Throwback: Happy 97th Birthday, Burt Bacharach!

We’ve somehow made it to May y’all. 5 months in to a brutal slog of a calendar year. I’m exhausted and fed up. And I’m sure most of y’all out there feel the same. The terrible thing is that my sense is that things are going to get a lot worse. We’re in hell. 

But there’s music, art, small pleasures, and every day joys. We’ll cling to that as much as possible. 

• The legendary godfather of soul, the Soul Brother #1, James Brown was born 92 years ago on May 3
• Frankie Valli celebrates his 91st birthday on May 3
• The late and supremely great soul artist Sharon Jones was born on this day 69 years ago on May 4
• The legendary jazz bassist Ron Carter celebrated his 88th birthday on May 4
• Motley Crüe co-founder Mick Mars celebrated his 74th birthday on May 4
• Tammy Wynette, one of the most beloved singer/songwriters in country was born 83 years ago on May 5
• Echo & The Bunnymen‘s Ian McCullouch celebrated his 66th birthday on May 5
• The Talking Heads’ and Tom Tom Club’s Chris Frantz celebrates his 74th birthday today.
• Van Halen co-founder, drummer — and most important Eddie’s brother, Alex Van Halen celebrated his 72nd birthday on May 8 
• Earth, Wind and Fire‘s Philip Bailey celebrated his 74th birthday on May 8
• Depeche Mode frontman Dave Gahan celebrated his 63rd birthday on May 9
• U2‘s Bono celebrated his 65th! — yes, 65th!! — birthday on May 10 
• The Afghan Whigs,’ The Gutter Twins‘ and The Twilight Singers‘  
• Greg Dulli, one of the most criminally underrated rock singer/songwriters celebrates his 60th — yes, y’all 60th! — birthday on May 11
• One of the British Invasion’s most soulful and distinctive vocalists, The Animals and War frontman Eric Burdon celebrated his 84th birthday on May 11

Burt Bacharach was born 97 years ago today. He wrote or cowrote some of the most gorgeous, endearing and beloved pop songs ever written in my book. I adore his work with Hal David and Dionne Warwick — but he wrote a ton of other songs, including my favorite Carpenters song ever, “Close To You.”

Happy birthday, Burt! Happy birthday, wherever you are!