In honor of Sen. Dave McBride (h/t El Somnambulo), whose house in New Castle County is not his home, though we never need an excuse to showcase a Burt Bacharach/Hal David tune. The song was first recorded in 1964 by Dionne Warwick, who made a career of turning Bacharach compositions into hits, but it was written for the film of the same name, which starred Shelley Winters as a madam, and it was sung for the film by Brook Benton. The two versions were released almost simultaneously, Warwick’s as a B-side, so both stalled in the lower reaches of the charts.
The tune was quickly recognized as a uniquely beltable ballad and was soon covered by everyone from Dusty Springfield to Lanie Kazan. Nobody made it a hit, though, until Luther Vandross recorded it for his first solo LP, “Never Too Much.” He slowed the tempo and turned it into a show-stopper that clocked in at over 7 minutes.
The song won a Grammy for Aretha Franklin when she sang it at Vandross’ memorial concert after his death in 2005.
Burt Bacharach is, of course, one of the master craftsmen of American popular music. After more than a decade of writing hits for stage, screen and other singers, Bacharach finally released an LP of his own in 1967. He played piano on all the tracks, but sang only one — “A House Is Not a Home.”
