Hal David 1921-2012

Years ago, while preparing to write an essay on Burt Bacharach, my good friend and mentor, the late writer Tom Terrell, said, "Everybody is always talking about Bacharach, but nobody ever talks about the great lyrical contributions of Hal David".

Up until that time, I hadn’t thought about Hal David one way or other. Burt, of course, was the cool symbol of the sixties, much like an American version of James Bond, while Hal was "just the writer". Yet, as singer Dionne Warwick once told me, "If it wasn’t for Hal David, people would just be humming".

Listening closely to lyrics, with "Windows of the World" and "Message to Michael" being favorites, I realized just how powerful a pop lyricist Hal David really was.--Michael A. Gonzales