TV Note: Burt Bacharach and Hal David Receive the Gershwin Prize for American Popular Song

[David Shasha]

Friends,

 

            Back in 2007 the US Library of Congress created the Gershwin prize to honor achievement in popular music songwriting.  The first recipient of the award was the great Paul Simon, followed in 2009 by Stevie Wonder, and Paul McCartney in 2010.

 

            This year the award has been bestowed on the legendary songwriting team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David.  Responsible for some of the most memorable songs of the 1960s, the art of Bacharach-David represents a bridge from the classic pop music of Irving Berlin, the Gershwins, and Cole Porter to the era of Rock and Roll.  With complex chord structures and insanely catchy hooks, the songs of the duo set the standard for the era.  Songs like “Do You Know the Way to San Jose,” “The Look of Love,” and “Walk on By” – among so many other classics – continue to be a central part of our culture and are routinely used in motion picture soundtracks.  Most famously there are the examples of Mike Myers’ “Austin Powers” films as well as the prominent use of “I Say a Little Prayer” in the romantic comedy “My Best Friend’s Wedding.”  

            Burt Bacharach and Hal David set a high standard for American pop music and their influence on our culture remains strong to this day.

 

            The event honoring Bacharach and David has recently been aired on PBS and can be viewed on-line:

 

 

http://video.pbs.org/video/2237921072

http://www.pbs.org/inperformanceatthewhitehouse/

As with the other broadcasts of the award ceremony, the performances are a mixed bag with a combination of inspired choices and some more pedestrian and even questionable artists singing the material.  Stevie Wonder does a wonderful job with “Make it Easy on Yourself,” cannily altering it to a reggae beat.  Less successful is Lyle Lovett whose style is not always conducive to the sophisticated pop music of Bacharach-David.  Younger artists like Shelea and Rumer do passable versions of the classic songs, but do not hold a candle to the inexplicably absent Dionne Warwick who is the single most important artist singing Bacharach-David songs.  Also in attendance was the comedian Mike Myers doing his now-famous version of “What’s New Pussycat?” a song he previously performed at a tribute to Bacharach in New York in 1998.  At that tribute we saw Rock singer Sheryl Crow do an outstanding version of “One Less Bell to Answer” though her performances at the Gershwin ceremony are less thrilling.  Also inexplicably missing is Bacharach’s one-time collaborator Elvis Costello, though Costello’s wife Diana Krall is one of the featured performers on the broadcast.

 

For further information on the Gershwin award ceremony and on the career of Burt Bacharach and Hal David, see the following sites:

 

 

http://www.loc.gov/about/awardshonors/gershwin/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/09/library-of-congress-gershwin-prize_n_1502974.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Amazing_Night

http://www.rhino.com/shop/product/various-artists-the-look-of-love-the-burt-bacharach-collection

http://www.amazon.com/Burt-Bacharach-A-Night-Remember/dp/B0000DKKWV/ref=pd_sim_m_2

 

David Shasha