Broadway meets rock 'n' roll
On 20 July 1969, millions of people around the world were glued to the television or radio to follow the moon landing live. A historical moment that is an appropriate symbol of the Golden Sixties. The period was marked by strong optimism about progress, but at the same time, there were numerous civil rights movements that rebelled against traditional values and demonstrated for freedom and peace. The social and cultural revolution also made its mark on music; in response to a growing desire for emotional depth, music became a way to address social themes.
Many new musical currents saw the light of day in this period; under the influence of rock 'n' roll, the songs that make up the American Songbook underwent a radical metamorphosis. The energy of rock music lay in its typical song structure, and the relatively simple and accessible harmonies from Broadway and jazz standards gave way to more complex harmonies and rhythmic structures. And whilst the songs by composers like Cole Porter and George Gershwin at the beginning of the 20th century still drew mainly on romantic and idealistic themes, a new generation of songwriters began, in mid-century, to turn to deeply emotional and socially critical subjects.
Partly thanks to technological innovations such as the rise of stereo recordings and improvements in sound quality, the songs also become richer in tone. Moreover, the orchestrations were expanded and new acoustic or electric instruments were added in service of a new, more dynamic sound. Music became big business, with colourful records and hits that were intended to win over the hearts of the audience.
A golden tandem
One of the most famous duos who bridged the tradition of the American Songbook and the emerging new musical styles was the team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Together, they wrote songs for a dozen or so artists, from Dionne Warwick and Dusty Springfield to The Carpenters. Bacharach’s songs are characterized by romantic melodies that immediately sweep the listener along into the emotional layers of Hal’s texts. Add their distinctive harmonies, numerous rhythmic changes and original arrangements for strings and winds, and you have the recipe for a wide range of hits that even the Stones or The Beatles could not surpass.
The reason why Bacharach’s songs caught on so successfully had to do among other things with the fact that he did not simply go along with the style of commercial music. He was able to combine in a unique way pop elements with the musical building blocks of classical music and jazz. Bacharach was classically trained – he had studied with Darius Milhaud, Bohuslav Martinu and Henry Cowell – and had eagerly absorbed the music of the French impressionists and jazz greats like Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie and Charlie Parker. Donald Fagen, keyboardist and lead singer of the band Steely Dan, summed it up nicely in this compliment: ‘His songs are a magical combination of Ravel-like harmony and street corner soul’.
The careers of Bacharach and David took off after their encounter with the singer Dionne Warwick. They were immediately taken with her voice which seemed perfect for the technical challenges and emotional scope of their songs. From their first collaboration in 1962 came some twenty top-40 hits in barely ten years’ time, ranging from Walk On By to I Say a Little Prayer. The song That is What Friends Are For topped the American charts, won a Grammy in the categories of ‘Song of the Year’ and ‘Best Pop Performance,’ and at a fundraiser brought in more than 3 million dollars for AIDS research.
The Bacharach-David duo also roe to the summit of the film and musical world: they won a Grammy for the Broadway hit Promises, Promises for best album, and the single Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head earned them an Academy Award for ‘Best Original Song’. For Alfie, Bacharach’s personal favourite, they received another Grammy for best arrangement. All this despite the fact that initially they were not very keen on writing a song about a man named ‘Alfie’.
Iconic interpretations
In the same period, a good number of other hits also saw the light of day; often the covers by pop artists became even more popular than the originals. Think, for instance, of the song Fever, originally written by Eddie Cooley and John Davenport and sung by the R&B singer Little Willie John. When Peggy Lee reworked the number in 1958, it became a runaway hit. It went on to inspire later performances by stars like Madonna, Christina Aguilera and Beyoncé. Another immortal hit, Ain't No Mountain High Enough by Ashford & Simpson, earned a lasting position in the collective memory thanks to Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell as well as to Diana Ross. Feeling Good is also a fine example: the number was originally part of the musical The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd, but it became iconic after Nina Simone’s soulful performance made it a hymn to freedom and positivity.
The fact that the performer of a song can play as important a role as the original composers was further confirmed by Aretha Franklin, with her version of (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman. The composer duo Carole King and Gerry Goffin wrote the song in 1967 specially for Franklin. One of the most breathtaking performances of that number is probably that of 6 December 2015, when Franklin performed it live in the presence of Carole King and the then president of the United States, Barack Obama. Although the eminent singer died two years later, her raw, emotional interpretations would long continue to inspire others.
Aurélie Walschaert
