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This Guy's in Love with You

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"This Guy's in Love with You"
Single by Herb Alpert
from the album The Beat of the Brass
B-side"A Quiet Tear" (from The Lonely Bull)
ReleasedApril 1968 (1968-04)
RecordedApril 1968 (1968-04)
GenrePop, easy listening
Length3:55
LabelA&M
Songwriter(s)Burt Bacharach, Hal David
Producer(s)Herb Alpert, Jerry Moss
Herb Alpert singles chronology
"Slick"
(1968) 		"This Guy's in Love with You"
(1968) 		"My Favorite Things"
(1968)

"This Guy's in Love with You" is a hit song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David and released by Herb Alpert in May, 1968. Although known primarily for his trumpet playing as the leader of the Tijuana Brass, Alpert sang lead vocals on this solo recording, which was arranged by Bacharach. An earlier recording of the song by British singer Danny Williams with different lyrics, titled "That Guy's in Love", appeared on Williams' 1968 self-titled album.[1]

History

"This Guy's in Love with You" was written and published in 1967, but was not released commercially that year. There are differing accounts from Hal David and Herb Alpert regarding the song's original song title and lyrical storyline.

Music historian Robin Platts wrote that the original song was titled "That Guy's in Love" and told the story of an unfaithful lover, as seen in the following lines:[2]

That guy's in love, he looks at you the way I do
When he smiles, I can tell
You know each other very well
Why don't you greet him
You know I'd like to meet him
...
Yes you're in love, in love with that guy
And I could just die

Platts quotes Hal David regarding modifications to the original lyric done for Herb Alpert:

[Alpert] wanted to do that song on a TV special he was doing....It was a song he was going to sing to his wife. And [the original lyric] was not quite appropriate for what he wanted to say. He asked us whether we could change [the lyric] so it would fit what he needed. And I did.[2]

Bacharach and David first published the song as "That Guy's in Love" on June 15, 1967.[3] Singer Danny Williams released the song in the U.K. as "That Guy's in Love with You" on his Deram Records LP Danny Williams in early 1968, singing the lyric about a man who suspects his partner is cheating on him. This recording was not released as a single in the U.K. (and was not released at all in the U.S.), and did not make it to the U.S. or U.K. music charts.[4]

The song was later re-published (citing significant changes) on April 15, 1968 as "This Guy's in Love with You", which was a week before Alpert appeared in a pre-recorded music video singing the song on his TV special The Beat of the Brass. Herb Alpert released his single "This Guy's in Love with You" with the revised lyrics in May of 1968. After Herb Alpert's recording became a #1 hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, several versions by well-known female artists were released under the title "This Girl's in Love with You", shifting the title and perspective of the song yet again. These artists included Dionne Warwick, Dusty Springfield, Aretha Franklin, Petula Clark, Ella Fitzgerald, Connie Francis, and Diana Ross & The Supremes.

Alpert, quoted in Bacharach's 2013 memoir Anyone Who Had a Heart, had a different recollection of the original title from Hal David. Alpert told an interviewer that the song first came to him as "This Girl's in Love with You". He explained: "There’s a question I always ask great writers that I asked Burt that day over the phone. 'Is there a song you have tucked away in your drawer or someplace or a song that didn’t get the right recording that you find yourself whistling in the shower?' And he sent me 'This Girl’s in Love with You.' I called Hal David in New York and asked him if he wouldn’t mind changing the gender."[5]

Herb Alpert version

Alpert recognized in the song qualities that made it a good fit for himself as a singer and trumpet player. The composition had a recognizable Bacharach-David feel, a spot for a signature horn solo in the bridge and in the fadeout, and it was an easy song to sing for singers like Alpert with a limited vocal range.

Alpert's filmed version of "This Guy's in Love with You" appeared on April 22, 1968 as a part of his CBS television special The Beat of the Brass. In the film, which has a studio recording of the song as its soundtrack, Alpert can be seen walking around in various natural environments in Malibu, California (including a woodland and a beach), singing the song to his wife Sharon. In response to numerous viewer telephone calls to the network following the broadcast, Alpert decided that the song should be released as a single recording. Alpert's commercially-released recording featured a slightly different vocal performance than the recording used as the film soundtrack in the television special. His single reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart in June of that year, remaining in the top position for four weeks. It was not only Alpert's first No. 1 single, but it was also the first No. 1 single for his A&M record label, as well as the first No. 1 in the U.S. for Bacharach & David. The song also spent ten weeks at No. 1 on the Easy Listening chart. For the single's B-side, Alpert chose "A Quiet Tear" from his first album in 1962, The Lonely Bull.

