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

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listen, i had this ranked pretty high and i think there's something about the simplicity and the directness that was refreshing in the context of a lot of burt songs with their unusual meters, convoluted melodies, and complex chord changes. it just kinda reached out and grabbed me.

that and the arrangement is so delicate and breezy and the background vocals are downright angelic.

― budo jeru, Tuesday, May 14, 2019 5:03 PM (yesterday)

Thanks for your take on this -- my comment came across too much as "this song is unworthy" instead of "I need someone else's insight."

WmC, Wednesday, 15 May 2019 15:00 (five years ago) link

37. The Story of My Life — 126 Points, 4 Votes
Lyric: Hal David
Marty Robbins, 1957 single, 80 points — https://youtu.be/BrHZCmVQnNA
Michael Holliday, 1958 single, 46 points — https://youtu.be/Gzk0bdlDr3Y

WmC, Wednesday, 15 May 2019 15:07 (five years ago) link

ok, back to work, might be back today, might be tomorrow

WmC, Wednesday, 15 May 2019 15:09 (five years ago) link

I voted for the Broadway version of "Knowing When to Leave." #20 of 20-song ballot) In fact, I once spun it on WFMU.

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 15:10 (five years ago) link

(that was shortly before it appeared on the Rhino box; I also played the cast version of "I'll Never Fall in Love Again")

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 15:13 (five years ago) link

"Story of My Life" was the one that I really had no clue was Bacharach/David, for obvious reasons i think. I've always loved it anyway. Could've voted for either of those versions but my inner cowboy won out.

Doctor Nu (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 15:13 (five years ago) link

are u there with another poll?

Lol

Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 15:19 (five years ago) link

"Story of My Life" was the one that I really had no clue was Bacharach/David, for obvious reasons i think. I've always loved it anyway. Could've voted for either of those versions but my inner cowboy won out.

Put this one at #18

Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 15:20 (five years ago) link

it was my number 13, which was too high but i voted in the moment. i say i had "no clue" but i must've known and forgotten, i've got a fairly comprehensive BB CD compilation somewhere still in the house.

re: "Knowing When To Leave", i wish they'd written more musicals

Doctor Nu (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 15:25 (five years ago) link

Yeah, it was a littler high on my ballot too, but it’s kind of impossible to get the ranking just so.

Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 15:33 (five years ago) link

um, like Lost Horizon? xp

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 15:33 (five years ago) link

Littler

Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 15:34 (five years ago) link

lol Morbs this is why musicals should start life on the stage

Doctor Nu (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 15:35 (five years ago) link

well Promises was a decent-sized hit, and it was an adap of The Apartment

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 15:43 (five years ago) link

This I did not know

Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 15:43 (five years ago) link

there are quite a few Bacharach/David songs that have this interstitial quality to them - they feel like they start mid-story and they don't really resolve anything at the end, especially melodically - and that's a good trick for musical theatre where as many of the songs need to be building blocks as they do show-stoppers

Doctor Nu (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 15:49 (five years ago) link

oh yeah Redd, "Knowing When to Leave" is for the MacLaine character, Lemmon's finishes with "Promises, Promises"

never wanted to see a staging of it, cuz Neil Simon rewriting Wilder-Diamond, ugh

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 15:52 (five years ago) link

I haven't seen it staged either (despite having chances to--it became popular again for local companies after the Chenoweth-starring revised* revival), but I used to have that one big book of Simon plays that had PromisesX2 in it. IIRC, the book is somewhat reasonably faithful to original script, but yeah, Simon put in some new gags and the Pop Culture references were brought up to 1968.

*They found a way to work in "I Say A Little Prayer", which Burt said was written apart from the show, but somehow was still of a piece with it.

a large tuna called “Justice” (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 16:11 (five years ago) link

I find the horn break in "Turkey Lurkey Time" very funny, typical arrangement of the BB era

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 16:17 (five years ago) link

promise us anything

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 21:12 (five years ago) link

Even a wedding ring

Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 21:14 (five years ago) link

OK, I'm caught up on my shit and waiting for other people to catch up on their shit, so let's have some more results.

WmC, Wednesday, 15 May 2019 21:38 (five years ago) link

36. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance — 126 Points, 6 Votes
Lyric: Hal David
Gene Pitney, 1962 single, 126 points — https://youtu.be/IU8bBlPtBK4

WmC, Wednesday, 15 May 2019 21:42 (five years ago) link

Awesome. My #13

Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 21:47 (five years ago) link

Burt's memoir, a very thin document, has a page and a bit on writing and recording this -- taking a long time to write it, odd structure, his habit of troubleshooting a song by going into a bathroom stall and just thinking about it instead of going to the piano. "In order to fix whatever was wrong, I always had to hear the song and the arrangement in my head."

WmC, Wednesday, 15 May 2019 21:50 (five years ago) link

Wow. Think I may have to read that.

Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 21:51 (five years ago) link

Feel like we should have a thread about such memoirs.

Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 21:52 (five years ago) link

There is a lot of text from other people — his wife and ex-wives, Hal David, Cilla, Dietrich — presented in oral-history style. On one hand, it's nice that Burt lets other people have their say, but it reveals the material from Burt himself as pretty thin. It has the feel of a book knocked out in a week of interviews with Robert Greenfield, the coauthor. It's still very much worth the read.

WmC, Wednesday, 15 May 2019 22:00 (five years ago) link

Wonder how it stacks up next to the Donald Fagen book.

Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 22:05 (five years ago) link

My autocorrect does not like Fagen.

Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 22:05 (five years ago) link

35. In the Land of Make Believe — 142 Points, 5 Votes
Lyric: Hal David
Dusty Springfield, from Dusty in Memphis, 1969, 108 Points — https://youtu.be/tYwa0QL0Vps
The Drifters, 1964 b-side of "Vaya Con Dios," 34 points — https://youtu.be/lUDm6N6M9HU

WmC, Wednesday, 15 May 2019 23:07 (five years ago) link

Not on my radar. Will give a listen

Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 23:14 (five years ago) link

It's a punch in the heart, and still I had to cut it from my ballot.

WmC, Wednesday, 15 May 2019 23:27 (five years ago) link

I like the Dusty version, although I don’t remember it from the album, which I haven’t listened to in a whiledecade or two, for some unknown reason.

Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 23:34 (five years ago) link

Rectifying this now

Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 23:40 (five years ago) link

Listening to Dusty In Memphis is always the right thing to do.

a large tuna called “Justice” (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 16 May 2019 00:09 (five years ago) link

You can't imagine my envy for the person about to absorb Dusty In Memphis for the first time.

recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 16 May 2019 00:27 (five years ago) link

34. Wives and Lovers — 147 Points, 5 Votes
Lyric: Hal David
Jack Jones, 1963 Kapp Records single, 109 points — https://youtu.be/rZ7WT02wFOk
Dave Douglas, from Great Jewish Music: Burt Bacharach, 1997, 38 points — https://youtu.be/CkUW_Fc2xj0

WmC, Thursday, 16 May 2019 00:33 (five years ago) link

Those lyrics are not wholly attractive. A vocal-less version highlighted in the other thread demonstrated that BB contributed a fine tune, however.

Also: belated "yay!" for "Knowing When To Leave!"

Nag! Nag! Nag!, Thursday, 16 May 2019 01:12 (five years ago) link

Last one for the night.

33. Don't Go Breaking My Heart — 151 Points, 3 Votes
Lyric: Hal David
Dionne Warwick, 1966 b-side to "Trains and Boats and Planes, 70 points — https://youtu.be/fcKIX-xrsuk
Marc Ribot, from Great Jewish Music: Burt Bacharach, 1997, 55 points — https://youtu.be/K6de2BkfhEo (electric version)
Astrud Gilberto, 1966 single, 26 points — https://youtu.be/mBRl241KfB0

WmC, Thursday, 16 May 2019 01:15 (five years ago) link

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, Thursday, 16 May 2019 01:18 (five years ago) link

Pretty sure I voted for Gilberto here. So no sharp edges at all. LOL. I might have been semi-consciously strategically voting against Warwick a little, to avoid a complete Dionnefest on my ballot.

Nag! Nag! Nag!, Thursday, 16 May 2019 01:32 (five years ago) link

Another tune not really on my radar. Enjoying the Dionne Warwick version right now.

Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 May 2019 01:38 (five years ago) link

assorted versions of "Wives and Lovers" got a ton of airplay on easy listening stations 50 years ago. I knew it well by the time I was 8.

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 16 May 2019 02:34 (five years ago) link

Yeah, although I didn’t even know what the title was for a few decades.

Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 May 2019 02:50 (five years ago) link

A thread is still a thread
Even if there’s no one posting there

Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 May 2019 09:53 (five years ago) link

Good morning! Some early results for the UK and EU.

WmC, Thursday, 16 May 2019 11:12 (five years ago) link

32. Please Stay — 152 Points, 3 Votes
Lyric: Bob Hilliard
The Drifters, 1961 single, 152 points — https://youtu.be/1iY2UpSz9Vs

WmC, Thursday, 16 May 2019 11:13 (five years ago) link

I thought about voting for the Elvis Costello version of this because it starts really nice but he goes way overboard by the end.

WmC, Thursday, 16 May 2019 11:18 (five years ago) link

31. Mexican Divorce — 165 Points, 3 Votes, 1 #1 Vote
Lyric: Bob Hilliard
The Drifters, 1962 b-side to "When My Little Girl Is Smiling," 113 points — https://youtu.be/_UwQjkmQ5KM
Ry Cooder, on Paradise and Lunch, 1974, 52 points — https://youtu.be/5Cci6Jn2t-Y

WmC, Thursday, 16 May 2019 11:29 (five years ago) link


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