"A Better Man"

Just Me · Post by **Just Me** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 11:39 am

I have a question. Why is "A Better Man" so under heard and apparently under rated? I count that song among my all time fav BB/HD numbers. Though not a fan of Englebert's, his rendition in about 1970 is great. At least I think. Any thoughts?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 6:10 pm

Certainly is a great song...I don't know either..perhaps it's not a "blockbuster" like some of his other concepts...doesn't have the iconoclastic quintuplet piano fill or identfiable piano opening of
close to you???

An Enormous BB Fan · Post by **An Enormous BB Fan** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 12:38 am

Just Me wrote:I have a question. Why is "A Better Man" so under heard and apparently under rated? I count that song among my all time fav BB/HD numbers. Though not a fan of Englebert's, his rendition in about 1970 is great. At least I think. Any thoughts?

I have this exact thing many times here at this forum. I've puzzled through this many, many times. It should be a standard, for heaven's sakes!

Davide Bonori · Post by **Davide Bonori** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 2:39 am

I agree: the song should be a B&D standard.
And David McAlmont 1997 version (from the delicious English movie "Shooting Fish" was very good.

pljms · Post by **pljms** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 6:00 am

Top 20 in the UK, top 40 in the US and yet it's never featured on any of BB's 'Greatest Hits' or 'Best of' compilations, even when the listing goes to 72 tracks like on the 'The look of Love' box set! Totally inexplicable.
Paul

jbw1026 · Post by **jbw1026** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 3:12 pm

I think the problem is that the melody line is so LONG. It took me 4 hearings to get it. However, it is gorgeous. (And frankly, too GOOD to be a hit.)

Jim

crazyforburt · Post by **crazyforburt** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 4:09 pm

how frequently we hear a song might have something to do with its ownership...eg burt does not own the rights to all his songs,movie compositions might be owned by the producers

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 10:20 pm

He sold off some of the song rights a long time ago...but still receives the writing royalties...I tend to agree with Jim..it is not a "hit" type song..but instead it's just a "Great one!"

rasputin · Post by **rasputin** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 10:18 am

I agree with jbw1026... "I'm A Better Man (For Having Loved You)" is a bit too sophisticated for a lot of listeners...

All of Humperdinck's charisma cannot force a song to be a hit-- if the average musically naive person cannot sing it and remember it readily.

My guess is that a savvy writer like Burt may well have intended that song in the first place to be a very handsome "album cut" to round out one of Humperdinck's albums... This is often done-- and is an art-form in itself...

D.

An Enormous BB Fan · Post by **An Enormous BB Fan** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 1:05 am

What I'm going to say doesn't demean the song in any way whatsover. First of all, you should know that I absolutely love I'm A Better Man and I think (as I've said before) that it should be a standard. But, of all the songs that Burt ever wrote (that I know of), I always got the feeling that Burt simply sat down one day and wrote that song in 5 minutes. In other words, I think the song just flowed right out of him in just about the same amount of time as it takes to sing it. And this is not a negative thing I'm saying at all.

rasputin · Post by **rasputin** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 8:20 am

LOL, BB fan! Even Burt's "throwaways" are very very good indeed!

Dennis Webb · Post by **Dennis Webb** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 11:32 am

This song is one of my favorite BB/HD compositions as well, and Humperdink's voice and style suit it very nicely. I've always thought it had a lot more potential than it manifested with the public. To my ear, it has always sounded a bit rushed. The melody is very long (as others have noted) and the beginning of the first line of each stanza is very difficult and EH just barely manages to articulate each note. The listener, therefore, is left struggling to make sense of the melody. I've always wondered if slowing down the tempo just a bit would have brought some improvement. EH could have given every note its due and the listeners would have a little more time to absorb the melody. A slightly slower tempo would also relax the song just a bit, though not so much that it drags.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 12:16 pm

Dennis,
I would like to hear how you would go about doing that...It might work,
perhaps you could visualize Englebert playing around with the melody rubato style...but in my mind, if he sang it any slower, it would sound like a tape recording going to o slow! lol
just my humble opinion......

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