I'll Never Fall in Love Again
Encyclopedia
"I'll Never Fall In Love Again" is a popular song by composer Burt Bacharach
and lyricist Hal David
. Originally written for the 1968 musical
Promises, Promises
, it soon became one of Bacharach and David's most enduring songs. It was nominated for Song of the Year
in the 1969 Grammy awards
. A version with studio singers was released as a single under Burt Bacharach's name in 1969, and achieved a low chart position.
"I'll Never Fall In Love Again" became a hit for Bobbie Gentry
when it reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
for a single week in October 1969
. In January 1970
, it became a number six hit on the Billboard Hot 100
singles chart and a number-one hit on the Easy Listening chart for Dionne Warwick
. Warwick's version, arranged and produced by Burt Bacharach and recorded in 1969, also reached number three on the Canadian Chart and crossed over into the Top 20 R&B Chart and became an international million seller. Warwick's album of the same name containing the single won a 1971 Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance-Female. Ella Fitzgerald
's version became a minor hit in September 1969 and charted briefly. It was also the best-charting single in a cover version for Scottish
band Deacon Blue
, peaking at number two in the UK Singles Chart
.
" as the result of a kiss — and declares that (at least until tomorrow) he'll "never fall in love again." The line about pneumonia was inspired by the fact that Burt had just recovered from pneumonia.
Tom Jones
Burt Bacharach
Burt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...
and lyricist Hal David
Hal David
Harold Lane "Hal" David is an American lyricist. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York. David is best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach.-Career:...
. Originally written for the 1968 musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
Promises, Promises
Promises, Promises
Promises, Promises is a musical based on the 1960 film The Apartment. The music is by Burt Bacharach, lyrics by Hal David, and book by Neil Simon. Musical numbers for the original Broadway production were choreographed by Michael Bennett; Robert Moore directed and David Merrick produced...
, it soon became one of Bacharach and David's most enduring songs. It was nominated for Song of the Year
Grammy Award for Song of the Year
The Song of the Year is one of the four most prestigious awards in the Grammy Awards ceremony, if not in all of the American music industry. It has been awarded since 1959 and unlike the Record of the Year award, which goes to the performer and production team of a single song, Song of the Year...
in the 1969 Grammy awards
Grammy Awards of 1969
The 11th Grammy Awards were held on March 12, 1969. They recognized accomplishments of musicians for the year 1968.-Award winners:*Record of the Year**Paul Simon & Roy Halee & Simon & Garfunkel for "Mrs...
. A version with studio singers was released as a single under Burt Bacharach's name in 1969, and achieved a low chart position.
"I'll Never Fall In Love Again" became a hit for Bobbie Gentry
Bobbie Gentry
Roberta Lee Streeter , professionally known as Bobbie Gentry, is a former American singer-songwriter notable as one of the first female country artists to compose and produce her own material...
when it reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
for a single week in October 1969
1969 in music
-Events:Perhaps the two most famous musical events of 1969 were concerts. At a Rolling Stones concert in Altamont, California, a fan was stabbed to death by Hells Angels, a biker gang that had been hired to provide security for the event...
. In January 1970
1970 in music
- Events :*January 3**Davy Jones announces he is leaving the Monkees**Former Pink Floyd frontman Syd Barrett releases his first solo album The Madcap Laughs....
, it became a number six hit on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
singles chart and a number-one hit on the Easy Listening chart for Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick is an American singer, actress and TV show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health....
. Warwick's version, arranged and produced by Burt Bacharach and recorded in 1969, also reached number three on the Canadian Chart and crossed over into the Top 20 R&B Chart and became an international million seller. Warwick's album of the same name containing the single won a 1971 Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance-Female. Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
's version became a minor hit in September 1969 and charted briefly. It was also the best-charting single in a cover version for Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
band Deacon Blue
Deacon Blue
Deacon Blue are a Scottish pop band formed in Glasgow during 1985. Their name was taken from the title of the Steely Dan song "Deacon Blues". The band consists of vocalist Ricky Ross and Lorraine McIntosh, keyboard player James Prime and drummer Dougie Vipond....
