"Who Get's The Guy"

[blueonblue]

Very rare clip of Dionne singing one of Burt and Hal's most underrated classics !!!


"blue"

[ron hertel]

Thanks for posting this link - "blue" ....... One of my all time favorite "buried treasures" from Dionne and I've read that it was Lee Warrick's (Dionne's Mother) favorite recording!

[vincent.cole]

Bonjour Blue;

Thanks for posting this wonderful clip of Dionne singing, "Who Gets The Guy"!!!

And Ron you are right, this was Dionne's mothers favorite song of Dionne's!

Take care mon ami's.

Vincent

[BachtoBacharach]

In this live performance of the tune, Dionne's subdued performance brings out a melancholy and vulnerability that's not evident in the recording. She also sang the tune on the Ed Sullivan Show in March 1971. This is indeed a very rare clip and one that hasn't been seen publically since 1971 until it's posting here. In this clip, Dionne sounds so resigned and tired...and for this performance of the tune it's very pleasing...it's hard to separate this tune from the performer and that's what is so fascinating about their work...she actually became the tune, if that makes sense; the tune in her hands is living and breathing...I also detect a horseness in her voice...she had vocal cord nodes at the time. She had surgery in 1972 to remove them and was concerned before they were removed that she would lose her voice permanently. That didn't happen.

[Blair N. Cummings]

Easily one of my top 5 from the Triumvirate, I was bewildered and more than disappointed when it didn`t appear on Very Dionne. It may not have charted as high as some other singles, but it received plenty of airplay at the time - certainly as much as "...Green Grass..." which WAS included on the album.
BTW, what show was this YouTube clip from?

[BachtoBacharach]

Here is the program information. Who Gets the Guy had just been released as a single.

EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT JACK BENNY AND WERE AFRAID TO ASK
1971-03-10, NBC 52 min.
Jack Benny, Phil Harris, John Wayne, George Burns, Dionne Warwick, Lucille Ball

[blueonblue]

Hi Folks,
Many thanks for all the info, I've always loved this track !
For me, it's the epitome of the "Bacharach Sound"......

Thanks again,
"blue"

[Hank]

I had never heard this before and it's really beautiful. Thank you so much for posting.
What album is it from ?
Are there any other great gems that I'm missing ?
I must check "Song by Song"....
Impossible to imagine the powerhouse female vocalists of today doing anything so vulnerable.
I could really open up to Beyonce if she tried something like this....

[Blair N. Cummings]

It didn`t appear on an album until the (relatively) recent Rhino Handmade re-issue of Very Dionne. That may be out of print again, but I`d check Amazon. I believe the previous album, I`ll Never Fall In Love Again was paired with it.
And, yes, you`ve missed many gems depending on which albums you`re without. The early Scepter recordings were re-issued by a British label fifteen years or so ago. They, too, were paired and are worth searching for.

[BachtoBacharach]

Look at Dionne's body language during the clip...she's holding a flower and toward the middle of the clip, she starts to pick petals off the flower she's holding, as in "he loves me, he loves me not" and holds them in her palm...she then spills the petals into her lap...she knew how to sing a tune but also how to "perform" a tune...her stage presence is stunning and in the intimate environment of a television screen, she manages not only to sing the melancholy of the tune but to very subtly act it out...few female singers could command an arena or an intimate club stage or a television screen like she could...aside from being one of the two most popular female singers during that time, which is one reason she was so in demand for television appearances, but she photographed beautifully for television and had that "it" that connected with television audiences...in fact her Q score which measures name recognition, likability and identification with the television audience was second only to Lucille Ball during that time. Even if you turn the volume of this clip off, you get such an overwhelming sense of resignation...can you imagine Aretha or Diana Ross giving a performance this subtle? She was unparalleled in acting out Bacharach and David's three minute movies....no one could do it better.

[blueonblue]

The greatest interpreter of Bacharach and David ever...........Dionne has no equal.

"blue"

[grooverider]

Dear Hank, "Who Gets The Guy" did appear on the compilation album, "Only Love Can Break a Heart", released in 1977 on the Musicor label. On this vinyl album there are only two Bacharach/David songs: the title song and "Who Gets The Guy". The other eight songs are cover versions like, "Monday, Monday" and "Let It Be Me".

[BachtoBacharach]

Hank, the tune is also available on Itunes and Amazon as an mp3 along with almost all Dionne's Bacharach catalog.