Believe it or not, this is the 1000th post here on the Classic Song of the Day blog. I started this blog back on February 18, 2023, with a post all about composer Burt Bacharach, who had recently passed away. Over the next 999 posts I’ve covered songs both popular and relatively unknown, mostly from the ’60s and ’70s but a few earlier and a few later, as well. I hope I’ve entertained and informed all my readers and maybe introduced a few of you to some music you might not otherwise have heard.
For this, the landmark 1000th post, we return to Burt Bacharach and one of his best and most famous songs, “Alfie.” Burt and lyricist Hal David wrote “Alfie” for the movie of the same name. (For those who don’t know, Alfie was a 1966 film starring Michael Caine.) To that end, the first recording of “Alfie” was released four months prior to the film’s release, to promote the upcoming film. It was also included on the movie’s soundtrack and became a bigger hit when recorded by a third artist the following year.
While Burt and Hal originally wanted Dionne Warwick to record “Alfie,” Paramount, the studio behind the movie, thought the song should first be recorded by a British artist, as the film was set firmly in the swinging London of the 1960s. To that end, Burt and Hal convinced Brit singer Cilla Black to record the song. Ms. Black was initially reluctant to do so, and put several stipulations on her participation:
“I said I’d only do it if Burt Bacharach himself did the arrangement, never thinking for one moment that he would. [When] the reply came back from America that he’d be happy to… I said I would only do it if Burt came over to London for the recording session. ‘Yes,’ came the reply. Next I said that as well as the arrangements and coming over, he had to play [piano] on the session. To my astonishment it was agreed that Burt would do all three. So by this time, coward that I was, I really couldn’t back out.”
The sessions for Cilla Black’s recording of “Alfie” took place in Abbey Road Studios with George Martin (of Beatles fame) producing. Burt arranged the thing, conducted the orchestra, and played piano. It took 18 takes before Burt got the performance he wanted, but it was worth it. Released in January of 1966 in the UK (July in the U.S.), Cilla Black’s “Alfie” was a #9 hit on the UK charts. Unfortunately, it barely cracked the U.S. charts, peaking at a lowly #95.
For the movie itself, the film’s director, Lewis Gilbert, didn’t think that Cilla’s version of “Alfie” was a good fit with the jazzier score provided by saxophonist Sonny Rollins. The film’s U.S. distributor, United Artists, compromised with the director by keeping “Alfie” out of the main film and featuring it only in the closing credits. For that version, United Artists enlisted American singer Cher. She recorded her version of “Alfie,” with Burt Bacharach not involved, at Gold Star Studios in L.A. Cher’s version of “Alfie” was produced by her then-husband Sonny Bono in a Wall of Sound style, backed by members of the Wrecking Crew. Her single was released in July of 1966 but didn’t get any higher than #32 on the Billboard Hot 100.
As good a song as “Alfie” was, it’s no surprise that it was covered by a multitude of artists, from Vicki Carr and Jack Jones to Stevie Wonder and Dee Dee Warwick. It was Dee Dee’s sister, Dionne Warwick, who had the biggest hit with the song, finally recording the tune in late 1966 with Burt and Hal producing, as they did most of their songs sung by Ms. Warwick. Dionne’s superb version of “Alfie” was released in March of 1967 went to #15 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100, and to #5 on Billboard’s Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles chart.
Burt Bacharach said “Alfie” was his favorite of all his compositions, and it’s certainly my personal favorite Bacharach/David collaboration. I rank this one solidly in my personal all-time favorite top ten, and sometimes in the top five. It’s that good a song.
I wrote a bit about “Alfie” in my very first blog post back in 2023. What I wrote then is worth repeating now:
Perhaps the best representation of Bacharach and David’s writing is the theme song to the movie Alfie—quite simply, one of the best popular songs ever written. The words flow in a naturalistic manner, as if the protagonist is just talking to a friend. The lines run together—even the verses and chorus run together—as Bacharach wisely allows the melody to follow the words, rising and falling unaffectedly as the emotional level slowly builds:
What’s it all about, Alfie?
Is it just for the moment we live?
What’s it all about when you sort it out, Alfie?
Are we meant to take more than we give?
Or are we meant to be kind?
And if only fools are kind, Alfie
Then I guess that it’s wise to be cruel
And if life belongs only to the strong, Alfie,
What will you lend on an old golden rule?
As sure as I believe there’s a heaven above, Alfie,
I know there’s something much more
Something even non-believers can believe in
I believe in love, Alfie
Without true love we just exist, Alfie
Until you find the love you’ve missed you’re nothing, Alfie
when you walk let your heart lead the way
And you’ll find love any day Alfie
Alfie
The lyrics meander to their point, much as any conversation does. What’s the point of everything? Can we take more than we give, or should we be kind to others? And if only fools are kind, then it must be wise to be cruel—right?
The protagonist keeps talking, until she convinces Alfie—or herself—that there is a reason to live, that life is more than just living moment-to-moment. If there is nothing else, there is love; “without true love we just exist.” And, whatever else, love is something to believe in.
“Alfie” is a perfect melding of words and music; one follows and reinforces the other, the harmonies perfectly expressing the emotions of the lyric. Much of the melody is in extended notes, typified by the melody behind word “Alfie” in the second measure, leaping a fifth from an F (the third of the Dm7/G chord) to a C (the seventh of the chord). And that chord, a iim7/V, in just the second measure, acting as a dominant and leading back to the root C, is just beautiful.
Burt allows his melody to flow purposefully along with the thoughtful lyrics. There’s really no distinct verse and chorus, it’s just a melody that goes where the lyrics go, accompanied by chords that fall in and out of the main key. The measure with the words “golden rule” features an unabashedly dissonant C diminished chord (preceded by our friend Dm7/G), and there’s even a bit that modulates into E minor for a measure, then into Eb major for a half measure, then into G, then back into C; it’s a marvelous piece of writing.
To the perennial question of what comes first, the music or the words, in the case of “Alfie,” it was Hal David’s lyric that was written first, after he read the screenplay for the movie. Bacharach then set the words to music, struggling for three weeks to find the right combination of melody and chords to do justice to David’s exceptional lyrics.
And thus “Alfie,” one of my all-time favorite songs and one of the best songs ever written, is this blog’s official 1000th post. It’s a terrific tune by two terrific songwriters and has deservedly taken its place in music history. There are few better.
Oh, lest I forget, a big thank you to all the readers of this blog over the years. Thanks for letting me get to 1000 posts—and here’s hoping for a least a thousand more!
