Forgotten Music - Jackie Deshannon

Jackie DeShannon is a very good songwriter, but perhaps even better as a singer, certainly in her heyday in the 60s and 70s, and my contribution today to Scott Parker’s series of Forgotten Music is a selection of obscure recordings Jackie made that deserve to be remembered.

Her most famous song is What the World Needs Now – definitely not forgotten! It was written by Bacharach and David, originally with Gene Pitney in mind, but Jackie’s version is definitive, especially since it featured in the closing scene of the movie Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice. This success prompted the songwriters to team up with DeShannon on a number of other records. For all her class, she wasn’t really Dionne Warwick, and none was a big hit, but I like, among others, Windows and Doors and Come and Get Me.

In the late 70s, with his career temporarily in the doldrums, Bacharach collaborated with Paul Anka on the soundtrack for a rather strange film called Together. The music is excellent, but again little known. I’m delighted that YouTube has come up with videos of Burt and Jackie performing two of the songs she sang for the film, Find Love and I Don’t Need You Any More. A bit of Jackie trivia from Wikipedia: she was apparently once Elvis Presley’s girlfriend.