Burt Bacherach (1928 - 2023)

The master of the soft-toned music and huge hits is no more. 94 is a very respectable age and during his lifetime Bacharach has been lauded for his achievements in pop music. Together with lyricist Hal David (1921- 2012) he rose to fame in the late 1950s and kept writing hits together until circa 1970. After that year the hits became more incidental.

For me, most of the duo's hits lay before the time I was truly conscious of individual songs, let alone artists. Although through the years I got to know many of their famous songs, I cannot tell you I when heard them first. A name like Dionne Warwick and Dusty Springfield were unknown to me until a little later, 'Son Of A Preacher Man', or somewhere later at some unknown point. The same goes for the songwriting duo David - Bacharach.

The first song I remember consciously is Herb Alpert's hit 'This Guy's In Love With You', with that beautiful trumpet sound. Next comes 'I Say A Little Prayer', in Aretha Franklin's version. It may be that unconsciously Tom Jones' 'What's New Pussycat' roamed my mind already. I'm just not sure here.

When I look back at these songs, they are all super sugercoated affairs, yet extremely melodic. It does not take much effort to remember them. Although far removed from my true loves in music, which I do not have to explain to followers of this blog, there's not a single one that I mind and even enjoy hearing on the radio or elsewhere. No, I do not own a single record by Burt Bacharach and I have no clue what he has created through the years after these huge hits. That Dutch singer Trijntje Oosterhuis made three records with him over the past decade, was not something I needed to check out.

 This is beside the point. One of the great songsmiths has left this world at a venerable age. And that deserves a few words here.

My favourite songs? The two mentioned already. Add 'Anyone Who Had A Heart' and 'Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head', also because of that beautiful bike riding scene.

Wout de Natris