Anyone Who Had a Heart (song)
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| “Anyone Who Had a Heart” | |||||
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| Single by Dionne Warwick from the album Anyone Who Had a Heart |
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| B-side | "The Love of a Boy" | ||||
| Released | 1963, 1964 internationally | ||||
| Format | 7" single | ||||
| Recorded | 1963, at Bell Sound Studios, Manhattan, Ed Smith, Engineer | ||||
| Length | 3:09 | ||||
| Label | Scepter | ||||
| Writer(s) | Burt Bacharach, Hal David | ||||
| Producer | Burt Bacharach, Hal David | ||||
| Dionne Warwick singles chronology | |||||
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"Anyone Who Had a Heart" is a 1960s song by American songwriting duo Burt Bacharach and Hal David. The song was originally written for Dionne Warwick. Warwick's original (recorded at the same November 1963 session in New York that yielded "Walk On By"), released as a single in 1963 and eventually appearing on her album of the same name, became her first top ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100. The tune was also a crossover smash and hit #6 on the Billboard R&B Chart and #2 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart. Dionne's original peaked at #42 in the UK.
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[edit] Original recording
The tune was presented to Dionne in unfinished form while she, Hal and Burt were rehearsing in Burt's Manhattan apartment for a recording session a few days hence at Bell Sound Studios in Manhattan. Bacharach had finished the score but Hal had written only about a third of the lyric and was struggling with what Hal regarded a bad accent in the sixth line of the first stanza, which he could not resolve. Burt played a snippet of the tune for Dionne and she fell in love with the tune and begged Hal to finish it. Hal, according to his 1968 book "What the World Needs Now and Other Love Lyrics", went to Burt's bedroom while Burt and Dionne rehearsed in the living room and finished the lyric. The tune was recorded at Bell Sound Studios in Manhattan in November 1963, days after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, in the same session as Bacharach and David's "Walk on By" and "In the Land of Make Believe". According to published reports, Warwick nailed the tune in only one take – though another version was released on a compilation LP by Springboard International in 1976. According to David Nathan's 1985 liner notes for "Dionne Warwick Anthology: 1962–1969", a Rhino label compilation LP, this tune was Dionne Warwick's first international million seller.
The song's lyrics describe the pain felt by a singer as she continues to love the person to whom she sings, but is continually hurt by that person. The song, with its many time signatures, was unlike many ballads on the scene in the early 1960s.
| “Anyone Who Had a Heart” | |||||
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| Single by Cilla Black | |||||
| Released | 1964 | ||||
| Format | 7" single | ||||
| Label | Parlophone | ||||
| Writer(s) | Burt Bacharach, Hal David | ||||
| Producer | George Martin | ||||
| Cilla Black singles chronology | |||||
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[edit] Cilla Black version and other early covers
The song was covered by several 1960s female singers: Vikki Carr, Marlene Dietrich, Mary May and Dusty Springfield. Most notably, Cilla Black's version – arranged by Johnny Pearson and orchestrated by George Martin – hit Number One in the 1964 UK Top 75. Dionne Warwick maintains to this day that Black's version was a note-for-note copy of hers. On a 1995 production of "Great Performances" highlighting Burt Bacharach, Warwick stated that the cover was so verbatim that if she had coughed or the organ player hit a wrong note in the middle of the song, Black would have done the same thing. On the same telecast, Black said of her recording, "It was a Number One; Dionne was dead choked, and she's never forgiven me, to this day." Cilla's version remains the top selling single by a British female artist. Cilla's version was released in the UK before Scepter licensee Pye Records could release Warwick's original. Upon release in the USA, Cilla Black's cover version found less favor than Warwick's original and peaked at #91 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Petula Clark recorded the song in French as Ceux Qui Ont Un Coeur, in German as Alles ist nun vorbei, in Spanish as Tú no tienes corazón and in Italian as Quelli che hanno un cuore, making it to the 1964 Italian Top 10. Accompanied by an orchestra of 400 people, Mina performed the Italian version in 1968 in the Italian Broadcasting Service's annual TV series Canzonissima.
