This Guy's in Love with You

"This Guy's in Love with You"
Single by Herb Alpert
from the album The Beat of the Brass
B-side "A Quiet Tear" (from The Lonely Bull)
Released April 1968
Format 7"
Genre Pop, Easy Listening
Length 3:55
Label A&M
Songwriter(s) Burt Bacharach, Hal David
Producer(s) Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss

"This Guy's in Love with You" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and recorded by Herb Alpert. Although known primarily for his trumpet playing as the leader of the Tijuana Brass, Alpert sang lead vocals on this solo recording, arranged by Bacharach.

History

As documented in a Biography cable episode featuring Bacharach, the recording originated when Alpert, while visiting at Bacharach's office, asked, "Say, Burt, do you happen to have any old compositions lying around that you and Hal never recorded; maybe one I might be able to use?" Alpert said he made it his practice to ask songwriters that particular question: often a "lost pearl" was revealed. As it happened, Bacharach recalled one, found the lyrics and score sheet in his office filing cabinet, and offered it to Alpert: "Here, Herb ... you might like this one."

Alpert saw the possibilities in the composition for recording it himself. The composition had a recognizable Bacharach-David feel, a spot for a signature horn solo in the bridge and in the fadeout, and it was an easy song to sing within Alpert's vocal range.

Alpert originally sang "This Guy's in Love with You" on a 1968 television special, The Beat of the Brass. In response to numerous viewer telephone calls to the network following the broadcast, Alpert decided that the song should be released as a single recording, and it reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart in June of that year, remaining in the top position for four weeks. It was not only Alpert's first No. 1 single, but it was also the first No. 1 single for his A&M record label. The song also spent ten weeks at No. 1 on the Easy Listening chart. For the single's B-side, Alpert chose "A Quiet Tear" from his first album in 1962, The Lonely Bull.

Eleven years later Alpert became the first (and only) artist to have reached the prized No. 1 position of the Billboard Hot 100 with both a vocal performance and an instrumental performance when his instrumental, "Rise," reached the top of the hit chart.

"This Guy's in Love with You" was succeeded at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 by "Grazing In The Grass," an instrumental by Hugh Masekela. On the Billboard Easy Listening chart, Alpert's song was both preceded and succeeded at No. 1 by instrumental hits from Hugo Montenegro ("The Good, the Bad and the Ugly") and Mason Williams ("Classical Gas"), respectively. Besides this hit in English, he recorded the song in Spanish and Italian.

Female renditions

"This Girl's in Love with You"
Single by Dionne Warwick
B-side "Dream Sweet Dreamer"
Released January 1969 (1969)
Label Scepter Records
Songwriter(s)
Dionne Warwick singles chronology
"Promises, Promises"
(1968)		 "This Girl's in Love with You"
(1969)		 "The April Fools"
(1969)

"Promises, Promises"
(1968)		 "This Guy's in Love with You"
(1969)		 "The April Fools"
(1969)

Several female vocalists have rendered the song as "This Girl's in Love with You", beginning with Dionne Warwick. Her version was released as a single in 1969, reaching No. 7 in the U.S. that same year. It also spent four weeks at No. 2 on the Easy Listening chart.[1] It ranked as the 64th biggest US hit of 1969.[2] As a demo, her version was actually the original as it preceded Alpert's.

The female perspective of the song has also been recorded by Barbara Acklin, Petula Clark, Ella Fitzgerald, Anita Harris, Brenda Lee, Liza Minnelli, Marva Whitney, and Hildegard Knef. More recent versions have included those in 2014 by Frances Madden and Australian singer Sarah Maclaine on her album The Heart of Me. She & Him also performed the song on their release Classics.

Other cover versions

Chart history

Tony Mottola cover
Chart (1968) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary 22
Eydie Gorme cover
Chart (1968) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary 22

References

  1. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 251.
  2. ↑ Top 100 Hits of 1969
  3. ↑ Video on YouTube
  4. ↑ Video on YouTube
  5. ↑ Gordon, Jeremy (September 12, 2014). "Mac DeMarco Covers "This Guy's In Love With You" for Video Introducing New Guitarist". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  6. ↑ Go-Set National Top 40, 24 July 1968
  7. ↑ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – This Guy's in Love with You". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
  8. ↑ Dutch Single Top 100, 3 August 1968
  9. ↑ Flavour of New Zealand, 26 July 1968
  10. ↑ "SA Charts 1965–March 1989". Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  11. ↑ "Official Charts Company". Officialcharts.com. Missing or empty |url= (help); |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  12. ↑ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  13. ↑ David Kent's "Australian Chart Book 1940-1969"
  14. ↑ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". collectionscanada.gc.ca.
  15. ↑ "Top 100 Hits of 1968/Top 100 Songs of 1968". musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  16. ↑ http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/60s_files/1968YESP.html Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 28, 1968
  17. ↑ Go-Set National Top 40, 19 March 1969
  18. ↑ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1969-03-24. Retrieved 2018-07-19.
  19. ↑ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  20. ↑ Cash Box Top 100 Singles, March 22, 1969
  21. ↑ "RPM Top Singles of 1969". Library and Archives Canada. RPM. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
  22. ↑ "Top 100 Hits of 1969/Top 100 Songs of 1969". musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  23. ↑ Top 100 Soul & R&B Singles of 1969

Bibliography

  • The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 6th Edition, 1996
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