Lyrical genius behind the Burt Bacharach legend, died yesterday:
Hal David, the renowned pop music lyricist whose prolific collaboration with composer Burt Bacharach produced a wealth of enduringly memorable hits in the 1960s and early ’70s, including “Walk On By,” “What the World Needs Now Is Love” and the Oscar-winning “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head,” died Saturday in Los Angeles. He was 91.David died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of complications from a stroke, according to his wife, Eunice.”As a lyric writer, Hal was simple, concise and poetic — conveying volumes of meaning in the fewest possible words and always in service to the music,” songwriter Paul Williams, president of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, said in a statement. David was a former president of the society and a longtime board member.
Here’s a medley with just a few of his songs performed by Dionne Warwick, who was so closely associated with Bacharach during the peak of her career. I could listen to this music all day, and sometimes do:
Warwick’s version of Alfie won an Academy Award for Best Song for the movie of the same name:
Bacharach and David received the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize earlier this year. Here is the full ceremony including some great performances (its short video an then has you click again to select segment, here’s direct link to segment page):
Watch Burt Bacharach and Hal David: The Gershwin Prize on PBS. See more from In Performance at The White House.
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