Walk On By

For other uses, see Walk On By (disambiguation).

"Walk on By" is a song composed by Burt Bacharach and lyrics by Hal David for soul singer Dionne Warwick in 1964. It became a landmark single and Warwick's signature song in spite of the fact that she has had more than two dozen hits in her career. The single reached number six on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

Like many of Warwick's 1960s Bacharach-composed singles, it was heavily covered in different ways, most notably by funk/soul musician Isaac Hayes, whose 1969 cover on his groundbreaking album Hot Buttered Soul was transformed into a twelve-and-a-half minute funk vamp breaking ground for singles to release songs surpassing five minutes. In 1982, funk singer D-Train recorded an R&B hit with the song mixing up Warwick's and Hayes' versions. In 1990, singer Sybil, who had scored her biggest hit a year prior with a cover of Warwick's "Don't Make Me Over", also scored an R&B hit with this song. Hundreds of artists have recorded it and performed it on stage, included Aretha Franklin (1964), The Four Seasons (1965), Mel Tormé, Stan Getz (1966), the Stranglers, George Benson, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Johnny Mathis, Cliff Richard (for live album Cliff "Live" in Japan '72 with Olivia Newton-John), Gloria Gaynor, Melissa Manchester and The Beach Boys.

Warwick's version remains the most well-known, and in 1998 the song was inducted to the Grammy Hall of Fame. The RIAA chose it as one of the Songs of the Century.

Cyndi Lauper Source