History Music / BurtBacharach

* ''Film/NightShift''

* AllTakeAndNoGive: The theme from ''Film/{{Alfie}}'' has the lines "What's it all about, when you sort it out, Alfie? Are we meant to take more than we give?" Depending on how it is performed, the song can be from the perspective of a character who is a Giver to Alfie's Taker, or, if sung from a narrative perspective instead of a character perspective, can be a comment on Alfie's Taker personality in general.
* AntiLoveSong: "I'll Never Fall in Love Again", in which the singer bemoans her own love life and warns other women off the topic.
* BreakupSong: "Always Something There to Remind Me", in which the singer can't stop seeing their ex-lover in the locations around them.

Bacharach was classically trained (studying at one point with French composer Darius Milhaud) but incorporated plenty of {{jazz}} into his music, which is occasionally characterized as "easy listening".

The son of ''Bert'' Bacharach, a well-known fashion writer, Burt was born in Kansas City and raised in New York City, but he graduated from [=McGill=] University in UsefulNotes/{{Montreal}}. He started his music career as an employee of the likes of Music/VicDamone and Creator/MarleneDietrich. He met Hal David in NYC in 1957; the two had a career breakthrough after writing "The Story of My Life" for Music/MartyRobbins and "Magic Moments" for Music/PerryComo. Bacharach, usually with David as lyricist, went on to create multiple songs for artists like Music/GenePitney, Music/CillaBlack, Music/DustySpringfield, Music/TheCarpenters, and most notably Music/DionneWarwick. He also recorded his own music on occasion, though none made as big a splash as his collaborations.

* UncommonTime: A major trademark of his style, as his songs will often shift between several time signatures, and be based around oddball tempos, but done in a way that seems effortless and unnoticeable to the untrained ear. "Anyone Who Had a Heart" is often cited as the prime example in his work, since it starts off in a non-standard time signature (depending on which sheet music edition you use, either 5[=/=]4, 9[=/=]8 or even 15[=/=]8!), then changes to a different one in the ''very next line'' (again, the sheet music varies, with 4[=/=]4 and 6[=/=]8 both getting cited), then shifts signatures throughout (including some 7[=/=]8). Good luck to the lyricist and singer having to deal with all that, and Hal David and Music/DionneWarwick both admitted the song was a struggle for them.

* UncommonTime: A major trademark of his style, as his songs will often shift between several time signatures, and be based around oddball tempos, but done in a way that seems effortless and unnoticeable to the untrained ear. "Anyone Who Had a Heart" is often cited as the prime example in his work, since it starts off in an non-standard time signature (depending on which sheet music edition you use, either 5[=/=]4, 9[=/=]8 or even 15[=/=]8!), then changes to a different one in the ''very next line'' (again, the sheet music varies, with 4[=/=]4 and 6[=/=]8 both getting cited), then shifts signatures throughout (including some 7[=/=]8). Good luck to the lyricist and singer having to deal with all that, and Hal David and Music/DionneWarwick both admitted the song was a struggle for them.

* UncommonTime: A major trademark of his style, as his songs will often shift between several time signatures, and be based around oddball tempos, but done in a way that seems effortless and unnoticeable to the untrained ear. "Anyone Who Had a Heart" is often cited as the prime example in his work. It starts in 5[=/=]4, then the ''very next line'' shifts to 4[=/=]4, and the song toggles between them, but toward the end Bacharach throws in some 7[=/=]8 as well. Good luck to the lyricist and singer having to deal with all that, and Hal David and Music/DionneWarwick both admitted the song was a struggle for them.

* KidsRock: The chipper "Saturday Sunshine" from 1963, his first ''Billboard'' Hot 100 hit as an artist, features vocals by a chorus, but the lead part is sung by a rather shrill little boy.

He was married four times (to actresses Paula Stewart and Creator/AngieDickinson, lyricist Carole Bayer Sager, and ski instructor Jane Hansen) and had four children (a daughter with Dickinson, an adopted son with Sager, a son and daughter with Hansen).

* DomesticAbuse: "Rain on Me", by Ashanti (Douglas), has her address the pains and challenges of facing, and then overcoming, an abusive relationship. The music video also combines this with DramaticThunder.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: One of his first hits as a composer was the wacky theme song for ''[[Film/TheBlob1958 The Blob]]'', with lyrics by Hal David's brother Mack.