GOODBYE TO THE KING OF ROMANCE

Seven decades of songs: Hollywood's great composer bows out

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Barbra Streisand says Burt Bacharach was "as sweet as his songs" as she farewelled the musical great after he died on February 8, aged 94. "He left us with a long legacy of music we will never forget." She sang a duet with Burt of (They Long To Be) Close To You on her 1991 album.

It's just one of the musical creations that will see Burt remembered for composing some of the best-loved pop songs of the 20th century, including Aretha Franklin's I Say A Little Prayer, Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head and What The World Needs Now Is Love, in a career spanning seven decades.

"It's a gift," Burt once said of songwriting. "An endowment, if you like. I write a song, record it with an artist, do the orchestration and make a record. After that, you need to let go. I don't ever think about the songs I've written or the effect they may have had on people. I'm usually on to the next song, being haunted in the middle of the night with a melody in my head."