So I stay here...All Through the Day

[steveo_1965]

And now I want to talk about the wonderful harp part in Burt's arrangement for Window Wishing(Dionne)..He strategically places the top note of the harp to co-ordinate with Dionnes vocal on the following part...
"So I stay here...all through the day...A Million teardrops ..can't wash away..." Half note arpeggiated chords..
I so much appreciate this wonderful bit of arranging! Wonderful, Burt!
Steveo

[BachtoBacharach]

Stevo...Window Wishing was one of those Bacharach/David/Warwick tunes that just took my breath away when I first heard it in the 60s...It really was the precursor to the type of sound that would be so identified with them. Although I am not a musician and my musical training is limited to reading sheet music and playing a trumpet at a high school band level, I appreciate the complex technique Burt uses to incorporate the voice as in instrument. Carlos Santana said he loved Dionne Warwick and loved the pureness of her voice and that he learned to sing by listening to her records. He said "Dionne Warwick never overdosed on soul while singing and never overdosed on her own voice." She was unique in that she always enhanced and never took away from Bacharach's compositions. Yet, she always stood out and there was something about them all working together that magnified everything they did. Burt has stated he went places musically and took chances that the would have not taken otherwise because Dionne could sing anything. When a Dionne Warwick single played on the radio in the 60s, you knew you were listening to something totally unique. Contrast that with today, when all the dime a dozen divas mainline their own voices like heroin, guild a song so much with their over-vocalizing, that any good tune they might do is totally lost. Warwick was never a narcissistic vocalist...it was always about the song and how she presented it and how she fit within it....although Patti LaBelle is a talented vocalist when she tones it down, she is an early example of someone so totally absorbed in her own voice and her own talent that just about anything she sings becomes about the voice and thus about herself. I really don't know how Bacharach got Patti to tone it down for the lovely "On My Own" but her realtive restraint in that recording enchances the entire tune. Most of the current crop of divas are far less talented than Warwick and rely on vocal gymnastics rather than phrasing and voice control. There will never be another Warwick and I hope she gets her due one day by the RRHOF.

[Bruce Bernard Williams]

I couldn't agree with you more BachtoBacharach, especially your last two sentences (can't figure out how to use "quotes"). I can't understand for the life of me how these so-called "divas" get all the record sales and promotions and can't carry a tune if you put it in a bucket for them! There are several vocalists that we rarely here from anymore that I would consider to be true Divas with a capital "D". The one that I would say come closest to Dionne is Esther Satterfield. As far as I know, she has only recorded two (2) solo albums and was guest vocalist on a few of Chuck Mangione's albums. When company would come over, I would put on one of Esther's albums and I would always get the response that I expected: Is that Dionne's new one? A few others that I feel have tonal quality, pitch, enunciation, and phrasing are Lauren Wood, Brenda Holloway, and especially Sylvia St. James ("Grace", "Behind My Back").

[nowmedical]

Steveo,

this seems to be another BB tune that I have missed - where can I find Window Wishing so I can give some informed comment on your post?

[An Enormous BB Fan]

steveo_1965: You've identified why Burt really has no equal when it comes to orchestrating his music. And we should also have a thread about Burt's other melodies--which are the counter melodies that run through much of his music which are either sung by backup singers or by various instruments. And I have wondered, for a long time, why no interviewer has ever asked Burt about his genius for writing counter melodies in his music. They add so much to his songs.

BachtoBacharach: I agree with you 100% about Dionne's singing... and the problem you've identified in many of the other Divas' singing. I have felt the same way for a long time.

nowmedical: The great dibotis had "Window Wishing" posted on youtube, but, sadly, the "suits" made him take it (and all his scores of Dionne songs) down. What a shame that is!

[steveo_1965]

Enjoyed all of your comments on this thread....The section I was speaking of on Window Wishing has that "Sea of Sound" strings along with beautiful harp arpeggios behind Dionne's voice...and a soft brush groove on the snare drum...Then of course the surprise Tympani hits
emphasizing the vocal rhythms..("for me...there'll never be another..."
Yes, I agree that Dionne doesn't get carried away with the self absorbed "melismas"( grooving on one note, bending it and twisting it)...that a lot of Divas like to display...The melody becomes "mucked.." There are very few divas that know when to give that little extra bit of soul when needed to push the song into a "Groove"...
Dionne is one of them...
To nowmedical:
I'm trying to remember...the original Window Wishing was on a Scepter B side to one of the 45 singles around 1966...perhaps it's on the discography...I'm sure it is included in some of Dionne's cd collections...which ones I don't know....
Steveo

[Rio]

Dionne Warwick - From the Vaults
Icihiban Records, all tracks under license from Warner Special Products
1995

Dionne Warwick - Here I am / Here Where There Is Love
(two albums in one CD; originally in Here I Am)
Sequel Records, produced under license from Warner Special Products
1995

[BachtoBacharach]

"Window Wishing" as well as most all of Dionne Warwick's Scepter and Warner back catalog is available for download as an MP3 from Itunes, Amazon, etc. It is also available on the 2006 reissue CD of her original 1965 album "Here I Am" available on Amazon.com and other sites. Many of Bacharach's A & M and Kapp albums are available on the same sites.

Here is an Amazon.com link to listen to a sample of "Window Wishing"
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?ur ... &x=23&y=23