What the world needs now

Hal David, the man who partnered with Burt Bacharach to write so many top 40 hits, has died. This man wrote the songbook of my youth. There is not a song on this list that I cannot sing.

At about the same time, they teamed up with Warwick, a studio singer they met at a recording session for the Drifters vocal group. David wrote the lyrics for “Do You Know the Way to San Jose,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,” and “Walk on By,” all top-10 hits for her.
Award-Winning Year

“What the World Needs Now” was a top-10 single for Jackie DeShannon in 1965, the same year that Tom Jones had a hit with “What’s New Pussycat.” Dusty Springfield preceded them into the top 10 with her version of “Wishin’ and Hopin’.”

“What’s New Pussycat,” the title song of a movie starring Peter Sellers, earned Bacharach and David their first Academy Award nomination in 1966. They were finalists the next year with “Alfie” and in 1968 with “The Look of Love.”

The duo’s first No. 1 pop single arrived in 1968, when Herb Albert’s version of “This Guy’s in Love With You” climbed to the top of Billboard’s chart.

“Raindrops,” a song from the 1969 movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” that was a No. 1 for B.J. Thomas, earned David an Oscar. He also won a Grammy Award for that year for co- writing the score of “Promises, Promises,” a Broadway musical, whose title song was a top-20 hit for Warwick.

The Bacharach-David team produced another chart topper, the Carpenters’ “(They Long to Be) Close to You,” in 1970. “One Less Bell to Answer,” by the Fifth Dimension, peaked at No. 2 that year.

Here’s one of my favorites. And I still miss Karen Carpenter.