Cilla Black – ‘Anyone Who Had A Heart’

20 March 1964

‘Anyone Who Had A Heart’ is the first Irish number one single to be performed by a woman. Unfortunately, that woman isn’t Dionne Warwick, who had the original US hit with this song. Instead, before any release on this side of the pond, future TV matchmaker Cilla Black (real name: Cilla White) nips in with her George Martin-produced version that tops the UK and Irish charts, to the everlasting chagrin of Warwick – and pop fans. The happy-go-lucky Merseybeat milieu that helped Cilla to local stardom means her ‘Anyone Who Had A Heart’ sounds provincial by design, especially the parish-hall piano, banshee-wailing backing vocalists, and Cilla’s nasally, hectoring shout of the “Knowing I love you” pre-chorus. Martin’s expert production merely gives us an expertly-produced inferior.

Another notable landmark: ‘Anyone Who Had A Heart’ is the first Irish number one single to be written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. (I see I can still type their names while I genuflect.) Dionne Warwick’s version is produced by Bacharach, she being the pair’s in-house muse, and hers sounds rich and sumptuous. Such is Warwick’s intuitive reading of Bacharach’s complex melodies and David’s drama-charged lyrics that you don’t notice the multiple time changes in the chorus, nor her smooth transition through the song’s emotional gears. But here I am talking about Warwick’s original of this song again instead of Cilla’s facsimile.

Surprisingly, given they were the greatest pop songwriters of that or any other decade, only one other Bacharach & David composition will go to number one in Ireland during the ’60s. It won’t be by Dionne Warwick but relax: it won’t be by Cilla either. And to save you shouting out the obvious but wrong answer, Aretha Franklin’s ‘I Say A Little Prayer’—also a cover version because also first a US chart hit for Dionne Warwick—doesn’t even get into the Irish top ten. Nor is it one by that other supreme interpreter of Bacharach & David masterpieces: the Irish diaspora’s greatest pop star, Dusty Springfield. And here I am yet again, talking about Dionne and Aretha and Dusty instead of Cilla. You get the point.