Throwback Thursday: Dionne Warwick – “Don’t Make Me Over” (Live)
Yesterday, we lost Burt Bacharach, one of the greatest songwriters of all time. He wrote over 70 top 40 hits over the course of four decades, including four No. 1s on the Billboard Hot 100. He has written songs for everyone from Nat King Cole to Patti LaBelle, but is perhaps best-known for his work with Dionne Warwick. Twenty-two of Bacharach’s top 40 hits were sung by Ms. Warwick.
We have previously highlighted their what is easily their signature hit, so we’re going to go for the next best thing: Their first single together.
“Don’t Make Me Over,” the first Bacharach-penned Dionne Warwick single, is also the singer’s debut single as a solo artist. Co-written by Hal David, the song pleads for a lover to reciprocate unconditional love. It was not initially selected to be Warwick’s first single — another Bacharach David composition, “Make It Easy on Yourself,” had been chosen by the singer. However, it was given to Jerry Butler despite the fact that she had recorded the original demo, so it ended up being an album cut.
The title for “Don’t Make Me Over” comes from a phrase that was popular at the time — meaning “don’t try to change me” — which Bacharach and David built the song around after Warwick used it in anger in the studio. The song would become the singer’s first top 40 hit, peaking at No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100. It would be inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2000.
No Comments