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 oems are written to be read and lyrics are
written to be sung. I am a lyricist and the lyrics on this page were written to be sung.
When my wife Eunice suggested that I create a website, I was - quite frankly - skeptical.
The web is a new medium, and I have never used it in the creation of a song lyric.
However, there are a growing number of resources for singers, songwriters, publishers,
producers, and yes - even lyricists - on the web, and it is with that understanding that I
humbly join the Internet community. I hope you will find the links
and information here useful.
Now, how do I go about the business of
writing lyrics? I wish I really knew. If I did it would make writing much easier for me.
Because I have no formula, sometimes it flows smoothly and other times it is like rowing a
boat upstream. Most often a lyric starts with a title. A line in a book I am reading may
set me off. Other times some dialogue in a play or a movie becomes the catalyst. More
often than not the idea just pops into my head-where it comes from I hardly ever know.
In writing I search for believability, simplicity, and emotional
impact. Believability is the easiest of the three to accomplish. One thing a lyricist must
learn is not to fall in love with his own lines. Once you learn that, you can walk away
from the lyric and look at it with a reasonable degree of objectivity. Often I discard a
good line because it is inconsistent with the basic idea. If the line happens to be witty
or sad in a particularly fresh way it hurts me to take it out. But that's part of the pain
of writing.
Simplicity is much harder to achieve. It is easy to be simple and bad.
Being simple and good is very difficult. The sophisticated Cole Porter, the earthy Irving
Berlin, the poetic Oscar Hammerstein, and the witty Lorenz Hart all have one thing in
common - simplicity, the kind that is good. I must also mention a special favorite of
mine, Johnny Mercer. Whether he is being poetic or humorous, he is never complicated. I
seek this elusive thing called simplicity always. I hope I sometimes achieve it.
Above all, I try to create an emotion to which others can respond.
Unless I can create an emotion to which I can respond, I throw the lyric away. Although I
cannot know how others will react, I assume that if it moves me it may do the same for
them. Sometimes I am right, sometimes I am wrong.
I am fortunate to have enjoyed a long-time collaboration with Burt
Bacharach. Burt is a man of many talents - a masterful arranger, an outstanding conductor,
but first and foremost a brilliant composer. Among songwriters there are many tune writers
but just a handful of composers. He is one of the few.
I have heard it said that we have a style of our own. If we do, it is
never consciously contrived. Certainly "What the World Needs Now Is Love" and
"What's New, Pussycat?" are as far apart as the North Pole and the South Pole.
The same thing can be said of "Alfie" and "Wives and Lovers." They are
poles apart. The main thing we try to do is find an original approach to whatever song we
are writing. Being different just to be different is plain foolishness. We never do that.
Anything that takes away from the emotion we are trying to express, we discard. If the
song isn't honest you may fool yourself, but you will never fool the public-at least, not
for long. If we in truth do have a style it is because, in our search for originality, we
have not written to a particular formula. When we achieve the freshness we are looking
for, it's a wonderful feeling. Here is one of our more timeless songs, writen in 1965.
WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW IS LOVE
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What
the world needs now
Is love, sweet love.
It's the only thing
That there's just too little of.
What the world needs now
Is love, sweet love-
No, not just for some
But for everyone.
Lord,
we don't need another mountain;
There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb.
There are oceans and rivers enough to cross,
Enough to last 'til the end of time.
What
the world needs now
Is love, sweet love.
It's the only thing
That there's just too little of.
What the world needs now
Is love, sweet love-
No, not just for some
But for everyone.
Lord,
we don't need another meadow;
There are cornfields and wheat fields enough to grow.
There are sunbeams and moonbeams enough to shine.
Oh, listen Lord, if you want to know!
What the world needs now
Is love, sweet love.
It's the only thing
That there's just too little of.
What the world needs now
Is love, sweet love-
No, not just for some but for everyone.
No, not just for some but for everyone.
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| Lyrics
by Hal David
Music by Burt Bacharach |
Years ago Burt Bacharach and I wrote a song that we thought we liked.
After looking it over we decided that our original instinct was wrong. We put it away in
our desk drawer and kept it hidden there for ten months-a flop, we thought.
This was particularly disappointing to me. I had thought of the idea at
least two years before showing it to Burt. The chorus section beginning with, 'What the
world needs now" came quickly. However, after I finished with, "No, not just for
some but for everyone," I was stuck. I kept thinking of lines like, "Lord, we
don't need planes that fly higher or faster..." and they all seemed wrong. Why, I
didn't know. But the idea stayed with me.
Then, one day, I thought of, "Lord, we don't need another
mountain," and all at once I knew how the lyric should be written. Things like planes
and trains and cars are man-made, and things like mountains and rivers and valleys are
created by someone or something we call God. There was now a oneness of idea and language
instead of a conflict. It had taken me two years to put my finger on it.
When the idea came the lyric flowed with ease. As soon as Burt saw the
lyric, the music seemed to flow as naturally. However, after our initial enthusiasm, we
became disenchanted.
Finally, a day came when we were short of songs for a recording
session. We took the song out of the drawer. The singer loved it and so we recorded it.
The song was "What the World Needs Now Is Love."
Although we have over a hundred records of the song my favorite version
is Dionne Warwick's. She always interprets my lyrics in a way that sounds as though she
had written them herself.
- Hal
David
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