The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

Carlos Santana on phrasing:

“I first started with B.B. King because that's the most natural thing for a guitar player to start with. Because you want to bend notes, you want to be able to express joy, attitude, anger and a cry. But for those people who want to really begin to sing, I suggest getting a lot of Dionne Warwick albums-the old ones-and instead of playing the chords as much, or trumpet things, try to match her vocal note-for-note. Because there was one time where she had that beautiful balance between black and white, you know? Not too black and not too white-right in the middle. The Burt Bacharach period; beautiful stuff. I listened to that, and I learned how to sing. Like that. Through her.” - Carlos Santana (interview with J.D. Considine, Guitarworld 1981)

He knows what he's talking about. He makes great sense with that. I obviously am extremely familiar with, and continually listen to, all the BB/HD/DW songs, and there's nothing like it. Every song was a master class in songwriting and singing. And so many songwriters and singers have been enormously influenced by Burt, Hal and Dionne. I was listening to "Who Is Gonna Love Me?" the other day, and it blew me away again. I've heard it a million times and it still knocked my socks off. I just can't get over how great that song is. And Burt wrote songs like that time and time again, decade after decade. How lucky we all are to have these songs to listen to, especially when you compare Burt's songs to all the other songs that come out. In many cases, it's downright embarrassing.

Bonjour Enormous BB Fan;

Yes what a very beautiful song, "Who Is Gonna Love Me?"

This song was discussed on the forum before. I dedicated this song to my wife 13 years ago on our 25 fifth! And when I saw Dionne after one of her concerts 5 years ago, she agreed with me, that this song should have been a major hit!!!

On another note. Since the both of us live in New York City, the radio station WCBS FM 101 always plays Beatle Wednesday. I am going to send them an email to see if they can include other artist. Yeah, most of the fans know Dionne’s greatest hits, but if they could hear other gems like, "Who Is Gonna Love Me?", it will blow they away!!!

P.S. Don’t forget about playing Golf this year!

Take care mon ami.

Vincent