| "What the World Needs Now Is Love" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 A-side label of the 1965 US single | ||||
| Single byJackie DeShannon | ||||
| from the albumThis Is Jackie DeShannon | ||||
| B-side | "I Remember the Boy" | |||
| Released | April 15, 1965 | |||
| Recorded | March 23, 1965 | |||
| Studio | Bell Sound (New York City) | |||
| Genre | Easy listening | |||
| Length | 3:10 | |||
| Label | Imperial Records | |||
| Songwriters | Burt Bacharach,Hal David | |||
| Producers | Burt Bacharach, Hal David | |||
| Jackie DeShannon singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"What the World Needs Now Is Love" is a 1965 song with lyrics byHal David and music composed byBurt Bacharach. First recorded and made popular byJackie DeShannon, it was released on April 15, 1965, on the Imperial label after a release on sister label Liberty records the previous month was canceled. It peaked at number seven on the USHot 100 in July of that year.[1] In Canada, the song reached number one.
In 2008, the 1965 recording by DeShannon onImperial Records was inducted into theGrammy Hall of Fame.[2]
Co-songwriter Burt Bacharach revealed in his 2014 autobiography that this song had among the most difficult lyrics Hal David ever wrote, despite being deceptively simple as a pop hit. He explained that they had the main melody and chorus written back in 1962, centering on awaltz tempo, but it took another two years for David to finally come up with the lyric, "Lord, we don't need another mountain." Once David worked out the verses, Bacharach said the song essentially "wrote itself" and they finished it in a day or two.[3]
The song's success caught the two songwriters completely by surprise, since they were very aware of the controversy and disagreements among Americans about theVietnam War, which was the subtext for David's lyrics. Bacharach continuously used the song as the intro and finale for most of his live concert appearances well into the 2000s.
The song was originally offered to singerDionne Warwick, who turned it down at the time, saying she felt it was "too country" for her tastes and "too preachy"[4] though she later recorded it for her albumHere Where There Is Love. (Warwick also recorded a second version in 1996, which scraped the lower reaches of the US Hot 100.) Bacharach initially did not believe in the song, and was reluctant to play it for DeShannon.[5] The song was also rejected byGene Pitney, reportedly over a financial dispute.
DeShannon's version was recorded on March 23, 1965, at New York'sBell Sound Studios.[6] Bacharach arranged, conducted and produced the session. In 1967,the Chambers Brothers recorded a soul version of "What the World Needs Now Is Love" using gospel harmonies and4
4 metric, on their album "The Time Has Come".[7]
Glenn Yarbrough recorded a version on his 1965 albumIt's Gonna Be Fine.[8]
An instrumental version of the song was featured regularly on theJerry Lewis MDA Telethon for many years, most frequently heard when pledge amounts were announced on the broadcast.[citation needed]
R&B singerLuther Vandross recorded a version of the song on his 1994 albumSongs.[9]
Burt Bacharach performs a version of the song in the 1997 American filmAustin Powers: International Man of Mystery, with the film's director describing Bacharach's performance as "the heart of our film".[10]
DeShannon's version of the song was selected by the U.S.Library of Congress for preservation in theNational Recording Registry in 2023.[11]
In 2016,Broadway for Orlando recorded the song for sales to benefit the victims of theOrlando nightclub shooting.[12]
| "What the World Needs Now Is Love/Abraham, Martin and John" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byTom Clay | ||||
| from the album What the World Needs Now Is Love | ||||
| B-side | "The Victors" | |||
| Released | June 22, 1971[13] | |||
| Recorded | Early 1971 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 6:10 | |||
| Label | Motown(MoWest MW5002F) | |||
| Songwriters | Hal David,Burt Bacharach,Dick Holler | |||
| Producer | Tom Clay | |||
| Tom Clay singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
In addition to the DeShannon hit recording and the numerouscover versions, "What the World Needs Now is Love" served as the basis for a distinctive 1971remix. Disc jockeyTom Clay was working at radio stationKGBS inLos Angeles, California, when he created the single "What the World Needs Now is Love/Abraham, Martin and John" (combining with the top 5 hit, in 1968, byDion), a social commentary that became a surprise hit record that summer.[16]
The song begins with a man asking a young girl to define such words asbigotry,segregation, andhatred (to which the girl says she does not know); she says thatprejudice is "when someone's sick". Following that is a soundbite of a drill sergeant leading a platoon into training, along with gunfire sound effects, after which are snippets of the two songs – both as recorded by the Blackberries, a session recording group.[17] Interspersed are excerpts of speeches byJohn F. Kennedy,Robert F. Kennedy, theeulogy given (byTed Kennedy) afterRobert's assassination, andMartin Luther King Jr., and soundbites of news coverage of each assassination. The ending of the song is a reprise of the introduction.
"What the World Needs Now is Love/Abraham, Martin and John" rose to No. 8 on theBillboard Hot 100 in August 1971, and was Clay's only top 40 hit.[18] Reviewing Tom Clay's track forAllMusic, Andrew Hamilton called it an "inspirationalsound collage" but felt that, after ten songs have been recited by Clay, "the concept wears thin and gets downright irritating."[14] In 2019,Billboard writer Morgan Enos included the "obscure medley" in his list of songs that sample King Jr.[19] Oliver Wang ofNPR noted that the song, "a collage offound-sound snippets set to a syrupy arrangement of the Burt Bacharach tune", was the first single onMotown'sHollywood-based subsidiary label MoWest. He added that the song "became a surprising Top 10 hit and also helped set the tone for what would be a short and often strange history for the label."[20]
Weekly charts[edit]Jackie DeShannon
Sweet Inspirations
Tom Clay (medley)
Dionne Warwick
| Year-end charts[edit]
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The Jackie DeShannon version was used in the final scene of the 1969 filmBob & Carol & Ted & Alice.
The song was used in 1997 filmMy Best Friend's Wedding.
The song (and a cameo fromBurt Bacharach himself) also appears in the 1997 film,Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, starringMike Myers andElizabeth Hurley.[30]
Ania Karwan performed a version for the 2017 filmLetters to Santa.[31]
Missi Hale performed a version for the 2017 filmThe Boss Baby.[32]
In April 2024, the song was used in the teaser trailer ofJoker: Folie à Deux, which usedSammy Davis Jr. andTom Jones' cover. Despite the film receiving negative reviews, the trailer was heavily praised.
In a 2024Amazon ad titled "Midnight Opus," a former singer turned movie theater janitor sings the song at a surprise concert coordinated by his colleagues.[33]