, peaking at number two in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
.
Content
The song's narrator ruminates on the various troubles that falling in love brings — including "enough germs to catch pneumoniaPneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
" as the result of a kiss — and declares that (at least until tomorrow) he'll "never fall in love again." The line about pneumonia was inspired by the fact that Burt had just recovered from pneumonia.
Covers of note
This song has been covered many times:- Dionne WarwickDionne WarwickDionne Warwick is an American singer, actress and TV show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health....
(#6 US,#3 Canada, #17 US R&B, #1 US Adult Contemporary) - Liza MinnelliLiza MinnelliLiza May Minnelli is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....
- Herb AlpertHerb AlpertHerbert "Herb" Alpert is an American musician most associated with the group variously known as Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, or TJB. He is also a recording industry executive — he is the "A" of A&M Records...
- Liz AndersonLiz AndersonLiz Anderson was anAmerican country music singer/songwriter who was one of a wave of a new generation of female vocalists in the genre during the 1960's to write and record her own songs on a regular basis. Writing in The New York Times Bill Friskics-Warren noted, "Like her contemporary Loretta...
(reached #56 on the BillboardBillboard (magazine)Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot Country SinglesHot Country SongsHot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
chart in 1972) - Chet AtkinsChet AtkinsChester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...
- Shirley BasseyShirley BasseyDame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...
(on her 1969 album Does Anybody Miss MeDoes Anybody Miss MeDoes Anybody Miss Me is a 1969 album by Shirley Bassey.In 1969 Bassey moved her home to Lugano, Switzerland, with her second husband Sergio Novak, whom she had married in Las Vegas in August 1968. Remaining a a tax exile prevented her from performing and recording in the UK. In this period she...
) - Deacon BlueDeacon BlueDeacon Blue are a Scottish pop band formed in Glasgow during 1985. Their name was taken from the title of the Steely Dan song "Deacon Blues". The band consists of vocalist Ricky Ross and Lorraine McIntosh, keyboard player James Prime and drummer Dougie Vipond....
- The CarpentersThe CarpentersCarpenters were an American vocal and instrumental duo, consisting of sister Karen and brother Richard Carpenter. The Carpenters were the #1 selling American music act of the 1970s. Though often referred to by the public as "The Carpenters", the duo's official name on authorized recordings and...
- Mary Chapin CarpenterMary Chapin CarpenterMary Chapin Carpenter is an American folk and country music artist. Carpenter spent several years singing in Washington, D.C. clubs before signing in the late 1980s with Columbia Records, who marketed her as a country singer...
- Elvis CostelloElvis CostelloElvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
& Burt BacharachBurt BacharachBurt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...
(featured in the 1999 movie Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged MeAustin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged MeAustin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, released in 1999, is the second film in the Austin Powers series that began with 1997's Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and continued with Austin Powers in Goldmember. The film was directed by Jay Roach, co-written by Mike Myers and screenwriter...
) - Ella FitzgeraldElla FitzgeraldElla Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
- Bobbie GentryBobbie GentryRoberta Lee Streeter , professionally known as Bobbie Gentry, is a former American singer-songwriter notable as one of the first female country artists to compose and produce her own material...
- Emmylou HarrisEmmylou HarrisEmmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...
(on her 1969 album Gliding BirdGliding BirdGliding Bird is an album by Emmylou Harris, released in 1970.Before she met mentor Gram Parsons and became a famous country singer, Harris began singing folk music; yet Gliding Bird, her obscure début album, displays an eclecticism that is found in her later work...
) - Isaac HayesIsaac HayesIsaac Lee Hayes, Jr. was an American songwriter, musician, singer and actor. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the...
(on his 1971 album Black MosesBlack Moses (album)Black Moses is a double album by Isaac Hayes, released on Stax Records' Enterprise label in 1971. The follow-up to Hayes' successful soundtrack for Shaft , Black Moses features Hayes' version of The Jackson 5's hit single "Never Can Say Goodbye"...
) - Bradley JosephBradley JosephBradley Joseph is an American composer, arranger, and producer of contemporary instrumental music. His compositions include works for orchestra, quartet, and solo piano, while his musical style ranges from "quietly pensive mood music to a rich orchestration of classical depth and breadth".Active...
