Going through several of my regular sites yesterday I learned of the passing of Hal David. Not unexpected, given he was not well enough to accept the Gershwin Prize along with Burt Bacharach in May of this year.
I suppose now is as good a time as any to confess I've been a closet Bacharach/David fan for a lot of years. I liked their songs before Mike Myers (in the guise of Austin Powers) and "My Best Friend's Wedding" made the songwriting duo retro-hip. I distinctly remember mom and dad's record collection containing some of Burt and Hal's hits.
Whether it was a Top-40 song such as Naked Eyes "There's Always Something There To Remind Me" or a mega-country hit "To All The Girls I've Loved Before," I had the surprise, years later, of learning David created the lyrics.
And, one of my last days in high school I took my rather large final wood shop project home in the family Suburban. As I took it out of the back of the truck I had the radio going (naturally) and KRST played a song I had never heard before, a country oldie. "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence" by Gene Pitney. Years later I learned it was written by you-know-who.
And now in my DVD wish list is "Lost Horizon." Not the 1937 flick with Jane Wyman but the 1973 musical from Columbia Pictures. I want to see it if only to watch what amounted to the last nail in the coffin for the Bacharach/David duo. The fact that the movie was a total bust sure couldn't be blamed on the tunesmiths. And some of the user reviews on imdb.com indicate that the picture really isn't all that bad. (Maybe it was just a victim of bad timing.)
Farewell, Mr. David. Rest assured I have an iPod full of your compositions that will keep my mood upbeat all day.
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