Doubleheader Tribute to Burt

“Walk On By”– C.T., Feb. 13, 2023, recorded at Babyland

 

“What’s New Pussycat”– the Chandler Travis Philharmonic, Midway Cafe, sometime in 2001, recorded by The Valet, probably.

 

I’ve alway had a thing for Burt ‘n’ Hal (Bacharach – David), especially for Dionne Warwick’s first two hits, “Don’t Make Me Over” and “Walk On By”* (among many others, but “What’s New Pussycat” obviously stands out as a true outlier in every possible way, and there’s so much I need to know: how did Burt write this one, which seems to have no resemblance to anything before or after it, whether in Burt’s catalog or not? It’s hilarious, but not jokey or corny at all, just… weird! And I’ve read that it was Burt’s idea to have Tom Jones sing it and thinking of who was the perfect singer must have given him some real pause for thought- howelse was in the running, and how did he light on the perfect dude? Talk about a conversation I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for, Burt explaining to Tom why he was the perfect guy for it. And then add the ending of the song, which is the singer singing the word “nose”, all by himself, ever so soulfully? Was that a souce of contention in the studio? Easy to imagine Tom, having been a really good sport about everything else, saying, “really?! “Nose”, all by myself? That’s the ending? Really??!”

It’s just so brilliant, and such a non-sequitor in so many ways. It turned up in a lot of crazy places, and was covered by both Barbra Streisand and the Wailers, among others (the Wailers version is really fun)…
We did it a handful of times back then- how could we not? Wish just once we had shattered a big wine bottle properly for that intro…

*ps
I used to LOVE playing “Walk On By”, and was a little surprised to see I’d never recorded it, except for an absolutely shameful CTP evisceration of it that the song clearly didn’t deserve… so torturous, I won’t even tell you what album it’s on, and I apologize truly to Burt and Hal and Dionne and all their families for all the suffering I’ve caused… maybe I’ll do a proper version some day.

There’s a great (albeit very short) Beach Boys version of it, too (bless ’em!) from several years ago, apparently an outtake from “20/20”. You can also find an extended version of it on the World Wide InterWeb, but to me there’s something oddly mysterious yet very touching about the 55 second version they released first- but maybe that’s just me…

pps

OK, so I was so embarrassed at hearing our dis-memberment of “Walk On By”, and got so wistful thinking about how much I used to love that song that I finally slapped one down, just me, no frills, and certainly no threat to the original, just paying my respects. I actually did a video of it it, too, but upon seeing it thought better of publishing it- you’re welcome! And bless you, Burt n Dionne n Hal n Tom, life definitely wouldn’t have been as good without you!