Sunday, September 02, 2012

Songwriterobit: Hal David

It's a shame that the death of Hal David got such strange treatment from BBC News late last night - a newsreader who clearly hadn't come across the name Bacharach before, and wasn't going to make any attempt to familiarise himself with it between the times when he was called upon to say it; and one of the most extraordinary Gambaccini-as-angel-of-death sequences yet, where the Gambo was gasping for breath during the call, as if he'd been racing to get to the phone before Mike Read turned up to dominate the obituaries.

Given that David was good with words, perhaps we should let him speak for himself? To which end, over the next twenty-four hours, twenty-four songs for which he wrote the lyrics.

Twenty-four hours from David:
Noon Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head
1pm Walk On By
2pm To All The Girls I've Loved Before
3pm Anyone Who Had A Heart
4pm Magic Moments
5pm A House Is Not A Home
6pm Alfie
7pm There's Always Something There To Remind Me
8pm The Look Of Love
9pm The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
10pm What's New, Pussycat
11pm One Less Bell To Answer
Midnight Say A Little Prayer
1am Do You Know The Way To San Jose
2am I'll Never Fall In Love Again
3am Wishin And Hopin
4am Johnny Get Angry
5am Close To You
6am This Guy's In Love With You
7am Make It Easy On Yourself
8am Blue On Blue

Hal David was 91; he died following a stroke on Saturday.


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