The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

I know this has been posted before, but it's well worth another look....


'blue'

It might have been posted here before, blue, but it was a while ago and I for one thoroughly enjoyed watching it again. This show really is one highlight after another with Bacharach singing 'Any Day Now' at the piano backed by Steve Allen's band; Carole Bayer Sager performing 'Come In From The Rain' and 'I'd Rather Leave While I'm In Love' accompanied by Burt at the piano; Burt and Carole duetting on 'Arthur's Theme' and perhaps best of all, Burt and Tony Newley performing together on 'Make It Easy On Yourself' and 'A House Is Not A Home'. The fact that host Steve Allen was a musician and a songwriter along with his many other accomplishments means that his chats with all concerned are informed as well as witty.

I must have missed this the first time it was posted because it's completely new to me. I've heard a lot about Bacharach and Newley touring as a kind of double act back in the 1970s so I especially enjoyed the two songs they performed together. It was also interesting seeing and hearing Burt accompany Carole Bayer Sager on a couple of songs and she not being able to resist making a couple of sarcastic remarks about him 'deigning' to play music written by others. Watching Steve Allen present and perform for the first time was something of a revelation and just makes me wish that we'd seen more of him on British TV.

I just loved it. Thank you.

I see that this show was recorded at the time that Tony Newley was starring in 'Chaplin' at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion in Los Angeles, which dates it to either August or September 1983 because the musical ran for only six weeks after opening on August 12th. Newley merely performed in this musical and had no hand in the songwriting and it reminded me of what Bacharach stated in his autobiography about how he and Newley had planned a few years earlier to collaborate on a musical about Charlie Chaplin and got as far as writing one number called 'The Dancing Fool' before they had to stop after Newley apparently got sick. However, I'm not sure how well a full-blown collaboration between the two would have worked because Newley was not an out-and-out lyricist who concentrated solely on the words like Hal David and by all accounts during his long and successful songwriting partnership with Leslie Bricusse tended to contribute more to the music.

When Steve Allen brought out two albums recorded by Carole... why no mention of 'Sometimes Late At Night' the album she recorded with Burt in 1981?

Paul, the song you mentioned...

'blue'

blueonblue wrote: ↑Tue Mar 21, 2023 5:20 am When Steve Allen brought out two albums recorded by Carole... why no mention of 'Sometimes Late At Night' the album she recorded with Burt in 1981?
'blue'

Yes and with Burt & Carole both sat there seemingly too polite to mention its absence. As for 'The Dancing Fool', the mystery of whether or not lyrics were written for this tune seems destined to remain unsolved.