I named this “A Special Tuesday” because I hesitate to call it new. Burt Bacharach and his songs have been in my life for years, mostly through a terrific triple disc collection called The Look of Love, spanning seventy-five songs from across his career. I used to be attached to Disc One more than the others — for some reason “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence” was the song I chose to play over and over and over…. and over and over. I’m kind of sorry to my family, who still groan when that tune comes on, but also I stand by it being a great song. Anyways, the reason why I chose to write about “Hasbrook Heights” is because it felt like I rediscovered it once I found out that Bacharach himself sings it, and for that, it has become one of my recent favorites.
On The Look of Love , “Hasbrook Heights” sits on disc three at lucky number fifteen, appropriately sandwiched between two Dionne Warwick tracks. While at home over winter break, this disc had been playing, and I finally decided to check who sang it. I don’t know why I hadn’t before — the song was familiar enough in its tune — but it was the voice that made me wonder. Here’s this vocal like a tired, gentle version of Randy Newman, a girl-next-door quality to it that stood out against the superstars that made up the rest of the album. I think that discovering it was his voice was part of what sparked my renaissance of this song, as I was suddenly fascinated with every aspect.
“Hasbrook Heights” is a perfect example of a composer who knows his style. Soft horns mesh with barely distinguishable “ba ba ba” backing vocals and a tropical ukelele, strings and keyboard and the rim of the snare rounding out a typical Bacharach orchestra. While the instrumental alone is fabulous, I just can’t get over the vocals. This is a pure example of raw vocals, filled to the brim with genuine… well, genuineness. It’s a song with lyrics all about taking it easy in a place called Hasbrook Heights, which is a funny name for paradise. But Bacharach is a lovely mascot for the mirage of the Heights, luring people in with a singing voice that sounds like a smile.
I hesitate to use any more food comparisons, due to my slight overuse of them in the last couple of weeks. However, the only thing I like more than music is food, so here we go anyway. “Hasbrook Heights” is chicken soup for the soul, something warm to alleviate the chill of daily life. It’s a song that’ll pump you up (in a more relaxed way than Elvis Costello) and take you on a journey, to a lovely slow paradise called none other than Hasbrook Heights.
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I agree. Top tune. It's got a bit of history - apparently Burt (unusually) wrote the lyrics because his usual partner Hal David was too busy, or perhaps because their relationship at the time was not at its best. Which may explain why the lyrics are somewhat rudimentary (eg. "don't be lonely, come phone me..."). Also no such place as Hasbrook Heights actually exists....