Songwriters extraordinaire Burt Bacharach and Hal David bring us another superb classic song of the day with their tune, “I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself.” It was a #3 hit in the UK for Dusty Springfield in 1964, even though it unfortunately failed to chart in the U.S.
Burt and Hal wrote “I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself” in 1962. The song was first recorded by Chuck Jackson in that year, but subsequently shelved and not released until 1984. Producers Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller then took the backing tracks recorded for Mr. Jackson, wiped his vocal, and recorded a new vocal track by soul singer Tommy Hunt, formerly of the Flamingos. It was released as a single in May of 1962, but failed to chart.
Dusty Springfield was up next. She met with Burt Bacharach during an overnight trip to New York City in February of 1964. Burt passed along a few songs to Dusty, and she chose “I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself” to record.
The recording session for “I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself” took place at London’s Olympic Studios. The session was produced by Philips Records owner Johnny Franz (although Dusty reportedly produced it herself) and featured the cream of England’s studio musicians, including Big Jim Sullivan on guitar and the ubiquitous Bobby Graham on drums.
“I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself” became Dusty’s third single in the UK, following “I Only Want to Be with You” and “Stay Awhile.” It was her highest-charting UK single until she topped it with “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me,” which hit #1 in 1966.
The tune didn’t get a simultaneous released in the U.S. because Dusty’s previous single, “Wishin’ and Hopin’,” was still rising up the U.S. charts at the time. “I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself” finally got a single release in the U.S. in October of 1965 but for some reason failed to crack the Billboard Hot 100.
A year after that, in September of 1966, Dionne Warwick released a cover of “I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself.” Her version was moderately successful in North America, rising to #26 on the Billboard Hot 100, #24 on the Cash Box Top 100, and #36 on the Canadian Top Singles chart.
For what it’s worth, Burt Bacharach definitely preferred Dusty Springfield’s recording, telling Record Mirror magazine:
“I think that her latest here, ‘I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself,’ is great. We originally recorded it with Tommy Hunt in the States 18 months ago – and when Tommy’s record company, Scepter, heard Dusty’s they re-released it on a single. But I prefer Dusty singing the song.”
Which leads us to today’s daily bonus video of the day, the great Dusty Springfield singing “I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself” on 1965’s The Bacharach Sound television special, produced by Granada Television in the UK. I can’t get enough of this.
