Top 10 Burt Bacharach songs

I`ve been reading so many top ten lists. I need to have my say (and of course my list has eleven.) Part of the grieving process. 

11. Alfie

Proof that Bacharach/David had empathy for men as much as for women. A delicate and intimate portrait of male vulnerability, or the struggle for it. I can't think of another similar song in popular music. Bacharach has said this is his favourite song he's written. He wrote it to lyrics, which was generally not his process with Hal David, except for when they worked on music for the theatre (Promises, Promises) or movies. He cites "Are we meant to take more than we give/ Or are we meant to be kind?" among his favourite lyrics, and if you know anything about his personal life, you understand why.

10. Do You Know The Way To San Jose

Listen to it for the quintessential mastery of Bacharach`s musical arrangement that became his trademark. It has it all; punchy horns, lavish strings, and even a Wurlitzer organ riff that seems conceived out of nowhere, demonstrating his genius for instrumentation and ear for catchiness.

9. Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head

Another one of those songs that proves that a great song provides room for various vocal interpretations. My favourite is by BJ Thomas who made a name as a country singer. 

8. Always Something There to Remind Me

The synth-pop hit version by Naked Eyes from 1982, once again, proves that great songwriting leaves room for all kinds of adaptation. This one transcends the generations, and is to my mind even better than the original version sung by Warwick.  

7. I'll Never Fall in Love Again

Written for the Broadway play Promises, Promises, and notable in the Bacharach/David partnership as a song that had lyrics before music. Bacharach says he wrote the melody faster than any other song he'd ever written, and this song, maybe more than any other, seems to illustrate his process of writing melody first and building around it. It's also David at his mischievous best with lines like 'What do you get when you kiss a girl? / You get enough germs to catch pneumonia / After you do, she'll never phone ya.' Rhyming 'pneumonia' and 'phone ya' is genius worthy of Cole Porter. 

6. This Guy's In Love

A song that made Herb Alpert a credible vocalist, which says more about the song's inherent appeal than his abilities. So laid back and cool. Male vulnerability personified. See #11 - Are there any other pop songs that talk about male vulnerability?

5. (They Long To Be) Close To You

A hit for The Carpenters, featuring Karen Carpenter at her very best. The Carpenters recording is also notable for featuring the legendary Wrecking Crew on instruments, and their flawless 4-part harmony backing vocals. I used to sing this song to my babies to rock them to sleep (see also, Herb Alpert as a vocalist.) Nough said. 

4. Walk On By

The song that cemented the relationship between Bacharach/David and Warwick. Notable for the way the song leaves room to groove, and the tasteful piano hook after Warwick sings "breakdown and cry". This song shows how Bacharach knew when to leave space for a song to breathe, and when to lay on the strings dramatically. Bacharach stated in a 1998 interview that he looked at his songs as “three-and-a-half minute movies, with peak moments and not just one intensity level the whole way through.” This song was the first of many to demonstrate this approach. Other irresistible elements include the stabbing guitar, and the melodious atmospheric Hammond (?) organ. It was the same session as "Anyone Who Had A Heart" which probably should be on this list too. 

3. Say A Little Prayer

Many people think Aretha's version is definitive but to my ears it feels a bit too gospel and bombastic, a bit too diva. This song needs to have a vulnerability that undergirds the soaring vocal delivery, and that's Warwick's specialty. The trumpet hook and string arrangements are a Bacharach signature.   

2. What the World Needs Now is Love

A song that is quite literally the soundtrack to the turbulent 1960s in America. Reportedly it took David almost two years to write the lyrics. And for anyone who would argue that the Beatles did it better with their anthem All You Need is Love, I point out that this song came out two years before theirs, and, although I haven't researched it, might have influenced Lennon/McCartney. It's a safe guess because the Beatles actually recorded a Bacharach song "Baby, It's You" earlier. Jackie DeShannon had a hit with it, but it's Warwick's version, again, that's definitive in my mind. The story is that DeShannon only got it when amazingly Warwick intially turned it down because she thought it was too preachy. 

1. Promises, Promises

This is my number one because it amply showcases everything that made Bacharach (and David, and Warwick) great, in terms of musical craft. It opens with an irresistible trumpet hook, and has multiple shifts in time signature to propel the song forward and support the narrative arc of the lyrics. It's intimate and grand at the same time, as the most enduring art always is.