Origin of This Guys In Love

[steveo_1965]

Re:This guy's In Love With You
I'd llike to ask where this song came from....I know that Herb Alpert recorded it in 1967 or 68 for a TV special, but did Burt write it for Dionne first?...I notice that the original sheet music key is F, which is more Dionnes key, and Herb's key is Db.

Steveo

[BachtoBacharach]

Was always told that Burt wrote the tune with Dionne in mind but assume she turned it down or it got to Herb before she had a shot at it. As both Burt and Hal have said numerous occasions, the did write with Dionne in mind most of time. I think I heard somewhere that Herb asked Burt for a tune to sing on a television special and he gave him this. When she heard What the World Needs Now, it was in the form originally submitted to Gene Pitney and she rejected it as sounding to "western" a la Liberty Valence. Too bad she didn't hear Burt's rearrangement for Jackie DeShannon. She was a little miffed but pragmatic about it because she said had she heard the new arrangement she probably would have jumped at it. WTWNN was recorded by Jackie with Burt conducting in 1965 at Bell Sound with all Dionne and Burts usual session musicians and background singers while Dionne was touring Europe. Dionne always said but used the Burt/Dionne formula of that tune because it worked. Alas, Jackie had little chart success afterward with Bacharach although they cut some awesome sides together in 65 and 66.

[steveo_1965]

BTB,
Thanks for the information..I kind of thought or seemed to remember reading that the song TGILWY was around before Mr. ALperts
"song" request for his special.......I know it had some different words that he asked Hal to re-write....so it would be more "fitting"
for what he regarded as a tribute to his then wife who was in the
filmed segment on the TV special.
I am only guessing, but it seems that Dionne may have heard this tune and rejected it, as she did WTWNN...and, as you said, that song had kind of a country feel to it, ala Pitney when she first heard it.
I would like to hear the demo that was pitched to Pitney sometime.

[blueonblue]

Hi Steve,
Arguably, the best song Burt and Hal ever wrote !


"blue"

[steveo_1965]

Hello to my friend Blue!
I agree with you , I think It's their best song! Thanks for the link.
Steveo

[Steve Schenck]

For me, it's next to impossible to name my favorite Burt/Hal tune. I hear something I love in every one of them, and there are too many that I count among my favorites. But I will say that this particular version of TGILWY is among the top 5 arrangements, for my money, of Burt's music as arranged by Burt himself.

[steveo_1965]

Steve:



Steveo

[BachtoBacharach]

Allegedly, there a numerous "lost" tunes that Bacharach and David wrote that even demos weren't recorded. I believe it was Hal who said he took WTWNN out of his drawer full of "rejects" for Jackie to look over and that he originally wrote the tune in 1962-63 specifically for Gene. As both Dionne and Jackie were accomplished musicians in their own rights and have written and arranged their own tunes, I wonder if a demo recording even exists for WTWNN? Gene was also an accomplished musician and could read from a score sheet. Wonder if this was the arrangement Dionne looked at and dismissed. Dionne has admitted that it was a major faux pas for her to dismiss the tune but she had no idea it would be so wonderful after it was reworked for Jackie. Wonder what exists in Burt and Hal's "reject drawers"? Bet there are some awesome things that even they have long forgotten. Hopefully they will end up some day in the Smithsonian or a university library for all to enjoy and marvel at.

[steveo_1965]

Very nice post....
you are right...these would be treasures that some university in the future could garner!

[dustybulletin]

The song was originally written (or at least originally recorded) as "That Guy's In Love With You" which, with a few lyric changes along the way, gives it a completely different meaning. Danny Williams recorded and released the song under this title in 1967, which predates Herb Alpert's recording.

[steveo_1965]

Dustybulletin.
Hey, thanks for the information......very little known to most,
and to us until now!
Steveo
P.s. Danny Williams was an excellent singer!

[Rio]

My two cents...
Herb Alpert said on a TV program that he had the good fortune of working with some great songwriters and that there were times when he'd ask if they had a song written somewhere that they wish they had recorded but that, for whatever reason, they hadn't. He mentioned that he asked Burt, and he replied with TGILWY.

[steveo_1965]

After some quick research on the web,(about 14 minutes)Danny Williams did indeed record
"That Guys In Love" on Deram Records DML1017(LP) released in
GB. On this same album is Burt and Hal's "Love Was Here Before The Stars"also recorded by Brian Foley on Kapp.
The release date says 1968, but it probably predates Herb Alpert.
Steveo

[pljms]

After some quick research on the web,(about 14 minutes)Danny Williams did indeed record
"That Guys In Love" on Deram Records DML1017(LP) released in
GB. On this same album is Burt and Hal's "Love Was Here Before The Stars"also recorded by Brian Foley on Kapp.
The release date says 1968, but it probably predates Herb Alpert.
Steveo

And after a pause of more than 11 years in this thread here finally is Danny Williams and 'That Guy's In Love With You', a very different song lyrically from the Herb Alpert hit which it predated by a few months. What is strange is that there's no mention of the recording in Serene Dominic's Bacharach book Song By Song:

[blueonblue]

After some quick research on the web,(about 14 minutes)Danny Williams did indeed record
"That Guys In Love" on Deram Records DML1017(LP) released in
GB. On this same album is Burt and Hal's "Love Was Here Before The Stars"also recorded by Brian Foley on Kapp.
The release date says 1968, but it probably predates Herb Alpert.
Steveo

And after a pause of more than 11 years in this thread here finally is Danny Williams and 'That Guy's In Love With You', a very different song lyrically from the Herb Alpert hit which it predated by a few months. What is strange is that there's no mention of the recording in Serene Dominic's Bacharach book Song By Song:

Paul,
Thanks for posting.....an incredible "find !"

'blue'