,
how long I have waited, waited just to love you.
Now that I have found you, don’t ever go, don’t ever go.
— “The Look of Love” (1967)
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I can’t remember when, or where, or who, I read, or heard, that someone said that he’s never sure when he’s listening to a Burt Bacharach song, whether he’s hearing a happy song that sounds sad, or a sad song that sounds happy. Some of this might be from the harmonic complexities, but it could also be that the music is so honestly grounded in life’s realities. But it’s not bittersweet, or angry. It has bite, but this seems to come from a sense of humor, or a sense of nature’s ironies. A lot of it seems almost an argument that we must simply accept the absurdities of life.
What do you get, when you kiss a guy?
You get enough germs to catch pneumonia.
After you do, he’ll never phone ya.
— “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” (1968)
He was a man of his time. It may seem like a long time ago that the country was plunged into a foolish, costly, and illegal war, and our president was assassinated in highly mysterious circumstances. However, the roughness of the road we are on can be traced back to the treacherous path we set out on in 1947, with that assassination in 1963 being the shift into overdrive. Burt Bacharach’s answer to the turmoil and misguided priorities is as obvious and irrefutable now as it was when he offered it:
What the world, needs now, is love, sweet love,
It’s the only thing, that there’s just, too little of.
— “What the World Needs Now is Love” (1965)
Burt Bacharach worked with several lyricists in his career. He worked with Bob Hilliard to craft hits for such artists as Perry Como, the Drifters, Gene Pitney, and the Shirelles. He also worked with, and eventually married, Carole Bayer Sager, with whom he wrote hits for such artists as Christopher Cross, Neil Diamond, Roberta Flack, and Patti LaBelle. They also wrote “That’s What Friends Are For,” which was originally recorded by Rod Stewart. They won the Grammy for best song for a cover version of this song which was recorded by Dionne Warwick.
His most noteworthy collaborator was Hal David. They worked together from the late ‘50’s to the early ‘70’s, and then took a break, before re-uniting in 1993. They worked with many artists, including Herb Alpert, the Carpenters, Jackie DeShannon, The Fifth Dimension, Aretha Franklin, Isaac Hayes, Lou Johnson, Tom Jones, Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66, Dusty Springfield, the Stylistics, and Bobby Vinton. But it was their work with Dionne Warwick for which they are best known. With her, they had 39 records in the charts, and eight top ten hits.
Their work often had an adult theme:
Make believe, that you don’t see the tears.
Just let me grieve,
in private, ‘cause each time, I see you, I break down and cry.
— “Walk On By” (1964)
They weren’t shy about delving into man’s deepest dreams:
L.A. is a great big freeway. Put a hundred down, and buy a car.
In a week, maybe two, they’ll make you a star.
Weeks turn into years. How quick they pass,
and all the stars, that never were, are parking cars and pumping gas.
— “Do You Know the Way to San Jose” (1967)
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There is so much more to say, but this has already gone on too long. The music says everything better. Words would just take time that could be put to better use. More than one thousand artists have recorded Burt Bacharach’s music, so there are lots of records to listen to.
With his music, it’s the groove. It’s always the groove.
Forever, forever, you’ll stay in my heart, and I will love you,
Forever, and ever, we never will part. Oh, how I’ll love you.
Together, together, that’s how it must be.
To live without you, would only mean heart break for me.
— “I Say a Little Prayer” (1966)
You are a Romantic at Heart.
Alfie, in its original form, is to difficult to sing, save by those who have marvelous voices.
The Look of Love says it all as does Dusty's Voice