Main Index > Songs By Date > 2003 > I Just Have To Breathe
 
I Just Have To Breathe
Music written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David

Released in 2003 on the CD Album Thank You For The Years.

On the sleeve note for the
Thank you for the Years album Shirley says "It's a first for me to record with just a piano. Burt Bacharach has written such beautiful lyrics to this song."

This song was originally a hit for Dionne Warwick on her 1972 album "Dionne", and has also been performed by Teish O'Day in 2000 (This version can be found on the Burt Bacharach/Hal David tribute DVD).
 
Burt Bacharach

The composer Burt Bacharach is
one of the most accomplished popular composers of the 20th Century. In the 1960s and '70s, Bacharach was a dominant figure in popular music, writing an amazing 52 Top 40 hits. In terms of compositional sophistication, Bacharach's songs stood apart from much of the pop music of the era. Bacharach songs typically boasted memorable melodies, unconventional time signatures and striking chord changes and combined elements of jazz, bossa nova, traditional pop and rock into a sound that was undeniably contemporary. Lyricist Hal David, Bacharach's primary collaborator, provided Bacharach's music with Tin Pan Alley craft and melodrama. David's unsentimental, bittersweet lyrics offered a striking contrast to Bacharach's soaring melodies. While Bacharach's name in the 1970s became synonymous with elevator music, due in large part to the sheer familiarity of it, a closer listening suggests that his meticulously crafted, technically sophisticated music is anything but easy listening.

External Link:
Bacharach Online
 
Hal David

Co-written by Hal David, details of this musical partnership can be found on the Discoveries article from 1997. Hal David is a world class lyricist whose million sellers include such standards at "Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head", "This Guy's in Love with You", "I'll Never Fall in Love Again", "Do you Know the Way to San Jose", "Walk on By", "What the World Needs Now is Love", "I Say a Little Prayer", "Always Something There to Remind Me", "One Less Bell to Answer", "Anyone Who Had a Heart" and many others.

External Link: Official Hal David Website

 
Lyrics

There are things that I did long ago
That I don't do anymore
We grow out of things
Each day is different than the day before
And yet to love you
I just have to breathe

There are needs we have when we are young
And discard as we mature
Time can change so much
The only certain thing is nothing sure
And yet to love you
I just have to breathe

It's not an easy place
This world we face
But I'll face anything
As long as that warm morning sun
Will always bring me you

There's a time for everything we do
When it's over we move on
Just true love remains
And I'll still love you when all else is gone
For me to love you
I just have to breathe

In this world where nothing stays the same
Stay with me

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