[edit] Later recordings
Over the years the song has become an often-covered standard of excellence with Shirley Bassey, The Four Seasons, and Maureen McGovern. More recently, Luther Vandross both solo and in a duet with Elton John, Wynonna Judd, and Linda Ronstadt have recorded it, along with Jan Graveson, Tim Curry, Bic Runga, and Olivia Newton John. Dionne Warwick recorded the song again in 2006 — this time as a duet with Wynonna — on her debut Concord album, "My Friends and Me".
[edit] Sandie Shaw version
| “Anyone Who Had a Heart” | |||||
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| Single by Sandie Shaw from the album Music of Quality and Distinction Volume 1 |
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| B-side | "Anyone Who Had a Heart (Instrumental)" | ||||
| Released | 1982 | ||||
| Genre | Pop | ||||
| Label | Virgin | ||||
| Writer(s) | Burt Bacharach, Hal David | ||||
| Producer | Martin Ware, Ian Craig Marsh | ||||
| Sandie Shaw singles chronology | |||||
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Sandie Shaw, one of the few British girl singers who did not cover the song in the 1960s, eventually joined that list during the early 1980s. One of the reasons Shaw did not record the song in the 1960s was because she felt that the emotional content of the lyrics was too strong to be sung by a young girl and should be sung by a more mature woman who had experienced true heartbreak. In 1982, she was introduced to the British Electric Foundation by future husband Nik Powell. The B.E.F. (formerly members of The Human League and later with singer Glenn Gregory would become Heaven 17) asked Shaw to record a song for their Music of Quality and Distinction Volume 1 album on which they intended people to cover old songs and give them an updated electronic sound. At first she recorded a version of The Ronettes' "Be My Baby" but this was scrapped in favor of "Anyone Who Had a Heart." Shaw was particularly proud of her emotional vocals on the song which was subsequently released as a single. She had been in semi-retirement for some years at the time and this release brought attention back to her and she discovered that many current pop stars (including Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders) had been strongly influenced by her work. This proved to be the beginning of her 1980s comeback.
[edit] Shelby Lynne version
| “Anyone Who Had a Heart” | |||||
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| Single by Shelby Lynne from the album 'Just a Little Lovin'' |
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| Released | 2007 | ||||
| Format | digital audio | ||||
| Recorded | 2007 | ||||
| Genre | Pop | ||||
| Length | 3:13 | ||||
| Label | Lost Highway Records (UMG Recordings) |
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| Writer(s) | Burt Bacharach, Hal David | ||||
| Producer | Phil Ramone | ||||
| Shelby Lynne singles chronology | |||||
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For American singer-songwriter Shelby Lynne's tenth studio album — Just a Little Lovin', which pays tribute to Dusty Springfield — "Anyone Who Had a Heart" was one of the nine song covers selected for the project. (Springfield had recorded her version on her debut album, A Girl Called Dusty.) Lynne's recording of the song became available both as a downloadable music file via the U.S. edition of iTunes on December 18, 2007, and in non-downloadable streaming audio through Entertainment Weekly's EW.com website on January 9, 2008. A video for the song was released on the U.S. Yahoo! music website to coincide with the album release date, on January 29, 2008.
[edit] Atomic Kitten version
Atomic Kitten's 2008 comeback single was a cover of the song "Anyone Who Had a Heart", released as the lead single from Liverpool - The Number Ones Album — an album and project celebrating Liverpool's unique musical heritage having had a world beating 56 Number One singles. It marks Liverpool's status as 2008 European Capital Of Culture.
The record and project support six key Liverpool charities.
The single was released only as a digital single, and it debuted during its first week at #1 on "7digital" chart and at #72 on the "iTunes" chart.
| Preceded by "Diane" by The Bachelors |
UK number one single "Anyone Who Had a Heart" by Cilla Black February 27, 1964 (3 weeks) |
Succeeded by "Little Children" by Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas |
