The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

One aspect of Burt's music that rarely gets a mention in any music journal is those pure instrumentals he wrote in the late 60s/early 70s. These pieces will always be my favourites of his, but he never seems to get asked about them.

Can anyone tell me if Burt has ever explained the inspiration behind the six-minute orchestral suite titled 'And the People Were With Her' and the instrumental piece 'She's Gone Away'?

I know others are fans of ATPWWH because it has cropped up before in this forum.

Perhaps if someone gets the chance to talk to Burt soon they might like to politely ask him about those titles.

His other instrumentals are easier to decipher: 'Monterey Peninsula' and 'Pacific Coast Highway' are self-explanatory and 'Freefall' is apparently a skiing reference, though I had previously thought Burt was referring to the sport of skydiving!

Anyway, they're all wonderful pieces.

Martyn.

I think "And The People Were With Her" might of had some inspiration
in horseracing.

Yes, I have heard this suggested before too.

And when I think about it, parts of the music do suggest the excitement of the racetrack. Perhaps the title is referring to the crowd cheering on the winning horse.

Then again it might be something completely different!

Burt owned an excellent filly named Heartlight #1. She won the Eclipse Award as best 2 y-0 filly in 1983. But the song is more than 10 years older than that -- it's from the time when Burt was just starting as a horse owner.

From http://www.capitolint.com/burtbacharachbio.htm:
"Bacharach-Sager-Diamond also collaborated on "Heartlight," the Neil Diamond hit. Inspired by the film, "E.T.," the song had a special meaning to Bacharach. He and Ms. Sager named one of their horses "Heartlight No. One" in hopes that the filly would do as well as the hit record and album. The Bacharachs and Diamond sang "Heartlight" to her before her races. Indeed, the horse was a champion - winning the prestigious Eclipse Award."

From http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/aw ... pientId=61
"In the few moments not totally devoted to composing, Bacharach has also become a horse owner with several successful thoroughbreds currently running, including Soul of the Matter and Afternoon Deelites. Another from the Bacharach stable, Heartlight No. One, a filly, was winner of the prestigious Eclipse Award, an extremely significant accolade in track and paddock circles. The horse was named after the song, "'Heartlight," composed by Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager and recording artist Neil Diamond."

Obs.: Soul is currently a stallion in Japan. Afternoon idem, USA. About 8 years ago Soul almost won the richest race in the world, in Dubai. That day he was by far the best horse, in my judgement.

Well...Burt had a horse during the time of late 60's early 70's called
"Nikki's Promise"....and he was running horses around the time of the
composition of "And The People Were With Her"

I did not say the song was not related to horse racing. I said it was from the time when he was getting started -- which might have been a time of great excitment for him. I mentioned that Heartlight #1, from a later period, is the one that more likely had a significant following.