Singer Presents Burt Bacharach (1971)
Burt Bacharach and his songwriting partner Hal David were riding a wave of popularity in 1971, having composed hits for Dionne Warwick like “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” and “Don’t Make Me Over.” They won an Oscar for “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” and were nominated for one for “Alfie” and “The Look of Love.”
Barbra Streisand hadn't appeared as a guest on a television show since the Judy Garland Show in 1963.
Burt Bacharach's hour-long show was directed by Dwight Hemion and Gary Smith (who worked on Streisand’s first two television specials at CBS). Bachrach told the press, “the best things I've seen on television were done by Barbra.”
Sponsored by the sewing company, Singer, Bacharach also welcomed guests Rudolf Nereyev and Tom Jones. Streisand's segment (billed as “A Special Appearance By”) closed the show.
Since the special was for CBS television network, no lawyers were necessary (unlike Streisand's ill-fated interview with David Frost that was unaired due to Frost's show being on the Group W network).
Barbra’s first song on the Bacharach show was an incredible duet with herself on “One Less Bell To Answer/A House is Not A Home.” Videotaped with Barbra singing all of her parts “live” (i.e. no lip-syncing), this medley was as close to a music video as you got in 1971. Barbra's performance was spectacular.
Below is a YouTube clip of “One Less Bell To Answer/A House is Not A Home.”
Next, Barbra joined Burt at the piano for a duet of “Close To You” (the audio was included on Barbra's 1991 retrospective, Just For the Record [see sidebar, left]).
Afterward, Barbra introduced a new Burt Bacharach/Hal David song called “Be Aware.” She sang it in her dark pantsuit, surrounded by Bacharach’s orchestra. Despite Bacharach's confession that he and his partner Hal David wrote the song expressly for Streisand, both Dionne Warwick (1972) and Laura Nyro (1995) recorded it.
End.
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