What It Was Like to Work with Burt Bacharach, in the Words of his Collaborators
Dionne Warwick, Elvis Costello, and Tom Jones were just a few musicians who performed Bacharach’s songs.
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Burt Bacharach, the legendary pop composer and songwriter behind such classic hits as “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” and “What the World Needs Now,” died of natural causes on February 8 at age 94. He leaves behind a legacy that includes timeless collaborations with musicians such asAretha Franklin,Dionne Warwick,Elvis Costello, andTom Jones.
A six-time Grammy Award winner and three-time Oscar winner, Bacharachwrote more than 70 Top 40 hits over his seven-decade career, and he treasured his collaborations with fellow artists, singers, and songwriters. Here are what some of his most famous collaborators have had to say about him.
Elvis Costello
Costello, whohad long admired Bacharach, first collaborated with him on the ballad “God Give Me Strength” for the filmGrace of My Heart (1996). The two went on to work together on several projects including the Grammy-winning 1998 albumPainted From Memory.
“I first heard the songs of Burt Bacharach when my family was still living in a basement flat near Olympia in the late 1950s,” Costellowrote last month on Twitter. “Never would I have imagined that my admiration for him would grow into a 25-year collaboration and friendship.”
On Bacharach’s passion for working with others, CostellotoldBillboard: “He doesn’t need to collaborate on music. It speaks of his generosity and curiosity to see what happens.”
Dionne Warwick
One of Bacharach’s most storied partnerships was with celebrated singerDionne Warwick. With his writing partner Hal David, Bacharach wrote several hits for Warwick, including “Walk On By,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,” and “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?”
Bacharach and Warwick had their falling outs, particularly after Warwick felt abandoned when Bacharach and David dissolved their partnership in the 1970s. But the two reconciled with the release of the 1985 cover of Bacharach’s “That’s What Friends Are For.”
“We realized we were more than just friends. We were family,” Warwicksaid at the time. “Time has a way of giving people the opportunity to grow and understand. … Working with Burt is not different from how it used to be. He expects me to deliver, and I can. He knows what I’m going to do before I do it, and the same with me. That’s how intertwined we’ve been.”
Mike Myers
Bacharach got a big late career boost when he made a memorable cameo appearance inAustin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), the hit comedy film starring and written byMike Myers. Bacharach also later appeared in both of its sequels.
What manyAustin Powers fans didn’t know was Bacharach helped inspire the film in the first place. Myers began reminiscing about the 1960s while listening to Bacharach’s “The Look of Love” on the radio one day, which led to his idea for the movie.
“It was amazing working with Burt,” Myerstold the Gannett News Service in 1997. “His song ‘The Look of Love’ was the inspiration for this film. It was like having Gershwin appear in your movie.”
Tom Jones
The Oscar-nominated “What’s New Pussycat?” is one of Jones’ biggest hits. But his initial reaction to it was lukewarm at best.
After Bacharach and David wrote the song for the 1965 Woody Allen film of the same name, Jonesfirst thought, “It’s sort of a backhanded compliment: ‘I’ve got to have you, but this is the song.’” It took some convincing from Bacharach before he agreed to perform it.
“When I first heard it I thought, ‘Christ! What the bloody hell do they want me to sing this for?’” Jones said in a 1991 article fromQ magazine. “But Burt Bacharach explained, ‘I want the big voice to sing this bloody crazy song.’ And you put it on, it’s a classic.”
Robert Redford
Bacharach won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” which memorably plays during a scene inButch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) whenPaul Newman’s Butch Cassidy takes a bicycle ride with Katharine Ross’ character.
Some felt the breezy tune and peppy lyrics was the wrong film for a western film, but director George Roy Hill insisted. Long after the film’s release, it would be revealed that starRobert Redford was among the song’s detractors, though he later offered a mea culpa.
“When the film was released, I was highly critical: How did the song fit with the film? There was no rain,” RedfordtoldUSA Today. “At the time, it seemed like a dumb idea. How wrong I was, as it turned out to be a giant hit.”
Colin McEvoy joined theBiography.com staff in 2023, and before that had spent 16 years as a journalist, writer, and communications professional. He is the author of two true crime books:Love Me or Else andFatal Jealousy. He is also an avid film buff, reader, and lover of great stories.
