Comments on: CILLA BLACK - “Anyone Who Had A Heart”

By: Nigel Egg

Nigel Egg — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 06:51:44 +0000

I’ve only ever heard Cilla sing it so far. Dionne Warwick is Burt Bacharach’s muse - I’ll find her version. But I’ve remembered Cilla these many years and enough to learn the song today for singing myself. Amazing how simple and complicated it is.

By: rubbersoul

rubbersoul — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:37:51 +0000

http://www.thegirlfromabbeyroad.blogspot.com listen to cilla’s decent stuff from the sixties and lwt cilla will fade away. cilla; why the f*** did you cash in your rock n roll chips?..

By: Marcello Carlin

Marcello Carlin — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 06:59:30 +0000

Possibly the worst Bacharach/David injustice in the sixties UK singles chart: “Don’t Make Me Over” was a hit here, not for Dionne, but for…Swinging Blue Jeans, The. Dearie lord God rest my soul etc.

By: tez

tez — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 16:28:08 +0000

im so sick of hearing dionne warwick say that if she had coughed so too would cilla, cillas phrasing, voice and production on ‘anyone who had a heart’ could not be more different. cillas version is gutsy and passionate, and anyway, at that early stage in the sixies a british girl would never have had a hit in america, america was very unforgiving on many of our artists before the beatles, so whats wrong with cillas manager giving her ‘heart’ to release in the uk, i believe shirly bassey was thought of by george martin to offer the song to, but epstein wanted it for cilla, im shaw warwick would not have a go at bassey, she prob wouldnt live to tell the tale. also ive heard a recording of cilla singing ‘walk on by’ on her 1968 show, and its fab. cillas voice in the 60s was rich and dark and full of feeling, if you listen to her version of ‘ol’ man river’ or ‘fever’ she was fab. she was an individual she had bright red bobed hair, a big nose, crooked teeth, but she was still sexy, the public wouldnt accept a girl like her now, she wouldnt fit our vein criteria and that sort of modern generic caberet voice thats so popular now days, all our girls, cilla, sandie, dusty and lulu were very original. although cilla is still popular i think she is tainted by the modern post nose job blind date comedien that most know, if people got to see all the unreleased clips of her from back then then they would see how great she was, and is

By: Phil

Phil — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 22:59:31 +0000

Further to my previous comment, I am a lifelong Cilla fan, but I am so glad she didnt bother covering ‘Walk On By’ as it is a fab record by Dionne, I cannot imagine anyone ever topping her version of it, it made the UK top ten but deserved much more.

By: Phil

Phil — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 22:52:51 +0000

There has always been a conflict over whos version of ‘Heart’ was the best, it comes down to the audience it appealed to, Cilla’s more intense version suited the British music at the time, whilst Dionnes is more smooth and soulful and suited the American market more. Both versions have their merit and both have stood the test of time. As for ‘Alfie’ then I have to say that Cilla wins this one, at first she didnt want to record it but when Burt Bacharach came over to London to supervise it then she was won over.

By: Marcello Carlin

Marcello Carlin — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 13:27:56 +0000

That having been said, Cilla’s Alfie >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Dionne’s Alfie.

By: EricMontreal

EricMontreal — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 05:30:26 +0000

From allmusic:

In the UK a number of Bacharach-David-Warwick songs were covered by UK singer Cilla Black, most notably “Anyone Who Had a Heart”, which went to #1 in the UK. This upset Warwick and she has described feeling insulted when told that in the UK, record company executives wanted her songs recorded by someone else. Warwick even met Cilla Black whilst on tour in the UK. She recalled what she said to her - ” I told her that “You’re My World” would be my next single in the States. I honestly believe that if I’d sneezed on my next record, then Cilla would have sneezed on hers too. There was no imagination in her recording.” [1]

By: Scott

Scott — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 18:20:27 +0000

I preferred Dionne Warwick’s version ,as it was the original and Dionne had a much better voice and had higher standards!

By: bramble

bramble — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 21:21:35 +0000

How anyone can think Cilla Black’s version is better than Dionne Warwick’s is beyond me -in all her covers, Cilla Black tries to copy Dionne Warwick’s phrasing but dismally fails. She was the flavour of the time because she was Liverpudlian, knew the Beatles and could front Saturday night TV variety shows

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 13:32:00 +0000

Doctor Mod says–

To whomever made the previous comment I can only respond with bewilderment. Dionne Warwick was surely one of the finest singers of the 1960s, and certainly Burt Bacharach choice to sing the song. She set the standard for it.

If you’d rather hear a Brit girl singing it, try Dusty Springfield. I’d give her a slight edge over Dionne–Dusty’s rather more impassioned. But Dusty didn’t have to sound as if she were strangling herself in order to convince us of deep feeling like Cilla did. Let’s face it–Cilla screeched and shouted through most of her material. But then, she never claimed to be a great singer. It was personality that sold her–and a bit of the svengali-treatment from Brian Epstein.

Indeed, Sandie Shaw’s curious cover version with BEF offers a much superior interpretation than Cilla could ever muster.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 27 Mar 2005 21:56:00 +0000

Have you ever listened to Dionne Warwick’s version? It’s total crap compared to Cilla’s. I hear what you’re saying about Cilla’s strident voice - but Dionne’s in comparison is totally insipid!!! Personally, I love the Cilla version. It totally deserved to be the huge hit it was.

Cheers :-)