- Mark LindsayMark LindsayMark Lindsay is an American musician, best known as the singer for the group Paul Revere & the Raiders.-Biography:Lindsay was born in Eugene, Oregon and was the second of eight children...
(on his 1970 album Arizona) - Richard MarxRichard MarxRichard Noel Marx is an American adult contemporary and pop/rock singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He had a string of hit singles in the late 1980s and 1990s, including "Endless Summer Nights", "Right Here Waiting", "Now and Forever", and "Hazard"...
Tom Jones
- Johnny MathisJohnny MathisJohn Royce "Johnny" Mathis is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standards, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts...
- Anne MurrayAnne MurrayMorna Anne Murray CC, ONS is a Canadian singer in pop, country and adult contemporary styles whose albums have sold over 54 million copies....
- The Real GroupThe Real GroupThe Real Group is a professional a cappella group from Sweden, consisting of five members: Emma Nilsdotter, Katarina Henryson, Anders Edenroth, Morten Vinther Sørensen, and Anders Jalkéus....
- SittiSitti NavarroSitti Katrina Navarro , also known as Sitti, is a Filipino bossa nova singer. After releasing her first album, Café Bossa, in 2006, other bossa nova acts in the Philippines followed. Navarro is also featured in the segment "A.S.A.P. Sessionistas" of the variety show ASAP...
- Splitsville (on the 2001 album The Complete Pet Soul)
- Dusty SpringfieldDusty SpringfieldMary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
- Trijntje OosterhuisTrijntje OosterhuisJudith Katrijntje "Trijntje" Oosterhuis is a Dutch pop and jazz singer.-Early life:Judith Katrijntje Oosterhuis was born on 5 February 1973, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands...
- The WhitlamsThe WhitlamsThe discography of The Whitlams consists of six studio albums, two live albums, one compilation album, and eighteen singles.-Studio albums:-Live albums:-Compilation albums:-Singles:-Videos:-Music videos:-Awards:...
- Sean Hayes and Kristin ChenowethKristin ChenowethKristin Chenoweth is an American singer and actress, with credits in musical theatre, film and television. She is best known on Broadway for her performance as Sally Brown in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown , for which she won a Tony Award, and for originating the role of Glinda in the musical...
- Rigmor Gustafsson
- Tok Tok TokTok tok tok-Awards:German Jazz Award for "it took so long" French Grand Prix SACEM for "about" German Jazz Award for "about" German Jazz Award for "i wish" best of 99/00...
- Ronan KeatingRonan KeatingRonan Patrick John Keating is an Irish recording artist, singer-songwriter, musician, and philanthropist. Keating debuted on the professional music scene alongside Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham, Shane Lynch and Stephen Gately, in 1994 as the lead singer of Boyzone. His solo career started in 1999, and...
on the album "When Ronan Met BurtWhen Ronan Met BurtWhen Ronan Met Burt is the eighth studio album by Irish singer-songwriter and Boyzone frontman Ronan Keating. It was produced and composed by Burt Bacharach.-Background:...
" (2011) - YeonGene (Korean musician) on the album "Me and My Burt" (2006) and re-released on the album "BonnieGene" (2010)
- Ornella VanoniOrnella VanoniOrnella Vanoni, OMRI is one of the most credited pop singers of Italy. She is known for her sophisticated pop style.-Artistic career:...
- Catherine SpaakCatherine Spaak-Biography:Spaak was born at Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine . She is the niece of Belgian politician Paul-Henri Spaak.She spent most of her career in Italy, where she became a teenage star...
& Johnny DorelliJohnny DorelliJohnny Dorelli is an Italian actor, singer and showman.Born as Giorgio Guidi in Meda, he debuted as singer in the late 1950s for CGD label. In 1958 he won the Sanremo Festival in duo with Domenico Modugno, with the songs "Nel blu dipinto di blu" and "Piove "...
See also
- List of number-one singles of 1969 (Ireland)
- List of number-one singles from the 1960s (UK)
- List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1970 (U.S.)