By the time he and his hero were tapped to contribute a song for writer-director Allison Anders’ musical comedy-drama Grace of my Heart in 1995, Costello was keenly aware that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But that would change in short order, with Costello forming an early and abiding personal connection to Bacharach’s music. As Costello explains in a scintillating and highly informative 10,000-word essay he wrote for the new box set The Songs of Bacharach & Costello, his admiration for the late songwriting maestro dates back to 1958, when Perry Como’s famous rendition of “Magic Moments” aired on the small family television set.Ĭostello, four years old at the time, wouldn’t have even known what songwriting was at the time, much less be aware of Bacharach’s stature.

Elvis Costello, in fact, stands as living proof of that.

Though he was certainly a household name, his presence was more akin to a high-end tailor than a superstar: like the finest formal dresses and suits, his songs drew your attention to the person they were cut for, not so much his exacting needle and thread work.Īs 60 Minutes host Lesley Stahl suggested in a segment that originally aired in 1999, Bacharach’s music was, for several decades, just an ambient feature on the landscape-so ubiquitous that you were probably exposed to it whether you knew it or not. When the beloved songwriter passed away in early February, artists and critics ( including Paste’s own Geoffrey Himes) waxed rhapsodic about his staggering trove of hits, his distinctly sophisticated orchestrations and how pleasurable it was to listen to the music he wrote.

The breadth of Burt Bacharach’s impact on popular music, especially in the second half of the 20th century, is undeniable.

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