An immensely beautiful song by a great black diva. Where are they these days? Why do we have to make do with Rihanna?
We should also not forget the geniuses who composed and wrote this song, actually one of many they did for Dionne Warwick. These geniuses were Burt Bacharach for the music and Hal David for lyrics. I assume both names don't ring a bell whatsoever with most persons born after 1980. Bacharach and David are the men behind gems performed by Herb Alpert, Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack and The Carpenters - amongst others. The photo shows Bacharach in his prime, with his second wife, the actress Angie Dickinson (as a sidenote, I might add that she was a mighty hot ticket, but I think you can figure that out for yourself).
Anyone who had a heart was Warwick's first top ten hit in the States, Canada, Spain, The Netherlands, South Africa, Belgium and Australia in January 1964. Since it was written in 1963, that makes it's right now half a century old. And maybe it's just me (though I don't really believe that), but 50 years later it's still hasn't lost one bit of its attractiveness. I guess that's pretty amazing. We're talking here about a hit written in the era Kennedy was murdered - seems an awfully long time ago, huh? Think of Scott Joplin's famous ragtime hit, The Entertainer, written in 1902. Let's be honest, ragtime sounds hopelessly archaic in a way classical pieces written even two centuries earlier don't. We recognize it's importance, but even in the sixties, half a century ago, it must already have sounded terribly uncool and old-fashioned. Almost as many years separate 2013 from 1963, when Anyone... was written, as 1963 from 1902. But to me it's like Warwick's hit is still as fresh, moving and... actual, as back then. It's a testimony to the extremely lucky hit of Bacharach and David meeting.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers with Learning to Fly.
From the 1991 album Into the great wide open.
Nite.
MFBB.
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