MAJOR MUSICAL FIGURES
This a running series on major figures in music, a prime go to page for inspiration.
The first individual presented is Burt Bacharach. His writing is brilliant and so are the lyrics of his lyricist Hal David. Note David's advice for lyricists below.
BURT BACHARACH
The major three song-writers of the sixties were The Beatles, Carlos Antonio Jobim and Burt Bacharach. Bacharach and his music personify a cool lifestyle that of course exists to today (and may it be for ever more), held up as it has been by Oasis (Bacharach's photo was in the foreground of the cover of Oasis' first album), the Austin Powers movies, and Bacharach's collaborations with Elvis Costello.
Or is it lyricist Hal David who is responsible, given his equally cool lyrics: "Wives And Lovers", "What The World Needs Now" and so on are the lyrical soundtrack of the sixties... if not a guide to life for all time. The two writers went together so well.
The music of Bacharach is so elegant, well, even that word doesn't do it justice. Possibly the best Bacharach compilation is a double set called "Bacharach And Friends", on Universal Music 2006. It includes many Dionne Warwick versions of course, but also an Isaac Hayes take on "Walk On By" (a masterpiece where you can literally see the person walking on by) and the album take of "Wives And Lovers" by Jack Jones, even smoother then the single version.
Bacharach defines so much that it is almost no coincidence that his name begins with "Bach". He is Bach with "ra"zzamatazz.
A composer, as is evident form every note and beautiful, unexpected key change, Bacharach studied under French composer Milhaud, the writer of the jazz influenced "Creation du Monde" ("Creation of the World": the latest creation being jazz?) of 1924.
The double album set mentioned is lesson in song-writing, and of course lyric writing too. As to the latter, Hal David wrote some very good advice on writing words on his site: (below)
Buy this set--it even has a 7 minute Luther Vandross version of: "A House Is Not A Home", where the singer takes about three or four minutes to actually finish it, after having come to the end of the song... "Will he end on the ninth? I know he will... no, wait... maybe... I'm sure he will, ... (after several minutes) yes!"
From www.haldavid.com/words.htm [The site is now said to be "under construction" but was up in March, 2010: What Hal said is below, uploaded here as the advice rocks]
His main point is that lyrics should aim at believability, simplicity and emotional impact.
He says...
Poems are written to be read and lyrics are written to be sung. I am a lyricist and the lyrics on this page were written to be sung. When my wife Eunice suggested that I create a website, I was - quite frankly - skeptical. The web is a new medium, and I have never used it in the creation of a song lyric. However, there are a growing number of resources for singers, songwriters, publishers, producers, and yes - even lyricists - on the web, and it is with that understanding that I humbly join the Internet community. I hope you will find the links and information here useful.
Now, how do I go about the business of writing lyrics? I wish I really knew. If I did it would make writing much easier for me. Because I have no formula, sometimes it flows smoothly and other times it is like rowing a boat upstream. Most often a lyric starts with a title. A line in a book I am reading may set me off. Other times some dialogue in a play or a movie becomes the catalyst. More often than not the idea just pops into my head-where it comes from I hardly ever know.
In writing I search for believability, simplicity, and emotional impact. Believability is the easiest of the three to accomplish. One thing a lyricist must learn is not to fall in love with his own lines. Once you learn that, you can walk away from the lyric and look at it with a reasonable degree of objectivity. Often I discard a good line because it is inconsistent with the basic idea. If the line happens to be witty or sad in a particularly fresh way it hurts me to take it out. But that's part of the pain of writing.
Simplicity is much harder to achieve. It is easy to be simple and bad. Being simple and good is very difficult. The sophisticated Cole Porter, the earthy Irving Berlin, the poetic Oscar Hammerstein, and the witty Lorenz Hart all have one thing in common - simplicity, the kind that is good. I must also mention a special favorite of mine, Johnny Mercer. Whether he is being poetic or humorous, he is never complicated. I seek this elusive thing called simplicity always. I hope I sometimes achieve it.
Above all, I try to create an emotion to which others can respond. Unless I can create an emotion to which I can respond, I throw the lyric away. Although I cannot know how others will react, I assume that if it moves me it may do the same for them. Sometimes I am right, sometimes I am wrong.
I am fortunate to have enjoyed a long-time collaboration with Burt Bacharach. Burt is a man of many talents - a masterful arranger, an outstanding conductor, but first and foremost a brilliant composer. Among songwriters there are many tune writers but just a handful of composers. He is one of the few.
I have heard it said that we have a style of our own. If we do, it is never consciously contrived. Certainly "What the World Needs Now Is Love" and "What's New, Pussycat?" are as far apart as the North Pole and the South Pole. The same thing can be said of "Alfie" and "Wives and Lovers." They are poles apart. The main thing we try to do is find an original approach to whatever song we are writing. Being different just to be different is plain foolishness. We never do that. Anything that takes away from the emotion we are trying to express, we discard. If the song isn't honest you may fool yourself, but you will never fool the public-at least, not for long. If we in truth do have a style it is because, in our search for originality, we have not written to a particular formula. When we achieve the freshness we are looking for, it's a wonderful feeling. Most songwriters like to think they know when they have written a hit. I'm no exception.
Years ago Burt Bacharach and I wrote a song that we thought we liked. After looking it over we decided that our original instinct was wrong. We put it away in our desk drawer and kept it hidden there for ten months-a flop, we thought.
This was particularly disappointing to me. I had thought of the idea at least two years before showing it to Burt. The chorus section beginning with, 'What the world needs now" came quickly. However, after I finished with, "No, not just for some but for everyone," I was stuck. I kept thinking of lines like, "Lord, we don't need planes that fly higher or faster..." and they all seemed wrong. Why, I didn't know. But the idea stayed with me.
Then, one day, I thought of, "Lord, we don't need another mountain," and all at once I knew how the lyric should be written. Things like planes and trains and cars are man-made, and things like mountains and rivers and valleys are created by someone or something we call God. There was now a oneness of idea and language instead of a conflict. It had taken me two years to put my finger on it.
When the idea came the lyric flowed with ease. As soon as Burt saw the lyric, the music seemed to flow as naturally. However, after our initial enthusiasm, we became disenchanted.
Finally, a day came when we were short of songs for a recording session. We took the song out of the drawer. The singer loved it and so we recorded it. The song was "What the World Needs Now Is Love."
Although we have over a hundred records of the song my favorite version is Dionne Warwick's. She always interprets my lyrics in a way that sounds as though she had written them herself.
(Hal David)