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PETULA SINGS BURT BACHARACH AND HAL DAVID

Burt Bacharach and Hal David are the writers of such 1960s hits as Dionne Warwick's Walk On By, Dusty Springfield's The Look of Love, and the Carpenters' Close to You. Burt Bacharach and Hal David wrote the music and lyrics for over 700 songs that have been recorded by some 2,000 artists including Petula - albeit limited to just 23 different songs. Here we have gathered together the Bacharach / David songs recorded and performed by Petula presented in chronological order.

Hal David, Petula and Burt Bacharach (2000)

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True Love Never Runs Smooth (1964)

This Burt Bacharach and Hal David composition was Petula's 5th single produced by Tony Hatch and recorded at the Pye Studios in Marble Arch, London. True Love Never Runs Smooth was also the opening track from the Downtown album issued in 1965.

"Her version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "True Love Never Runs Smooth" features a good beat and a fairly heavy rhythm section beneath its orchestral backing, and Clark's vocal is a delicate mix of mid-1960s pop-music cool masking a hint of very convincing vulnerability" - AllMusic

Record Mirror 27 June 1964

Also recorded by Gene Pitney

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Saturday Sunshine (1964)

Recorded in 1964, with accompaniment directed by Tony Hatch, this Bacharach / David composition was featured as the flip to the Pye single True Love Never Runs Smooth issued in June 1964.

Also recorded by Burt Bacharach, Bruce Forsyth and Johnny Mathis

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Ceux Qui Ont Un Coeur (Anyone Who Had A Heart) (1964)

Burt Bacharach and Hal David's Anyone Who Had A Heart was recorded by Petula in French, German, Italian and Spanish and issued simultaneously around Europe on various singles and EPs with great success.

Petula Clark was on the roster of Pye Records, Dionne Warwick's UK label, and therefore in a position to almost immediately cover Anyone Who Had a Heart in several foreign language versions for the international market. 

Petula reached #7 in France with Ceux Qui Ont Un Coeur in the spring of 1964 then #5 in Italy with Quelli Che Hanno Un Cuore that September; in October 1964 Petula peaked at #1 in Spain for a two-week period with Tu No Tienes Corazon.

In Germany, Petula's cover, Alles Ist Nun Vorbei, was assigned a tandem chart ranking with both the Dionne Warwick and the Cilla Black versions of Anyone Who Had a Heart peaking at #37.

The orchestra on Petula's versions of Anyone Who Had a Heart was conducted by Tony Hatch. The instrumentation of Petula's version differs from that of the versions by Dionne Warwick and Cilla Black in utilizing an organ for the solo on the instrumental break rather than a saxophone as on the Warwick original or a bassoon as on Black's cover.

Petula Clark has never recorded Anyone Who Had a Heart in English, feeling that both Dionne Warwick and Cilla Black have definitively rendered the song in its original language.

Also recorded by Dionne Warwick, Cilla Black, Dusty Springfield, Shirley Bassey, Vicki Carr, Atomic Kitten and Michael Ball
 

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This Girl's In Love With You (1968/1969)

Several female vocalists have rendered this Burt Bacaharach / Hal David song as This Girl's in Love with You, apparently beginning with Eydie Gorme, for whom it was a Top 20 Easy Listening hit. Petula recorded This Girl's In Love With You for her 1968 album Petula produced by Tony Hatch who was the exclusive producer overseeing all the album's tracks. Petula was the last Petula Clark album of original material produced by Tony Hatch.

Petula performed This Girl's In Love With You on her 2nd American TV special Portrait Of Petula, broadcast by NBC on April 7th 1969. Additionally, on 29 October 1969, Petula opened her Royal Albert Hall concert appearance with a brassy Las Vegas style arrangement of This Girl's In Love With You, first issued on LP in 1972. The concert was also recorded for television - the television broadcast was a landmark transmission for the BBC when on 15 November 1969 (Petula's birthday), An Evening With Petula Clark launched BBC1's colour transmission service.

