The songwriting juggernaut behind 32 Top 10 Billboard hits pays tribute to the late composer: ‘He was on his own mountain’
Diane Warren is the prolific songwriter behind such pop smashes as Celine Dion’s “Because You Loved Me,” Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” LeAnn Rimes’ “How Do I Live” and Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time.” A member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, she’s been nominated for 15 Grammy Awards and 14 Oscars — including a nod for original song at next month’s 95th Academy Awards with “Applause,” from “Tell It Like a Woman” — and been named ASCAP’s songwriter of the year six times. Here, she remembers the life and work of her fellow songwriter Burt Bacharach, who died Wednesday at age 94.
Burt Bacharach created something that didn’t exist before him — a musical language that was all his own. It starts with those melodies, which were unlike anything else you’d ever heard, with the unusual time signatures and the unique harmonic choices.
I can remember when I was little, from my earliest memory, those songs just seeped into my life: “Close to You.” “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head.” “This Guy’s in Love With You.”
“Alfie” is maybe my favorite of all time. There’s nothing that’s ever been written by anyone in the history of people writing songs that’s as good as that. And let’s give Hal David credit: the marriage of those genius melodies with David’s lyrical genius? Unmatched.
Think about some of the lines in “Alfie.” “And if only fools are kind, Alfie / Then I guess it is wise to be cruel.” How cool is that? “And if life belongs only to the strong, Alfie / What will you lend on an old golden rule?” It’s so simple but so profound.
This is a really important thing: Bacharach’s music was super-complex, but you could sing along to it.
