Man, did Dionne Warwick have a lot of hits! According to Billboard she “is second only to Aretha Franklin as the female vocalist with the most Billboard Hot 100 chart hits during the rock era”. Sadly, those of us in my generation will probably only remember her as someone with psychic friends or the auntie who tried to host an intervention for Whitney; those younger than me might not remember her at all – not that she minds, retired as she in on the shores of Brazil, enjoying the fruits of her labor.
Still, her hit song Walk on By is a phenomenal one and one unlikely to be forgotten by those who have nodded their heads to it. I certainly haven't been able to get it out of my head since I heard it blaring from a tape deck in a flea market in London. Sure, I've heard it countless times before, but sometimes a familiar song surprises you one day, like back in junior high when a boy you'd known forever suddenly appears in gym class and you realize that he's totally cute.
Walk on By was one of many of Warwick's collaborations with the great Burt Bacharach and it spawned many, many covers. Isaac Hayes's 1969 version is a stand out for sure, but the original is still the best and the most true sounding to Hal David's bittersweet lyrics.
But what do you think?