Bacharach's songs are so well known that it's difficult not to take him and his music for granted. The songs are printed on our minds like close friends, each one a truly crafted gem.
It would take me numerous blogs to list all his songs and the Internet has already done that. I particularly like the material he wrote for Gene Pitney and if I had to pick three of my absolute favourites it would be "Trains and Boats and Planes," "What the World Needs Now is Love," "24 Hours From Tulsa" and "Close To You," but there are so many more absolute classics and many more that I'm unfamiliar with that I will be catching up over the next few days.
I was catching up on some gardening yesterday and listening to some Bacharach. Mind you the lyrics of some of his songs were a tad sexist in the "ladies be good to your man and always dress up for when he comes home otherwise he will stray" kind of way.
Bacharach goes way back. He was born in May 1928. So his career virtually spans the entire history of popular music.
Apparently his songs have been recorded by over 1000 different artists...WOW. Oh and check out Scott Walker's versions of some of his songs. I have always thought that Scott Walker had the most perfect voice. although when he left the Walker Brothers he went into some strange musical territory, that is nevertheless quite interesting in its own right.