Hal David, 1921-2012

Lyricist Hal David, who wrote a whole lot of famous songs together with composer Burt Bacharach, died yesterday at the age of 91. Why am I writing about David? Obviously, it's because he did work for movies as well. In fact, Bacharach and David won an Oscar for Best Original Song (remember, that award is for the composer and lyricist, not for the singer) for "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head", which features in the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Bacharach and David received three other Oscar nominations in the Original Song category: for "What's New Pussycat?" from the film of the same name; the title song to Alfie; and "The Look of Love" from the James Bond spoof Casino Royale. Movies also caused the breakup of the partnership, when the two worked on the 1973 musical version of Lost Horizon.

It wouldn't be fair to David, however, to say that he was just the lyricist for Burt Bacharach. He wrote a whole lot of popular songs with other composers, and also wrote songs for movies, collaborating with people such as John Barry: