Wives and Lovers

Burt Bacharach, the American pianist, composer, songwriter, and record producer, died last February 8 at the age of 94. He was regarded as one of the most important and influential figures of 20th century popular music and has composed hundreds of pop songs, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David.

For the Baby Boomers like me (born after World War II up to 1964), we grew up immersed with Burt Bacharach/Hal David songs. “Alfie” was the soundtrack of Michael Caine’s 1966 movie of the same name. “Raindrops Keeps Falling On My Head” was the background music of the 1969 movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. “Close To You” was first recorded in 1963 by Richard Chamberlain, the original Jason Bourne; when sung by Karen Carpenter in 1970, it became one the Carpenters’ signature songs.

Unlike many composers today who sing their own songs, some of them quite atrociously, the great composers of yore, like Jerome Kern, George and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Richard Rogers and Henry Mancini, let professional singers interpret their songs.

Bacharach sometimes sings a few lines of his songs, but knowing his limitations, he let Dionne Warwick, Aretha Franklin, Tom Jones, Jack Jones, BJ Thomas, and others interpret his songs. His favorite is Dionne Warwick, the sultry-voiced first cousin of singer Whitney Houston.

Dionne signing “Alfie”, “A House Is Not A Home”, “Do You Know The Way To San Jose”, “I Say A Little Prayer”, “The Look Of Love”, “What The World Needs Now”, “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again”, “This Guy’s In Love With You”, “Walk On By”, “That’s What Friends Are For”, to name some, have been ingrained in the brains of Baby Boomers, they won’t forget it even with the onset of Mr. Parkinson.

We had an LP (that’s a long-playing record, when cassette tapes and compact discs or CDs were yet to be invented) of the young Jack Jones singing Bacharach’s “Wives And Lovers”. Beautiful music, which is a given of Bacharach’s songs. Witty lyrics, which only Hal David could pen. Here’s a sampler:

“Day after day

There are girls at the office

And men will always be men

Don't send him off with your hair still in curlers

You may not see him again

For wives should always be lovers too

Run to his arms the moment he comes home to you

He's almost here”

No complaints in the ‘60’s regarding that song. Now, some are saying that that it is probably the most sexist song ever, with women stereotyped as nothing more than housewives and that their place is in the kitchen.

Well, nobody complained when Sean Connery, in the 1964 James Bond film “Goldfinger” had Pussy Galore as one of his conquests. Now, the ladies in Bacharach’s country divorce their husbands for reasons like irreconcilable differences. Then they get one-half (or a good portion) of their ex-husband’s assets, plus a generous alimony.

Nonetheless, even in these “modern times”, Bacharach’s songs live on. I look forward to singing “Wives And Lovers” with Sam Costanilla on the piano, and with my supportive wife egging me on.

Atty. Alfredo J. Sipalay