Remembering Hal David and his music with Burt Bacharach

Lyricist Hal David, who died earlier today at age 91, was best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach. In 1956, they began their writing partnership, which included the 1968 Broadway musical, Promises, Promises, and it lasted until the 1973 movie musical, Lost Horizon, a box office flop for which they wrote the score. The two men reunited in 1993 for the song, "Sunny Weather Lover", which they wrote for Dionne Warwick's Friends Can Be Lovers album. They also composed a new song, "You've Got It All Wrong", for a 1997 Encores! concert revival of Promises, Promises, as well as two songs for the 2000 Bette Midler film, Isn't She Great. In 2011, Bacharach and David became the first songwriting team to be awarded the annual Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.

Below you can listen to some of their many classic tunes:

"Wives and Lovers" (1963) by Jack Jones



"Walk On By" (1964) by Dionne Warwick



"Make It Easy On Yourself" (1965) by The Walker Brothers (it was first recorded by Jerry Butler in 1962)



"What the World Needs Now Is Love" (1965) by Jackie DeShannon



"What's New Pussycat?" (1965) by Tom Jones (written for the film, What's New Pussycat?, it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song)



"Alfie" (1966) by Cher (the song, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, was also recorded by Cilla Black in 1966 and Dionne Warwick in 1967, but Cher sung it in the film, Alfie)



"I Say a Little Prayer" (1967) by Dionne Warwick (it was also a hit for Aretha Franklin in 1968)



"The Look of Love" (1967) by Dusty Springfield from the film, Casino Royale (it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song)



"Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" (1968) by Dionne Warwick



"Promises, Promises" (1968) by Jerry Orbach from the Broadway musical



"This Guy's in Love with You" (1968) by Herb Alpert



"Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" (1969) by B.J. Thomas (written for the film, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, it won an Academy Award for Best Original Song)



"I'll Never Fall in Love Again" (1970) by Dionne Warwick (written for Promises, Promises)



"One Less Bell to Answer" (1970) by The 5th Dimension



"(They Long to Be) Close to You" (1970) by The Carpenters (it was first recorded by Richard Chamberlain and released as a single in 1963)



"(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" (1983) by Naked Eyes (it was first recorded by Lou Johnson in 1964)