Jackie DeShannon~ "What The World Needs Now" (1965)

Jackie DeShannon~ "What The World Needs Now"  (1965)

"What the World Needs Now Is Love" is a 1965 popular song with lyrics by Hal David and music composed by Burt Bacharach. First recorded and made popular by Jackie DeShannon, it was released on April 15, 1965, on the Imperial label after a release on sister label Liberty records the previous month was canceled. The song reached number 7 on the US charts in May of that year.

 

"What the World Needs Now Is Love"
Single by Jackie DeShannon
from the album This Is Jackie DeShannon
A-side	What the World Needs Now Is Love
B-side	I Remember the Boy
Released	April 15, 1965
Genre	Folk rock, jazz, soul
Length	3:10
Label	Imperial Records
Writer(s)	Hal David, Burt Bacharach

 

Recording history

 The song was originally offered to Dionne Warwick, who turned it down at the time;^[1] though she later recorded it for her album Here Where There Is Love. DeShannon's version was recorded on March 23, 1965, at New York's Bell Sound studios.^[2]

It has been recorded or performed live by over 100 artists, including The Staple Singers, Judy Garland, The Supremes, Cilla Black, The Chambers Brothers, McCoy Tyner, Barry Manilow, Jad Fair with Daniel Johnston, Ed Ames, Johnny Mathis, Steve Tyrell, Luther Vandross, Andrea Ross, Aimee Mann, Rigmor Gustafsson, Stacey Kent, Mr. Bungle, The Young Americans, Rick Astley and Coldplay. It even made the country charts in a version by a little known singer/songwriter, Ron Shaw, on the Pacific Challenger label in the late 1970s.

In 2011, Ronan Keating recorded the song for his album "When Ronan Met Burt".

 Tom Clay version

 In addition to the DeShannon hit recording and the numerous cover versions, "What the World Needs Now is Love" served as the basis for a distinctive 1971 remix.

Disc jockey Tom Clay was working at radio station KGBS in Los Angeles, California, when he created the single "What the World Needs Now is Love/Abraham, Martin and John", a social commentary that became a surprise hit record that summer.^[3]

The song begins with a man asking a young boy to define such words as bigotry, segregation and hatred (to which the boy says he doesn't know); he says that prejudice is "when someone's sick".

Following that is a soundbite of a drill sergeant leading a platoon into training, along with gunfire sound effects, after which are snippets of the two songs – both as recorded by The Blackberries, a session recording group.^[4]

Interspersed are excerpts of speeches by John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, the eulogy after Robert's assassination by Ted Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., and soundbites of news coverage of each one's assassination. The ending of the song is a reprise of the introduction.

"What the World Needs Now is Love/Abraham, Martin and John" rose to No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1971, and was Clay's only Top 40 hit.^[5]

 

^{Source: Wikipedia}

 

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