Fact #84225
When:
Short story:
Gene Pitney releases a new single, 24 Hours From Tulsa, in the USA on Musicor Records. The song is written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.
Full article:
Gene Pitney : I have worked with many creators of songs and fresh concepts but few have the dynamic talents of Burt Bacharach.
(Source : Sleeve notes to the 1965 LP Burt Bacharach - Hit Maker!)
Gene Pitney : That was a Bacharach-David song, I had great success with those two guys, and it was the song that broke me not just in the UK, but worldwide really.
I had gone to the UK and it was my first trip, and somebody had set up a tour, but when I got to London, I could tell that the people in the record company were not too happy. They weren't exactly saying I shouldn't be doing it - it was a ballroom tour - but I could see they were not too pleased. So I went to the promoter and told him I was not going ahead with it, and of course, it was one of these, "I'm gonna sue you" discussions. But anyway, I decided that while I was in London, I might as well promote the new record 24 Hours From Tulsa, and because I now had so much free time, I was on radio and TV almost every day during my stay. It turned out huge, actually, it was the first record that got me known outside of the USA, and opened up a global market for me. It was a very good song, with a good tune, a good title, and a good story line. In other words, it had all the ingredients.
Hal David (lyric writer) : I wrote that to a melody that Burt wrote and that's what the melody said to me. Music speaks to a lyric writer, or at least it should speak to a lyric writer. And that's what the music said to me. And why it did, I don't know. I don't think I had ever been to Tulsa. I've always kind of liked what I call 'narrative songs' - story songs. And when I hear music, very often I hear a story. The fact that it was Tulsa, as opposed to Dallas, is not terribly meaningful, but the sound of Tulsa rang in my ear.
Gene Pitney : When Burt and Hal presented a song, Burt would play piano and sing with a glitch in his voice. He's like Roger Cook, in that he doesn't sing well technically, but I'd sing it to myself and think, 'Jeez, it doesn't sound as good as them.' That's because they've left a piece of themselves in the song - l can't explain it better than that.
Tony Hatch (UK songwriter) : Bacharach was so important to all of us. When a music arranger composes he does not deliberately copy but you hear a shape or a sound or a structure of a song and you think, well, you know, you don't always have to have three chords. We can start in minor keys and we can do other things because people are buying it. So that was the biggest influence he had on me. I never copied a Bacharach song but I always felt, 'I want to listen to everything he's doing', because it's like looking at a painting and beginning to understand how the creator is thinking.
(Source : http://www.retrosellers.com/features152.htm)
Tweet this Fact
(Source : Sleeve notes to the 1965 LP Burt Bacharach - Hit Maker!)
Gene Pitney : That was a Bacharach-David song, I had great success with those two guys, and it was the song that broke me not just in the UK, but worldwide really.
I had gone to the UK and it was my first trip, and somebody had set up a tour, but when I got to London, I could tell that the people in the record company were not too happy. They weren't exactly saying I shouldn't be doing it - it was a ballroom tour - but I could see they were not too pleased. So I went to the promoter and told him I was not going ahead with it, and of course, it was one of these, "I'm gonna sue you" discussions. But anyway, I decided that while I was in London, I might as well promote the new record 24 Hours From Tulsa, and because I now had so much free time, I was on radio and TV almost every day during my stay. It turned out huge, actually, it was the first record that got me known outside of the USA, and opened up a global market for me. It was a very good song, with a good tune, a good title, and a good story line. In other words, it had all the ingredients.
Hal David (lyric writer) : I wrote that to a melody that Burt wrote and that's what the melody said to me. Music speaks to a lyric writer, or at least it should speak to a lyric writer. And that's what the music said to me. And why it did, I don't know. I don't think I had ever been to Tulsa. I've always kind of liked what I call 'narrative songs' - story songs. And when I hear music, very often I hear a story. The fact that it was Tulsa, as opposed to Dallas, is not terribly meaningful, but the sound of Tulsa rang in my ear.
Gene Pitney : When Burt and Hal presented a song, Burt would play piano and sing with a glitch in his voice. He's like Roger Cook, in that he doesn't sing well technically, but I'd sing it to myself and think, 'Jeez, it doesn't sound as good as them.' That's because they've left a piece of themselves in the song - l can't explain it better than that.
Tony Hatch (UK songwriter) : Bacharach was so important to all of us. When a music arranger composes he does not deliberately copy but you hear a shape or a sound or a structure of a song and you think, well, you know, you don't always have to have three chords. We can start in minor keys and we can do other things because people are buying it. So that was the biggest influence he had on me. I never copied a Bacharach song but I always felt, 'I want to listen to everything he's doing', because it's like looking at a painting and beginning to understand how the creator is thinking.
(Source : http://www.retrosellers.com/features152.htm)