Not Forgotten

He demanded 48 vocal takes from Cilla, before choosing the second

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Burt Bacharach

1928-2023

By Terry Staunton

Burt Bacharach was something of a paradox. He and lyricist Hal David were rooted in the elegance of an earlier generation and the romantic love (but more often loss) of standards from the Great American Songbook, yet within those parameters there existed a compositional daring that was groundbreaking in terms of three-to four-minute singles.

Paul McCartney took note, applying himself to increasingly elaborate musical paths when The Beatles stopped touring and more diligently explored their craft in the studio; so did Brian Wilson, once revealing he obsessed over Bacharach's Are You There (With Another Girl)? while constructing Beach Boys songs for Pet Sounds; and Bacharach's DNA is evident in the rule-bending, tempo-shifting hits Jimmy Webb penned for Glen Campbell, Richard Harris and The 5th Dimension.

At times during his lengthy career Bacharach was tarred with the dismissive brush of "easy listening," an embodiment of the cocktails and turtleneck crowd where style invariably trumped substance, but ultimately his was music that transcended fad, fashion, or formula. Nonetheless, he was happy to send himself up via cameos in Mike Myers' Austin Powers films and took wry pleasure in seeing his name mentioned in 21st-century magazine articles on "Mad Men chic," his pristine, precise compositions musical shorthand for the urbane sophistication of the awards-laden TV series.