Burt Bacharach, Nicest Man on Earth, Gets Cranky…

…and I’ll give you one guess who made him feel that way:

Pop composer Burt Bacharach has written his first lyrics in a career spanning nearly 50 years, expressing his disillusionment over the war in Iraq.

The 77-year-old, who wrote songs such as Walk On By with lyricist Hal David, has written a number of political songs on his latest album At This Time.

"I had to do it. This is very personal to me," he said.

[…]

He also expresses frustration with US political leaders.

"You could say 'how does a guy who has written love songs his entire life suddenly decide to rock the boat?'" he said.

"I thought that was very important because I couldn't have somebody else write these lyrics."

This is a man who wrote love songs while Nixon was in office.

(Weird aside: My godfather is a doppelganger for Burt Bacharach. One time, the car driving in front of him skidded off the road and into a ditch where it flipped over. He pulled over quickly and ran down the embankment, where he found a woman trapped inside the car and pulled her out. “Are you okay?” he asked her. She blinked, dazed, and said, “Did anyone ever tell you that you look just like Burt Bacharach?”)

Hat tip to Shaker Deborah for the story link.