I've alway had a thing for Burt 'n' Hal (Bacharach - David), not just this one, but also Dionne Warwick's first two hits, "Don't Make Me Over" and "Walk On By"* (among many others, but this one obviously stands out as a true outlier in every possible way, and there's so much I need to know: how did Burt write this one, which seems to have no resemblance to anything before or after it, whether in Burt's catalog or not? It's hilarious, but not jokey or corny at all, just... weird! And I've read that it was Burt's idea to have Tom Jones sing it and thinking of who was the perfect singer must have given him some real pause for thought- howelse was in the running, and how did he light on the perfect dude? Talk about a conversation I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for, Burt explaining to Tom why he was the perfect guy for it. And then add the ending of the song, which is the singer singing the word "nose", all by himself, ever so soulfully? Was that a souce of contention in the studio? Easy to imagine Tom, having been a really good sport about everything else, saying, "really?! "Nose", all by myself? That's the ending? Really??!"
It's just so brilliant, and such a non-sequitor in so many ways. It turned up in a lot of crazy places, and was covered by both Barbra Streisand and the Wailers, among others (the Wailers version os really fun)...
We did it a handful of times back then- how could we not? Wish just once we had shattered a big wine bottle properly for that intro...