Message to Michael
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| “Message to Michael” | |||||
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| Single by Dionne Warwick from the album Dionne Warwick in Paris |
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| A-side | Message to Michael | ||||
| B-side | Here Where There Is Love(Bacharach & David) | ||||
| Released | March, 1966 | ||||
| Format | 7" single Scepter 12133 | ||||
| Recorded | 1966 Paris, France | ||||
| Genre | Soul, pop | ||||
| Length | 3:09 | ||||
| Label | Scepter | ||||
| Writer(s) | Burt Bacharach, Hal David | ||||
| Producer | Burt Bacharach, Hal David | ||||
| Dionne Warwick singles chronology | |||||
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Message to Michael is a 1966 recording by Dionne Warwick of a song composed by Burt Bacharach and Hal David as "A Message to Martha" and originally recorded by Jerry Butler in 1963. A German version of the song was recorded by Marlene Dietrich in 1964. Singer Lou Johnson's version hit Billboard's "Bubbling Under the Top 100" chart in 1964.
In 1966, Warwick was appearing at the Paris Olympia Theatre with French singer/songwriter Sacha Distel. Warwick felt Distel should include "Message to Martha" in his repertoire. Jacque Denjean re-arranged the tune and recorded the backing track at a Paris recording studio. Distel was to sing the tune live to the backing track during his appearances, but cut the tune out of his stage show. Warwick took the backing track to a Paris recording studio and cut the tune as a single and substituted "Michael" for "Martha". Hal David and Burt Bacharach were opposed to the gender-switched recording and were convinced that the single would flop according to David Nathan's liner notes for the Rhino CD "Dionne Warwick Love Songs". Warwick ignored Bacahrach and David. According to Nathan, Dionne recalls the most difficult part of her recording session was teaching the French background singers to sing in English.
"Message to Michael" was released in March 1966 and was introduced to American audiences on the March 9, 1966 broadcast of NBC's rock-and-roll TV series Hullabaloo. The single entered Billboard's Hot 100 chart in April and hit #8 in May 1966. Although Bacharach/David are credited as producing the tune, the tune was produced by Warwick with no participation from the Bacharach/David production team. According to Nathan and to Hal David in his 1968 book What the World Needs Now and Other Love Lyrics, once the tune hit the top ten, it did not take long for both David and Bacharach to enthusiastically endorse Dionne's version as definitive.
[edit] References
- Nathan, David. Dionne Warwick-Love Songs (liner notes). Rhino Records CD. 2002.
- David, Hal. What the World Needs Now and Other Love Lyrics. Trident Press. 1968.
- Platts, Robin. Burt Bacharach & Hal David: What the World Needs Now. ISBN 1896522777
