An impromptu list, tilting toward jazz:
Erroll Garner, “(They Long to Be) Close to You,” with Bob Cranshaw, bass; Grady Tate, drums; José Mangual, congas.
Rahsaan Roland Kirk, “I Say a Little Prayer,” with Ron Burton, piano; Vernon Martin, bass; Jimmy Hopps, drums; Joe Texidor, tambourine.
Kirk again, “You’ll Never Get to Heaven (If You Break My Heart),” with Ron Burton; piano; Henry Mattathias Pearson: bass; Robert Shy: drums; Joe Texidor, tambourine.
And if you want songs as songs, with words by Hal David, here’s a medley by Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick.
And another, from the Carpenters.
And there’s this song, by Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager.
“Burt Bacharach, Whose Buoyant Pop Confections Lifted the ’60s, Dies at 94” (The New York Times)
[I wish that the obituary had more to say about the music as music, and perhaps a bit less to say about “a sleek era of airy romance” and the evocation of “an upscale world of jet travel, sports cars and sleek bachelor pads.”]
Thursday, February 9, 2023
Bacharach interpreters
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comments: 2
I will not mind your polite disagreement, but I like the White Stripes’ cover of “I Just Don’t Know What To Do with Myself.” And especially Elvis Costello’s cover of the same song. You can find it on YouTube with Mr. Bacharach on piano.
Well, I like them. And I’d never heard this song before, so thanks. Here are the White Stripes. And here are Messrs. Bacharach and Costello.
I think one mark of a really strong pop song is that it can be reconfigured in many different ways and still be itself, and I’d say that’s the case here.
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