Noel Gallagher’s duet with Burt Bacharach has gone viral

Virgin Radio

13 Feb 2023, 08:25

Recorded at the Royal Festival Hall in 1996, it's being rediscovered once more.

Music fans have been rediscovering Noel Gallagher‘s nineties duet with Burt Bacharach following the death of the legendary songwriter last week.

Bacharach - co-writer (often with lyricist Hal David) of beloved classics like 'This Guy's in Love with You' (1968), 'Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head' (1969), '(They Long to Be) Close to You' (1970), 'Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)' (1981), and 'That's What Friends Are For' - passed away of natural causes at his home in Los Angeles, California on Wednesday (February 8th).

Bacharach was 94 years old.

Gallagher was one of the many artists to pay tribute to the Kansas City born composer on social media. “RIP Maestro”, he wrote on Instagram. “It was a pleasure to have known you. NGX.”

But back in 1996, at the height of Britpop and with Oasis riding high, Gallagher and Bacharach shared the stage at the Royal Festival Hall in London where they performed a joint rendition of ‘This Guy’s In Love With You’, a song best known for being performed by Herb Alpert. The pair were backed by an orchestra and the cover was aired on Radio 2.

During an interview in 1998, guitarist Gallagher explained that Oasis’ 1994 b-side ‘Half The World Away’ had been inspired by the song in question.

“It’s Burt Bacharach,” he said. “I’d always liked the chords to ‘This Guy’s In Love With You’ and somebody showed me how to play it on the guitar, so that’s where I pinched the chords from.”

Gallagher added in a later interview (via the Irish Examiner): “It sounds exactly the same. I’m surprised [Bacharach] hasn’t sued me yet.”