I've always found Lena Horne a very mannered singer and one who tends to take liberties with the lyrics, as she does here. The arrangement, with the chorus starting with a straight major chord instead of the major 7th, leaves a lot to be desired too.
I wasn't keen on this either. It's funny how the so-called Greats - Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee etc etc - never 'got' Bacharach. Sinatra was especially bad - his recordings of 'Wives and lovers' and 'Close to You' are simply awful. In fact Tony Bennett was about the best of the bunch, but not here.
Lena Horne did do a fine version of a Bacharach song, the rarer than rare and very untypical Out of my Continental Mind, a live recording from the late 50s. Now why isn't that on any of the 'Rare Bacharach' compilations?
.....and Wives and Lovers is good too as she doesn't deviate from the melody or change any of the words. Features a wonderfully breezy arrangement by I know not who. Yes, Sara, I agree with you about Sinatra's version of this song - why enough change a dazzling jazz waltz to a plodding 4/4? :