London was swinging when Alfie hit cinema screens in 1966. Hip young(ish) star Michael Caine spoke to the camera like Fleabag, and dominated almost every scene. But anyone who had the idea that Alfie was purely a romp might have been given pause by the hit ballad of the same name. If it was all dolly birds and empty pleasure for the movie’s title character, why was this song so wracked with doubt and regretful counsel? Burt Bacharach called it his favourite of all the songs he had written, and he was not short of choices. In particular, he lavished praise on Hal David’s emotive lyric, which referred to love as something ‟even non-believers can believe in”.
The song’s gestation was hurried. Ed Wolpin at Paramount, who had first suggested Bacharach and David work together in the mid-1950s, asked the now-established songwriting team to deliver the song in three weeks. Bacharach saw a rough cut of Alfie and realised that the lyrics would be of prime importance, so he asked David to write them first. But David thought “Alfie” was an uninspiring name for a song. He would not be the only one. Bacharach asked Paramount to send his writing partner the script, adapted by Bill Naughton from his novel. Reading the whole bittersweet tale gave David the impetus to produce his masterpiece. He used a line from the film, ‟What’s it all about?”, as a hook in the lyric.
Bacharach and David wanted their usual vocal interpreter, Dionne Warwick, to record their new creation, but because it was set in London, Paramount sought a British singer. Sandie Shaw turned it down, citing qualms about singing about a man called Alfie, so Bacharach wrote to Cilla Black, asking her to tackle it.
Black also had doubts, scoffing, ‟You call your dog Alfie.” But she had previously had a hit with ‟Anyone Who Had a Heart” and fancied working with its composer, who was pop royalty, so agreed to do it if Bacharach would arrange, conduct and play piano on the session. To her surprise, he agreed. In the autumn of 1965, a nervous Black found herself at Abbey Road studio while the perfectionist Bacharach urged her through version after version. In an era when a handful of takes was considered sufficient, Black sang ‟Alfie” 29 times before Bacharach felt she had conjured up the ‟magic” he was seeking. Black’s producer, George Martin, was not impressed, and told Bacharach the singer had delivered the goods on the fourth take.
Black, however, was not a big name in the US, and her version of ‟Alfie” only scraped into the US Hot 100. United Artists, the movie’s US distributor, instead had Cher record the song, and her unsubtle, brassy, big-beat interpretation plays in the American cut of the movie. It made a so-so number 32 in the Billboard chart. The film’s director, Lewis Gilbert, was unhappy with these developments. He considered the song surplus to requirements and feared it would detract from the downbeat, poignant score he had commissioned from American jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins. A compromise meant Bacharach & David’s song was only heard during the closing credits. Rollins’ score, recorded at Twickenham with British musicians such as Stan Tracey, Tubby Hayes and Ronnie Scott, graced the screen but never appeared on record — the soundtrack album was a re-creation recorded in New Jersey with US musicians.
The song was a lasting success, despite its mundane title. Dionne Warwick’s sophisticated larynx finally got to grips with ‟Alfie” in 1967; it made number 15 in the US chart. Her sister Dee Dee also sang it in 1967. There were soul versions by The Delfonics (1968) and The Dells (1972). Stevie Wonder twisted it into a harmonica instrumental credited to Eivets Rednow, his stage name reversed (1968). Maynard Ferguson, Stan Getz, Roland Kirk and others used it as a jazz ballad, and the song remains an easy listening standard, recorded by Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams, Barbra Streisand and Matt Monro.
When the movie was remade in 2004 with Jude Law in the title role, Joss Stone sang “Alfie” for the soundtrack. A version was recorded for Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), which featured most of the main characters performing an adaptation as ‟What’s It All About Austin?” Among them was original Alfie star Michael Caine, playing Powers’ father, but the scene was cut.
Bacharach has described his late writing partner’s words for the song as ‟one of the best lyrics Hal, or anyone else, has written”. Cilla Black agreed: lines from ‟Alfie” are inscribed on her grave at Allerton Cemetery, Liverpool.
What are your memories of ‘Alfie’? Let us know in the comments section below.
‘The Life of a Song Volume 2: The fascinating stories behind 50 more of the world’s best-loved songs’, edited by David Cheal and Jan Dalley, is published by Brewer’s.
Music credits: A&R Music; Rhino; Arista/Legacy; UMC (Universal Music Catalogue); Universal-Island Records Limited; Virgin Records
Picture credit: ITV/REX/Shutterstock