The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

Heard this song Look in my eyes Maria by Jay and the Americans co-produced with Leiber/Stoller It seems Leiber/Stoller were the head honchos of Brill as everyone seemed to have apprenticeships and or collabs with them. What is that jingling percussion instrument in all the Leiber/Stoller songs that makes them so indentifiable/ I hear it in Spanish Harlem as well? Anyway what are other examples of Bacharach/ David collaborating with others Brill tandems?

Remove the Lieber/Stoller input and you get this version In this case I prefer the foursome vs the Duo. Anyway what are other examples of Bacharach/ David collaborating with others Brill tandems?

I find Cliff Richard's version to be closer to what Burt wanted the song to be rather than Jay and the American's version. Just a guess on my part. Maybe it's because I like Cliff's version more.

Burt wrote a few hits with Bob Hilliard. Was Bob Hilliard a Brill Building songwriter? Bacharach/Hillard wrote these 4 great songs: "Mexican Divorce," "Any Day Now," "(Don't Go) Please Stay" (with Dionne's sister, Dee Dee, and Doris Troy singing backup) and "Tower of Strength." He also wrote one of the giant pop hits of all time, Ruby and The Romantics' "Our Day Will Come," but with someone else. I think he's an amazing lyricist and I'm pretty sure that he and Burt would also have had tons of hits had they teamed up. (But I'm glad it was Hal who became Burt's partner. Obviously.)

I wonder why it didn't work out that Burt and Bob Hilliard didn't permanently team up? After all, they had great success together very early on. Carole Bayer Sager said that it was maddening writing with Burt. Did Bob Hilliard have the same problem, I wonder?

An Enormous BB Fan wrote:I find Cliff Richard's version to be closer to what Burt wanted the song to be rather than Jay and the American's version. Just a guess on my part. Maybe it's because I like Cliff's version more.

Burt wrote a few hits with Bob Hilliard. Was Bob Hilliard a Brill Building songwriter? Bacharach/Hillard wrote these 4 great songs: "Mexican Divorce," "Any Day Now," "(Don't Go) Please Stay" (with Dionne's sister, Dee Dee, and Doris Troy singing backup) and "Tower of Strength." He also wrote one of the giant pop hits of all time, Ruby and The Romantics' "Our Day Will Come," but with someone else. I think he's an amazing lyricist and I'm pretty sure that he and Burt would also have had tons of hits had they teamed up. (But I'm glad it was Hal who became Burt's partner. Obviously.)

I wonder why it didn't work out that Burt and Bob Hilliard didn't permanently team up? After all, they had great success together very early on. Carole Bayer Sager said that it was maddening writing with Burt. Did Bob Hilliard have the same problem, I wonder?

I am sure every true Bacharach fan knows that Burt and Bob were a tandem before he and Hal were. I am not sure if Bob was a Brill writer other than his associations with Burt although he is credited as a Tin Pan Alley writer. I really want to know if Burt did other songs with notable tandems like Leiber/Stoller, King/Coffin, Weil/Mann, Greenwich/Barry, Sedaka/Greenfield, Pomus/Schuman, Spector mainly those guys as those were the main hitmakers and many times they worked together.

if youre talking about that jingling effect it is most probably the triangle...used on a lot of recordings as well as some of Burt's.
Steveo

steveo_1965 wrote:if youre talking about that jingling effect it is most probably the triangle...used on a lot of recordings as well as some of Burt's.
Steveo

Thanks Steveo. There is also another lieber/stoller instrument that has a vibraphone quality to it, the one from Spanish Harlem that is used in alot of their songs.

I also find alot of Lieber/ Stoller songs to be slightly spooky the vocal melodies often contain notes that have a tritone like quality. Its very subtle but does anyone else hear that? Examples of spooky songs include On Broadway(original version), Love Potion no. 9, and others i cant think of. There is something very haunting in the traditional sense of the word about 1"35 to 1"55 of this Ben King song.

Phil Spector has spoken about how much he was influenced by Jerry and Mike while interning for them. I wonder if Burt picked up a thing or two from them and added it to his already genius ability. I like to think of 0:50 to 0:55 of Nicki as a homage to Jerry and Mike. Am i grasping at straws?

Anyone knows if Lieber and Stoller had a hand in Chuck jacksons any day now? It has a spanish harlem vibe to it.

Regarding Bob Hilliard, I used to know his wife, and she was based in Hollywood. She said that Burt would come up to their Curson Terrace home and write around the enclosed pool(I was up there a few times) So I'm thinking that at least part of the Bacharach Hilliard years were spent when Burt was visiting on assignment to Hollywood, and he would get together with Bob...as far as them writing in New York, not sure about that.