Anyone Who Had a Heart

Last night after my sweety and I watched an excellent, recorded episode of All Creatures Great and Small on PBS Masterpiece, the television returned to Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over, a documentary on the American singer, TV host and actor (b. 1940; please visit a previous post on one of her songs).

Partway through the program, we heard a 1963 hit of Warwick’s, “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” as archive footage of longtime collaborators, American pianist, composer and record producer Burt Bacharach (b. 1928) and lyricist Hal David (1921-2012) tell how they developed the song, complicated by its changing time signatures (though Warwick managed to record the vocal in one studio take).

Listening to the song took me straight to memories of my childhood home (which I described in my 2020 post on “A Taste of Honey“). Music was a constant in our home, leading to a lifelong love of it, and each of my parents and siblings added something to the home repertoire.

So many songs are about love, and many are about the loss of it. It’s a central element of our humanity. In “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” lyricist David speaks of a failing relationship, trying to make sense of why deep love was not reciprocated.

“Anyone who ever loved
Could look at me
And know that I love you
Anyone who ever dreamed
Could look at me
And know I dream of you

Knowing I love you so
Anyone who had a heart
Would take me in his arms and love me, too
You couldn’t really have a heart
And hurt me like you hurt me
And be so untrue
What am I to do?

Every time you go away
I always say
“This time it’s goodbye, dear”
Loving you the way I do
I take you back
Without you I’d die, dear

Knowing I love you so
Anyone who had a heart
Would take me in his arms and love me, too
You couldn’t really have a heart
And hurt me like you hurt me
And be so untrue
What am I to do?

Knowing I love you so
Anyone who had a heart
Would take me in his arms and love me, too
You couldn’t really have a heart
And hurt me like you hurt me
And be so untrue
Anyone who had a heart would love me, too
Anyone who had a heart
Would surely take me in his arms and always love me
Why won’t you?
Anyone who had a heart would love me, too, yeah
Anyone who had a heart
Would surely take me in his arms and always love me
Why won’t you, yeah
Anyone who had a heart would love me, too
Anyone who had a heart
Would surely take me in his arms and always love me”

“Anyone Who Had a Heart,” by Hal David and Burt Bacharach.
Lyrics retrieved from AZLyrics.com.

Warwick was the first to record the song, releasing it as a single in 1963 and on the 1964 album of the same name. The single hit the top ten in North America, much of Europe, and Australia. Meanwhile, an early 1964 cover by English singer Cilla Black (1943-2015) took the top place in her country’s charts. Over the years the song has also been covered by Petula Clark, Atomic Kitten, Linda Ronstadt, Dusty Springfield, Olivia Newton-John, Luther Vandross, Shirley Bassey and many, many others.

Now you know a little about why this is my Song of the Day for Today. Thanks for joining me here, and please enjoy the audio from the Dionne Warwick YouTube channel:

With my best wishes,

Steve