Anyone Who Had a Heart: My Life and Music

by Burt Bacharach Narrated by Tony Call, Jeff Woodman, Therese Plummer

Overview

One of the greatest songwriters of all time finally shares his story. From his tumultuous marriages and the tragic loss of his daughter to his collaborations with Dionne Warwick and the surprising stories behind the songs that generations have come to know and love, Burt Bacharach offers a frank, moving account of an unparalleled life.

Over the past six decades, Burt Bacharach's legendary songwriting has touched millions of devoted listeners all over the world. In Anyone Who Had a Heart, Bacharach steps out from behind the music to give an honest, engaging look at his life-from his childhood in Forest Hills, New York, during the 1930s and 1940s to his rise as one of the most accomplished composers in modern popular music, working with Hal David, Dionne Warwick, Elvis Costello, and many others.

While he soared professionally, Bacharach's private life was dominated by the never-ending search for love-and the heartbreak that comes when it is lost. His first three marriages ended in divorce. His long-running partnership with the late Hal David suffered a bitter split that lasted seventeen years. Throughout the highs and lows, Bacharach pursued his muse. Powerful and honest, Anyone Who Had a Heart illuminates the sensitivity and intelligence of a musical legend and offers a unique backstage look at the world of show business.

Editorial Reviews

MAY 2013 - AudioFile

More of an audio history than a memoir, this work primarily succeeds in revealing the incredibly talented musician Burt Bacharach as egocentric, pompous, and privileged. Bacharach’s perspectives are voiced by Tony Call, who does an adequate job in bringing the subject to life. However, his unadorned narration suffers from several instances of uninformed phrasing and pauses that make listeners’ contextual understanding more difficult. Jeff Woodman expressively handles all the other male voices; Therese Plummer voices the female interviewees such as ex-wife Angie Dickinson. The interviews are topically and directly presented and excerpted. The three voices, each with its own merits, make for a confusing excursion into the highs and lows of one of the most successful and prolific songwriters ever. This is a flawed memoir from an undisputed major artist. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

Publishers Weekly

Though he’s clearly a gifted songwriter, Bacharach as a memoirist disappoints. While Bacharach, writing with Greenfield, certainly has a story to tell (he was married to Angie Dickinson; toured with Marlene Dietrich; wrote mega-hits like “Walk on By” and “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head”; won Grammys and Oscars), he’s in too much of a hurry to get to the end of his book to really dig in and tell readers what it was like to cut his teeth in the infamous Brill Building, work with (and sever ties with) his frequent collaborator Hal David, or even address his daughter’s battle with Asperger’s and depression that led her to commit suicide; he prefers to let Angie Dickinson and others do most of the talking. Bacharach spends more time talking about his tennis game and various marriages than his approach to songwriting (much more detail is given to who he worked with on a particular song than the song itself) . Moments of humility and candor, such as a blown opportunity to work with Sinatra, peek through, but it’s not enough to save what could have been an illuminating work on many levels. Amy Schiffman, Intellectual Property Group. (May)

From the Publisher

Absorbing.” — Rolling Stone

“A congenial overview of a life devoted to music.… Illuminating and gritty.” — Kirkus Reviews

“This chatty autobiography…tracks the famed composer’s life and career from childhood to the present day.… [H]is contributions to popular music of the twentieth century have been inarguably significant.” — Booklist

Rolling Stone

Absorbing.

Booklist

This chatty autobiography…tracks the famed composer’s life and career from childhood to the present day.… [H]is contributions to popular music of the twentieth century have been inarguably significant.

Booklist

This chatty autobiography…tracks the famed composer’s life and career from childhood to the present day.… [H]is contributions to popular music of the twentieth century have been inarguably significant.

MAY 2013 - AudioFile

More of an audio history than a memoir, this work primarily succeeds in revealing the incredibly talented musician Burt Bacharach as egocentric, pompous, and privileged. Bacharach’s perspectives are voiced by Tony Call, who does an adequate job in bringing the subject to life. However, his unadorned narration suffers from several instances of uninformed phrasing and pauses that make listeners’ contextual understanding more difficult. Jeff Woodman expressively handles all the other male voices; Therese Plummer voices the female interviewees such as ex-wife Angie Dickinson. The interviews are topically and directly presented and excerpted. The three voices, each with its own merits, make for a confusing excursion into the highs and lows of one of the most successful and prolific songwriters ever. This is a flawed memoir from an undisputed major artist. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

Reminiscences of a master songwriter. Compiled from interviews conducted by journalist Greenfield (The Last Sultan: The Life and Times of Ahmet Ertegun, 2011, etc.) with Bacharach and his associates, this oral memoir provides a congenial overview of a life devoted to music. Bacharach began reluctantly taking piano lessons as a child, then became smitten with classical and jazz compositions; they would later inspire him to bring a sophisticated palette to his own songs. After a few unspectacular years at the Brill Building, he hit the jackpot with lyricist Hal David; the two went on to create such iconic hits as "Baby, It's You" for the Shirelles, "The Look of Love" for Dusty Springfield and "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" for B.J. Thomas. Bacharach candidly details his transformation into a household name, his perfectionism in the recording studio and his sometimes-contentious relationships with David and the indomitable Dionne Warwick. The chanteuse acted as a muse for the pair and was aggrieved when they broke up their songwriting partnership after the colossal failure of their score for the 1973 box office bomb Lost Horizon. For decades, breaking up relationships was a specialty of Bacharach's; many of the women in his life, including his first three wives, describe him as exuding a combination of ambition, ambivalence and arrogance. The most moving recollections come from Marlene Dietrich, who highly valued Bacharach as her conductor and accompanist on the road, and from ex-wife Angie Dickinson, who laments Bacharach's decision to institutionalize their autistic daughter, Nikki. The specter of Nikki (who committed suicide in 2007) casts a shadow over the memoir. Whether Greenfield has purposely arranged the book this way or not, intertwining Dickinson's interviews with Bacharach's commentary paints a darker picture of the man whom most people identify with catchy love songs and cameo appearances in the Austin Powers films. Illuminating and gritty, though Bacharach's remarks are occasionally self-serving.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170267781
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/07/2013
Edition description:	Unabridged

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