Pianist/singer/arranger/songwriter Molly Ruggles and I performed “Alfie” recently at an assisted living community in Milford, MA, as part of an hour-long program of songs composed by Burt Bacharach.
Some of the folks in their memory care unit joined us, and one woman in a wheelchair appeared to be particularly zoned out when she was wheeled to her spot in the audience.
Then the music began… and she started to sing-along.
She was able to remember the lyrics to a bunch of Bacharach/David hits, including “Walk On By,” “Close To You.” and “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head.”
Music has many mysterious powers!
A quick search on Google tells me that “listening to or playing music is a full-brain experience that engages nearly every region, creating a ‘total brain workout’. It activates a widespread network involving auditory, emotional, motor, and memory systems simultaneously, often synchronizing these areas to enhance cognitive function.
Auditory Cortex (Temporal Lobes): Processes sound, rhythm, and melody, converting sound waves into electrical signals.
Limbic System (Emotion & Memory): The amygdala (emotion) and hippocampus (memory) respond to music, explaining why specific songs trigger vivid memories or emotional responses.
Motor System (Movement): The cerebellum and motor cortex are activated, controlling involuntary tapping or dancing to the rhythm.
Prefrontal Cortex (Focus & Planning): Involved in planning, attention, and interpreting musical structure.
Neurotransmitter Release: Music boosts dopamine (pleasure/motivation) and serotonin, while lowering cortisol (stress).
The songwriters Burt Bacharach (music) and Hal David (lyrics) wrote a bunch of great songs together starting in the late 1950s through the early 1970s.
Today I am focusing on their beautiful anthem, “Alfie” (in the player at the top of this blog post).
As I have mentioned in past blog posts, I perform one-hour programs of music which feature a particular lyricist or composer at retirement communities, libraries, synagogues, coffee houses, and memory cafes around the greater Boston area with the help of two different pianists, Joe Reid and Molly Ruggles.
And due to the aging Baby Boomer demographic bulge, a LOT of new retirement communities have been built in Massachusetts in the past 10-20 years.
Most of them — hurrah! — still have real pianos in their community rooms (or auditoriums in the fancier places…)
And they book a significant amount of musical entertainment for their residents.
What’s lovely about doing more frequent musical visits is that we get to become better acquainted with the music-loving residents in their community.
And we have found (no surprise!) that music has an uncanny power to re-ignite memories — which, if we are lucky, the residents will share with us as we are packing up.
Some people’s memories are family-specific and often very poignant — a particular song was played at their parent’s wedding… or was the favorite song of a sister/brother/cousin… or is the song that always reminds them of a specific moment in high school.
One woman, the youngest child in a family of six, shared with us that her beloved older brother had recorded a version of “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” as a present to bring home with him right before he was killed serving in WWII.
That song had become a sacred — and heart-breaking — hymn for her and her family.
She was moved to tears telling us about it almost eighty years after her brother’s death.
And we were honored to listen to her tell us about the significance of this song in her life.
Deep breath in.
Deep breath out.
Cole Porter (courtesy of Wikimedia)
Joe Reid and I started ten years ago with a program of songs composed by Harold Arlen.
Then a resident at one of the places we performed that first show asked us to create a program of Cole Porter songs.
And then the Program Director at one retirement community lent us her favorite CD compilation of Hoagy Carmichael songs.
The work of one great lyricist/composer keeps leading us to another!
So far we’ve put together hour-long programs featuring the songs of Harold Arlen, Cole Porter, Hoagy Carmichael, the Gershwin Brothers, Jerome Kern, Dorothy Fields, Oscar Hammerstein, Lorenz Hart, Irving Berlin, Yip Harburg, Frank Loesser, Johnny Mercer, Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne, and Harry Warren.
We’ve also created programs of songs written for great performers including Fred Astaire, Ethel Merman, Bing Crosby and Judy Garland.
Burt and Marlene in Israel (photo by Fritz Shlezingel — courtesy of Wikimedia)
And now we are venturing beyond music written during the 1920s-1950s — which is what has led us to the songs of Burt Bacharach.
Mr. Bacharach had a long and fascinating life.
His public profile as a pianist, arranger and composer rose significantly after Marlene Dietrich asked him to become her accompanist/band leader — which he did off and on for many years in countries around the world.
I have read Mr. Bacharach’s memoir, and he respectfully insists that his relationship with Ms. Dietrich was never sexual — although it appears that she would have liked it to be.
She championed his music, however, and sometimes would take care of him by cleaning his apartment and then preparing him a home-cooked meal.
According to Burt, she also helped him to juggle ongoing trysts and affairs with a wide variety of women while they were on the road together.
Another woman who played a significant role in Burt’s life was Angie Dickinson, who became his second wife and whose success and connections as a movie star are what led to Burt’s first film scoring opportunities.
Burt and Angie (courtesy of Wikimedia)
Some of Burt’s most beloved songs were created for the movies, including “The Look of Love” (for Casino Royale), “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” (for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), and “Arthur’s Theme — The Best That You Can Do” (for Arthur).
In 1966 Burt and Hal David were asked to write something to play over the closing credits of a British film starring Michael Caine.
Hal and Burt read the script, and then Hal wrote a lyric inspired by something that Michael Caine’s character says at the very end of the film which Burt then set to music.
Cilla Black recorded “Alfie” for the British release of the movie, and version by Cher — of all people — was used when the film was released in the USA.
Bacharach and David’s muse Dionne Warwick also recorded her own version which became a big hit — and since then it has been recorded by thousands of people, including me and the pianist Doug Hammer.
Although we human beings continue to do horrific, greedy, short-sighted, ignorant and evil deeds on a daily basis here on planet earth, I remain a fan of love and kindness — as does the narrator in this song.
Thank you to the photographer who took this Michael Caine-esque photo of me in the late 1960s when I was working professionally as a child (doing commercials, modeling jobs, and voice-overs) in NYC.
Thank you to Stephen Fischer for incorporating it into a graphic design for this song release.
After some delicious food and inspiring conversation — including how the Boston Beer company decided to withdraw its support of the St. Patrick’s Day parade in South Boston — we all moved from the kitchen into the living room.
And then we made music together for three hours.
Sometimes it was one singer accompanied by a pianist.
At one point each of the pianists even accompanied the other — who was uncharacteristically standing to sing.
The daily news from our mainstream media brings so many unhappy stories into our homes and into our hearts — planes which mysteriously crash; snipers who fire on civilians; species being wiped out by poachers; wars being waged over natural resources and political power and religious beliefs…
I often wonder what we human beings are doing here on planet earth — and how music fits into the larger equations and patterns unfolding on a daily basis.
And can bring my energy — for lack of a better word — into harmony with others.
Last night someone at the party sang the great Bacharach/David song “Alfie.”
It reminded me of a recording (embedded at the top of this blog post) which Doug and I made a few years ago at his studio in Lynn.
I am reassured that other human beings, such as Burt Bacharach and Hal David, have pondered similar questions, too.
And I am very, very grateful that my life is now focused on making and sharing music with others.
Thank you for reading — and perhaps listening to — this blog post!
ps: When I wrote this blog post over ten years ago, it included no photos. So in April 2024 I added some from a wonderful photographic resource called Pixabay. THANK YOU to all of the generous photographers and graphic artists at Pixabay!
pps: And when I first recorded this version of “Alfie” with the wonderful pianist Doug Hammer, I knew nothing about digital distribution of music. Now it is available on a bunch of streaming services — and you can click here to stream it.
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