The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

Fascinating film of a portion of the 1966 rehearsal session for I Say a Little Prayer.

https://youtu.be/UhHm53BKf4w

Priceless footage. I've always preferred Dionne Warwick's recording to Aretha Franklin's for the simple reason that with his direct involvement as arranger and co-producer it sounds much more like a Bacharach song than Aretha's gospel infused version. One extraordinary fact about Dionne's I Say A Little Prayer is that it completely bombed in the UK and to this day is rarely if ever heard on British radio.

In agreement with one of the YT commentators, I love the goofy face Dionne pulls around 2:45.

pljms wrote: ↑Sat Jan 11, 2020 5:35 pm One extraordinary fact about Dionne's I Say A Little Prayer is that it completely bombed in the UK and to this day is rarely if ever heard on British radio.

Was it even released as a single in the UK? Even though I was only a child at the time I was forever listening to the radio and I can't ever recall hearing it being played. Apparently Bacharach didn't want it put out at all in the US, hence the very long delay before its eventual release, because he felt it was "too rushed". Which is pretty bonkers when you consider the supreme quality of the song and especially that his own instrumental recording from that time is probably even brisker!

That`s not the only instance of Burt criticising his original arrangement and then proceeding to use it for his own recording.
He claimed he had "the wrong groove" for Dionne`s version of "Close To You" and that Richard Carpenter had "nailed it."
He also thought that "Windows of the World" should have been given a slower tempo.
As with "...Prayer", he recorded both with pretty much the same charts and tempo as Dionne`s versions.

Bacharach might have thought that Richard Carpenter had "nailed it" in his arrangement for the Carpenters' recording of 'Close to You' but there was no way his pride would allow him to slavishly copy it for his own version.

Believe it or not, I once heard Bacharach state that he thought a record he'd arranged and produced might just have been too slow as opposed to too fast and that was after the DJ played Dionne Warwick's 'Promises, Promises' during a radio interview.