Hal David’s death was reported last weekend.
For sure he was not at the cutting edge of rock and roll but Hal David was simply one of the best lyricists of the 60s and 70s. In collaboration with Burt Bacharach he wrote so many memorable songs for so many performers. Many 60s artists might not have had a career without their songs and well after it was written their (They Long to Be) Close to You provided The Carpenters with a first hit in 1970.
With Bobbie Gentry’s 1969 no. 1 I’ll Never Fall in Love Again David’s inventive rhyming of pneumonia with phone ya, certainly stuck in the ear. I Say A Little Prayer made Aretha Franklin in the UK.

Bobbie Gentry: I’ll Never Fall in Love Again

Aretha Franklin: I Say A Little Prayer

Harold Lane “Hal” David, 25/4/1921 – 1/9/2012. So it goes.