Here’s a list of the songs written by Hal David. Keep reading; it’s very long. While many of them were written with Burt Bacharach, a number of them were not.
As I noted when he died back in 2012, he was far less well-known than his regular writing partner. While I surely recognize the importance of the music, without the lyricist, they’re just a bunch of pretty tunes lacking the resonance of the core message of the songs.
Some of his accomplishments, too many to list:
Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head, which was in the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, garnered an Oscar. What’s New Pussycat, Alfie, and The Look of Love received Oscar nominations.
He garnered numerous Grammys. Don’t Make Me Over, Close to You, and Walk on By are all in the Grammy Hall of Fame. He had 40 top 10 songs.
Hal was elected to the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. His work is quoted in “Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations,” and the book of his lyrics, entitled “What the World Needs Now and Other Love Lyrics” was published by Simon and Schuster.
I didn’t link to the same tracks that I used in 2012. And I’ve made an attempt to avoid selecting Dionne Warwick, who I love, on every other cut, though she’s likely recorded half of these songs.
Records that chart on the major Billboard charts in the 1960s are indicated.
Songs
24 Hours from Tulsa – Dusty Springfield
A House Is Not a Home – Ella Fitzgerald
Alfie – Nancy Wilson
(There’s) Always Something There To Remind Me – Sandie Shaw, #52 pop in 1965
American Beauty Rose – Frank Sinatra (Hal David/Redd Evans/Arthur Altman)
Anyone Who Had a Heart – Linda Ronstadt
The April Fools – Dionne Warwick, #8 adult contemporary, #33 RB, #37 pop in 1969
Blue on Blue – Bobby Vinton, #2 AC for three weeks, #3 pop in 1963
Do You Know the Way to San Jose – Neil Diamond
Don’t Make Me Over – Sybil
I Say A Little Prayer – the Overtones
It Was Almost Like a Song – Ronnie Milsap (Hal David/Archie Jordan)
Johnny Get Angry – Joanie Sommers (Sherman Edwards/Hal David), #7 pop in 1962; you don’t hear kazoo nearly enough
(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valence – Gene Pitney, #4 pop in 1962
The Look of Love – Diana Krall
Magic Moments – Perry Como
Make It Easy on Yourself – Jerry Butler, #18 RB, #20 pop in 1962
More songs
Message to Michael – the Marvelettes
My Heart is an Open Book – Dean Martin (Lee Pockriss/Hal David)
One Less Bell To Answer/A House Is Not A Home – Barbra Streisand
Promises, Promises – Dionne Warwick, #7 AC, #19 pop, #47 RB in 1968
Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head – Izzie Naylor
Reach Out for Me – Lou Johnson, #31 RB, #74 pop in 1963
This Guy’s in Love with You – Oasis
To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before – Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson (Hal David, Albert Hammond)
Trains and Boats and Planes – the Box Tops
Walk on By – the Beach Boys
What the World Needs Now (Is Love) – Broadway for Orlando, “an all-star group of artists from the theatre and pop world: Sara Bareilles, Idina Menzel, Audra McDonald, Gloria Estefan, Carole King, Sarah Jessica Parker, and many more.”
What’s New Pussycat – Tom Jones, #3 pop for two weeks in 1965
The Windows Of The World – The Pretenders
Wishin’ and Hopin’ – Ani DiFranco
Wives and Lovers – Jack Jones, #9AC in 1963, #14 pop in 1964
You’ll Never Get to Heaven (If you Break My Heart) – the Stylistics
Composer Hal David would have been 100 on May 25, 2021.
