Songwriter Burt Bacharach had an impressive career with more than a thousand artists singing his songs and 70 Billboard Top 40 hits.
This tribute is one of 44 short yet illuminating episodes about significant figures in the music industry who passed away in 2023. My guest Sheldon Zoldan, a longtime writer and newspaper editor, wrote these tributes and recorded them.
To hear the featured song "Walk on By," which was a huge hit for Dionne Warwick, please go to this YouTube video of Bacharach on the piano and Warwick at the mic performing that song and others.
Sheldon also writes Song of the Day, a music-related story sent daily to an email list of subscribers. To get on his subscriber list, email shzoldan@comcast.net with the subject line ADD ME TO SOTD.
And, if you want to learn more about Bacharach, you can check out his memoir, "Anyone Who Had a Heart: My Life and Music," which he wrote with Robert Greenfield.
This is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to the show!
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Kate:
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Hello, and welcome to Everyday Creation,
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a show about living our purpose and lifting
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our vibes for ourselves and the world.
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I'm Kate Jones,
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here with a tribute
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to prolific
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songwriter
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and hitmaker
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Burt Bacharach.
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This is one of 44
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short yet illuminating
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episodes
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about significant figures in the music industry
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who passed away in 2023.
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My guest, Sheldon Zoldan, a longtime writer and
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newspaper editor,
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wrote these tributes and recorded them. Here's what
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he says about Bacharach,
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who died on February 8th
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last year.
Sheldon:
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Burt Bacharach was more than prolific. He was
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damn good. More than a 1,000 artists sang
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his songs;
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70 of his songs became Billboard Top 40
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hits.
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Bacharach died February 8th in Los Angeles.
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He was 94.
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Bacharach made music for seven decades.
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One of his earliest jobs was as Marlene Dietrich's
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accompanist
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for her nightclub act.
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He wrote some country hits in the early
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1960s,
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including "Story of My Life" and "The Man
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Who Shot Liberty Valance."
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He and Hal David hooked up in the
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late 1950s.
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They wrote more than a 100 songs together
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in the early 1960s.
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They wrote 39 straight songs that reached the
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singles chart over the next decade.
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They discovered Dionne Warwick in 1961.
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Bacharach and David quit their collaboration
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after disagreements led to lawsuits.
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Warwick filed a lawsuit saying they abandoned
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her.
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Carole Bayer Sager
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became his new writing partner and his wife.
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They wrote several hits, including Warwick's "That's What
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Friends Are For."
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Bacharach and David were a hot commodity when
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it came to writing for the movies. They
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won two Oscars for "Butch Cassidy and the
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Sundance
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Kid,"
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including "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head."
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The song reached number 1 on the Billboard
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Hot 100 chart.
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Bacharach wrote the music and David
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wrote the lyrics for our song of the
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day, "Walk on By" for Warwick in 1964.
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The song was the first time Bacharach used
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two baby grand pianos
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in a studio recording.
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The song was supposed to be the B
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side to "Any Old Time of Day."
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Influential
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New York DJ Murray the K would only
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play the B side. He thought it was
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the hit.
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He was right.
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The song revived Warwick's career. It reached number
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6 on Billboard's
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Hot
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100.
Kate:
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This is Kate again.
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Sheldon also writes Song of the Day, a
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music-related story sent daily to an email
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list of subscribers.
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All of those stories
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and these tributes
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include links to the featured songs.
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In this episode's description,
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you can link to "Walk on By" on
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YouTube, as well as get information on how
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to join Sheldon's subscriber list.
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If you enjoyed this tribute,
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please check out the next one
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about De La Soul's David Jolicoeur,
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and share the tributes with anyone who might
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appreciate these well-researched glimpses
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into the lives of the talented people
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who created some of the music we love.
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Thank you
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for listening to Everyday Creation.