Also recorded by Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, Dusty Springfield, Liza Minnelli, Ella Fitzgerald and Anita Harris

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Don't Say I Didn't Tell You So (1971)

Produced by Arif Mardin, this Bacharach / David song, first recorded by Dionne Warwick in 1965, was recorded by Petula for her penultimate original album for PYE, The Song Of My Life (titled Warm and Tender in the US) issued in 1971.

Also recorded by Dionne Warwick and Herbie Mann

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The World Is A Circle (1972)

The debut episode of Petula's BBC musical variety series The Sound Of Petula was broadcast on December 26th 1972 ahead of the full series launch in March 1973. The Boxing Day broadcast featured special guest Anthony Newley and featured Petula performing the new Bacharach / David composition The World Is A Circle; the main theme from their forthcoming film musical Lost Horizon.

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The Sound Of Petula - The Best of Bacharach (1973)

The Sound of Petula was a musical variety series hosted by Petula Clark that aired on the BBC from 26 December 1972 through 21 December 1974. Each episode had a theme and featured guest stars. The Best Of Bacharach was show number 5 of the first series recorded on 14 March 1973 and broadcast on 14 April 1973. Petula's guests were Anita Harris, Marion Montgomery and Barbara Windsor with The Peter Knight Orchestra and the Mike Sammes Singers. This programme represents Petula's biggest output of Bacharach / David material. As part of a cull to save room and money, the BBC erased countless hours of its output because it saw no further commercial use for such material. Included in the cull was Petula's 1973 series including The Best Of Bacharach. The only surviving episode from the 1973 series is show six Your Kind Of Music - a request special (recently broadcast on BBC 4) and a snippet from show two from the 1973 series: Songs Of The Beatles.

An audio recording of the programme exists and for your enjoyment a selection of songs from the show are featured below:

This Girl's In Love With You
(They Long To Be) Close To You 
Wives And Lovers 
Magic Moments
The Look Of Love 
Medley: There's Always Something There To Remind Me / Anyone Who Had A Heart / Alfie / I'll Never Fall In Love Again 
Living Together (from the film musical Lost Horizon)
A House Is Not A Home
What The World Needs Now 

 

Audio recording courtesy of Tony Heester

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What The World Needs Now Is Love (1974)

Recorded live at The Royal Albert Hall, London on 14 February 1974 this live recording was arranged by Peter Knight and closed the first act. The live album originally released by Polydor Records as Live In London was also telerecorded and broadcast by the BBC in March 1974. Petula continued to feature What The World Needs Now in her concert repertoire during the late 1970s and included the song during her 1979 appearance on the TV special Eurogala.

Also recorded by Jackie DeShannon, Dionne Warwick and The Supremes

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Don't Make Me Over (1976)

This Bacharach / David song marked the start of Dionne Warwick's recording career in 1962. Petula rendered the song in 1976 when she recorded it for the proposed album Blue Lady to be issued by ABC Dunhill Records. The album was produced in Nashville by Chips Moman (Petula's second collaboration with Chips following the 1970 album Memphis) but remained unreleased for almost 20 years when it was eventually issued in 1995 by Varese Sarabande under their Vintage imprint.

Also recorded by Neil Diamond, Connie Francis and Thelma Houston

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The Look Of Love (1996)

In 1996, Petula recorded a host of tracks at Angel Studios, London including one of Bacharach and David's most covered works, The Look Of Love. The tracks were recorded for Reader's Digest and were to be included on various album compilation albums issued by their mail order service. In 1998, eleven of the tracks, including The Look Of Love, were issued by First Night Records (on their Connoisseur imprint) for the Petula Clark album Where The Heart Is.

Also recorded by Dusty Springfield, Nina Simone, Susan George and Diana Krall
 

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A Tribute To Burt Bacharach and Hal David (2000)

 

On 30 June 2000, a host of internationally renowned performers, including Petula paid tribute to Burt Bacharach and Hal David in a concert staged at London's Royal Albert Hall. For the concert, Petula chose three Bacharach / David songs Close To You, Wishin' and Hopin' and A House Is Not A Home. The concert was subsequently released on DVD and CD.

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