The single achieved sales of over 50,000 copies in Australia, being eligible for the award of a Gold Disc.[citation needed]

Charts

Dionne Warwick version

Dionne Warwick was the first to record the song as "This Girl's in Love with You", which was released as a single in 1969. This version reached No. 7 in the U.S. that same year, and also spent four weeks at No. 2 on the Easy Listening chart.[19] It ranked as the 64th biggest US hit of 1969.[20]

Charts

Other renditions

Nancy Sinatra debuted the female-protagonist version of the lyrics ("This Girl's in Love with You") live on The Ed Sullivan Show on May 26, 1968.[27] Ella Fitzgerald recorded the song in a live set recorded in San Francisco in 1968, originally released on MPS, and re-issued on CD by Verve as "The Sunshine of Your Love" in 1996. Dusty Springfield also covered the song on her album Dusty... Definitely released in the UK in November 1968.

Eydie Gormé had a hit on the U.S. Easy Listening chart with her rendition (from her eponymous 1968 LP) reaching number 22 during the summer of 1968. Debuting the same week, Tony Mottola had a hit (from his Warm, Wild and Wonderful LP) on the U.S. Easy Listening chart, also reaching number 22.

Sammy Davis Jr. recorded the song in 1969; the resulting version appeared on each of his final two albums for Reprise Records, and he performed it live in his concerts, including at one memorable appearance in Hamburg that same year.

Australian group the Reels released a version as a single and on the album Beautiful in 1982. It reached No. 7 on the Australian charts and was the 90th biggest selling single in 1982 in Australia.[28]

On 29 June 1996 at the London Festival Hall, Noel Gallagher of Oasis sang a version of the song with Bacharach playing piano; the following weekend it was aired on BBC Radio 2.[29]

Mac DeMarco covered the song in 2014, which served as an "introduction" to his touring band's new guitarist, Andy White of Tonstartssbandht.[30]

References

  1. ^ "Cover versions of That Guy's in Love by Danny Williams | SecondHandSongs". SecondHandSongs.
  2. ^ a b Platts, Robin (2003). Burt Bacharach & Hal David: What the World Needs Now. Collector's Guide Publishing. ISBN 978-1-896522-77-7.
  3. ^ Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third Series Volume 21, Part 5, Number I, Section I: Music Current and Reneweal Registrations January-June. U.S. Copyright Office · Library of Congress. 1968.
  4. ^ "Danny Williams – Danny Williams (1968, Vinyl)". Discogs. 1968.
  5. ^ Bacharach, Burt. Anyone Who Had a Heart: My Life and Music, HarperCollins (2013), ebook Chapter 12, "The Look of Love".
  6. ^ "Cash Box - International Best Sellers" (PDF). worldradiohistory.com. Cash Box. 17 August 1968. p. 74.
  7. ^ "Go-Set Australian charts - 24 July 1968". www.poparchives.com.au.
  8. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – This Guy's in Love with You". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
  9. ^ "Dutch Charts - dutchcharts.nl". dutchcharts.nl.
  10. ^ "flavour of new zealand - search listener". www.flavourofnz.co.nz. Archived from the original on 3 January 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  11. ^ "SA Charts 1965–March 1989". Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  12. ^ "Official Charts Company". Officialcharts.com. 9 July 1968. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
  13. ^ a b Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  14. ^ "Australian Chart Books". www.australianchartbooks.com.au. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  15. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". collectionscanada.gc.ca.
  16. ^ "Top 100 Hits of 1968/Top 100 Songs of 1968". musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  17. ^ http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/60s_files/1968YESP.html Archived October 9, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 28, 1968
  18. ^ "Billboard Hot 100 60th Anniversary Interactive Chart". Billboard. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  19. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 251.
  20. ^ "Top 100 Hits of 1969/Top 100 Songs of 1969". www.musicoutfitters.com.
  21. ^ "Go-Set Australian charts - 19 March 1969". www.poparchives.com.au.
  22. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 24 March 1969. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  23. ^ "Cash Box Top 100 3/22/69". tropicalglen.com. Archived from the original on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  24. ^ "RPM Top Singles of 1969". Library and Archives Canada. RPM. 17 July 2013. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
  25. ^ "Top 100 Hits of 1969/Top 100 Songs of 1969". musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  26. ^ "1969: The Top 100 Soul/R&B Singles". RateYourMusic.
  27. ^ ""You'll Stay In My Heart": Nancy Interprets Bacharach & David | The Official Site of Nancy Sinatra".
  28. ^ "National Top 100 Singles for 1982". Kent Music Report. 3 January 1983. Retrieved 22 January 2023 – via Imgur.
  29. ^ "Twosome in tune", Aberdeen Press & Journal page 5, 2 July 1996
  30. ^ "Mac DeMarco covers 'This Guy's In Love With You', introduces new guitarist". DIY. 12 September 2014. Retrieved 10 March 2023.

Bibliography

  • The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 6th Edition, 1996
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