"What The World Needs Now"...is Hal David

Everyone knows the name Burt Bacharach. Or at least they should do. Yet does everyone know the name Hal David? To my eternal shame I must admit that I didn't until I read about his death this morning aged 91.

Hal David was as American lyricist who was famed for his musical collaborations with Burt Bacharach. David won two Oscars for his work on the soundtrack for the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - one for best music, and the other for the song Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head. Both awards were shared with Burt Bacharach.

Many of their greatest collaborations were with Dionne Warwick but there were so many more. Here are only a handful of timeless hits which I have adored since childhood and which I had not realised, until now, were all influenced by the great Hal David...































Popular culture know-it-all and all-round good-egg Paul Gambaccini called him "..one of the giants of all-time of popular music songwriting". I can't really top that.

RIP Hal David (1921-2012)