Songs with Earlier Histories Than the Hit Version

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My Little Red Book

First recorded by Manfred Mann (USA #124 1965).
Other hit version by Love (US #52 1966).

From the wiki: “In the wake of the British Invasion, Burt Bacharach (‘Message to Michael‘, ‘Reach Out for Me‘, ‘What the World Needs Now is Love’) began working hands-on with British beat groups of the era such as Manfred Mann.

“‘My Little Red Book’ was composed by Bacharach with lyrics by his songwriting partner, Hal David, as part of the film score for the 1965 film What’s New Pussycat?, and recorded by the group Manfred Mann. Keyboardist Mann recalls having great difficultly playing the deceivingly simple but frustrating piano part written by Bacharach (a notorious perfectionist) which led to Bacharach actually becoming the (uncredited) pianist on the final recording.

“Released as a single in the US, it “Bubbled under” the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #124. (However, the film’s title song, What’s New Pussycat?, became a US #3/UK #11 hit sung by Tom Jones and was nominated for a 1966 Academy Award.)

“In 1966, the song became a garage rock standard when covered by the Los Angeles based group Love, where it reached #52 in the US national charts, charting high enough to land Love a spot on American Bandstand. (Love’s recording received a negative review from Bacharach: that the group had altered his original chord changes.) The single did not chart in the UK but did receive airplay on the offshore pirate radio stations Radio London and Radio Caroline.

“Among the many covers of ‘My Little Red Book’ produced over the years, one standout performance was broadcast in 1998 for the Sessions At West 54th program series on PBS by Elvis Costello (a longtime Bacharach-David fan) and Burt Bacharach.”

Love, “My Little Red Book” (1966):

Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach, “My Little Red Book” (1998):

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