Burt Bacharach and Hal David bring us today’s classic song of the day, “Make It Easy on Yourself.” Like most Bacharach/David tunes, this one was recorded by multiple artists over the years. It was a hit in 1962 for Jerry Butler. And in 1965 for the Walker Brothers. And in 1966 for Cilla Black. And in 1970 for Dionne Warwick.
It’s a really, really good song.
Let’s start at the beginning. Burt and Hal wrote “Make It Easy on Yourself” in the spring of 1962, near the beginning of their partnership. They recorded it with Dionne Warwick, who’d recently started doing demos for the duo, but Florence Greenberg, the owner of Ms. Warwick’s label, Scepter Records, didn’t want to release it as a single.
Never to be discouraged, Burt and Hal then shopped the song around the Brill Building, which was the hub of music publishing back in the day. That’s where Calvin Carter, the head A&R guy for Chicago-based Vee-Jay Records, heard it. Mr. Carter brought Ms. Warwick’s recording back to the Windy City and presented it to Vee-Jay artist Jerry Butler. Mr. Butler knew a hit when he heard it, so he flew to New York and enlisted Burt Bacharach himself to do the arrangement and lead the recording session.
Vee-Jay Records released Jerry Butler’s recording of “Make It Easy on Yourself” in June of 1962. Mr. Butler was right; the record was a hit, going all the way to #20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #18 on Billboard’s R&B chart.
Three years later, the London-based trio known as the Walker Brothers recorded their own version of “Make It Easy on Yourself,” in Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound style. It was the opening song on their debut album, and they released it as a single in September of 1965. This version of “Make It Easy on Yourself” was the most popular, hitting #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and going all the way to #1 on the UK Singles Chart.
A year after that, British singer Cilla Black, having had previous success with two other Bacharach/David tunes, “Anyone Who Had a Heart” and “Alfie,” decided to record her own version of “Make It Easy on Yourself.” Her version wasn’t released as a single but was included on her album, Cilla Sings a Rainbow, which was a #5 hit on the UK album chart.
Let’s circle back to Dionne Warwick and the version of “Make It Easy on Yourself” she recorded back in the spring of 1962. While Scepter Records didn’t release it as a single, it was included as a track on her 1963 debut album, Presenting Dionne Warwick. She also included the song in many of her live sets, one of which (at the Garden State Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey) was recorded for her 1970 album, Very Dionne. That live version of “Make It Easy on Yourself” was released as a single in September of 1970 and went to #37 on the Billboard Hot 100, #25 on the Cash Box Top 100, and #2 on Billboard’s Hot Adult Contemporary chart.
And there you have the major recording history of “Make It Easy on Yourself.” The song’s been recorded by lots of other artists, of course, including Johnny Mathis, Sarah Vaughn, Connie Francis, Tony Bennett, Ed Ames, Cliff Richard, Cissy Houston, the Isley Brothers, the Carpenters, Rick Astley, and the Three Degrees. It was also a standout track on Here I Am: Isley Meets Bacharach, the 2003 album of Bacharach/David tunes reimagined by Burt himself and sung by Ronald Isley. Great singers simply can’t resist singing a great song, which this one most definitely is.
