Burt Bacharach (1928 - 2023)

So many melodies, so much buoyancy, such longevity--I loved Burt Bacharach and his brilliant arrangements long before I knew who he was, beginning with "What's New Pussycat?" AM radio singalongs as an eleven-year old in 1965.  By midlife, he had become my favorite composer and an obsession:  I titled one of my first mixtapes "Pop Goes Bacharach" and was astonished by the range of artists who had covered his best material. Hal David's  lyrics and Bacharach's own arrangements (those strings and Tijuana Brass horns!) blasted these 60s ear worms from radio confections into timeless perfection.  Of course no one added more value to their craft than Dionne Warwick except perhaps Burt's most unexpected, late-in-life collaborator:  Elvis Costello.  "God Give Me Strength" ranks right up there with Dionne's "I Say A Little Prayer" and "The Look of Love" by Dusty Springfield.

And Burt kept on giving into his 80s:  stream Jennifer Holliday singing "Every Other Hour" RIGHT NOW!

Oddly, I only recently have begun to appreciate the merits of a Bacharach song that I pushed from my consciousness because of its association with HIV:  "That's What Friends Are For."  We needed government-funded treatment, not charitable schmalz in 1985!  I watched the Dionne Warwick doc on HBO just four days before Bacharach's death--he's interviewed, of course, looking frail--and got hooked for the first time, nearly four decades after its release,  just as I begin to mourn his own passing.

Thank you, Burt, for so much unalloyed joy and a lifetime of nostalgia!

P.S.  As a gay boy obsessed with Hollywood, your status as the archetypal silver fox and connections to Marlene Dietrich and Angie Dickinson didn't hurt either.

Burt Bacharach & Marlene Dietrich Touring Israel (1960)

Burt Bacharach & Angie Dickinson (1965)