"One Less Bell to Answer" is a song written by

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; May 12, 1928 – February 8, 2023) was an American composer, songwriter, record producer, and pianist who is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential figures of 20th-century popular music. Start ...

and

Hal David Harold Lane David (May 25, 1921 – September 1, 2012) was an American lyricist. He was best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach and his association with Dionne Warwick. Early life David was born and raised in New ...

. Originally written in 1967 for

Keely Smith Dorothy Jacqueline Keely (March 9, 1928The reference work ''The Encyclopedia of Native Music: More Than a Century of Recordings from Wax Cylinder to the Internet'' gives Smith's date of birth as March 9, 1932. – December 16, 2017), professio ...

, the song was rediscovered in late 1969 by

Bones Howe Dayton Burr "Bones" Howe (born March 18, 1933) is an American record producer and recording engineer who scored a string of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, often of the sunshine pop genre, starting in 1965 with The Turtles (band), the Turtles cover o ...

, the producer for

the 5th Dimension The 5th Dimension is an American vocal group. Their music encompasses sunshine pop, pop soul, and psychedelic soul. They were an important crossover music act of the 1960s and 1970s, although both praised and derided for their particular music ...

, and the song was included on the group's 1970 debut album for

Bell Records Bell Records was an American record label founded in 1952 in New York City by Arthur Shimkin, the owner of the children's record label Golden Records, and initially a unit of Pocket Books, after the rights to the name were acquired from Benn ...

, ''

Portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better r ...

''. Lead vocals on the single were sung by

Marilyn McCoo Marilyn McCoo (born September 30, 1943) is an American singer, actress, and television presenter, who is best known for being the lead female vocalist in the group the 5th Dimension as well as hosting the 1980s music television show '' Solid Gol ...

. "One Less Bell to Answer" was a

platinum record Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music Sound recording and reproduction, recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video ...

. The song peaked at No.2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 behind " My Sweet Lord" by

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

for the weeks of December 26, 1970 and January 2, 1971. On other US charts, it went to No.1 on the

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

chart, as well as No.4 on the

Best Selling Soul Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 po ...

chart.

Background

Burt Bacharach and Hal David disagree on the origin of "One Less Bell to Answer". Bacharach told Paul Zollo, the author of ''Songwriters on Songwriting'', that the song was inspired by an incident that occurred with his then-girlfriend, actress

Angie Dickinson Angie Dickinson (born Angeline Brown; September 30, 1931) is an American retired actress. She began her career on television, appearing in many Anthology series#Television, anthology series during the 1950s, before gaining her breakthrough rol ...

. "That was kind of a freak that it happened. The title was born from working on 'What's New Pussycat', and Angie Dickinson was living with me in London. A doorbell rang, and I think she made the comment, 'One less bell to answer, when I get out of here.' It was pretty intense, and it bothered her. We weren't married yet but we were living together. I think Hal heard her say, 'One less bell to answer'. He thought, that's a good song title and we wrote it." In the liner notes of Bacharach's "The Look of Love" box set, Hal David described a different inspiration for the song: "Burt and I were in London working on a project, and I was invited to a dinner party. The hostess said to me, 'When you arrive, don't ring the bell, just come in. It'll make one less bell for me to answer.' I was wise enough to know it was a good title!"

Personnel

According to the AFM contract sheets, the following musicians played on the track. *

Hal Blaine Hal Blaine (born Harold Simon Belsky; February 5, 1929 – March 11, 2019) was an American drummer and session musician, thought to be among the most recorded studio drummers in the music industry, claiming over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles. ...

: Drums, percussion *

Larry Knechtel Lawrence William Knechtel (August 4, 1940 – August 20, 2009) was an American keyboard player and bassist who was a member of the Wrecking Crew, a collection of Los Angeles–based session musicians who worked with such renowned artists as Sim ...

: Keyboards *

Joe Osborn Joe Osborn (August 28, 1937 – December 14, 2018Tommy Tedesco: Guitars *Gary Illingworth * Fred Tackett: Guitars * Jimmy Rowles: Keyboards, Piano *Robert Alcivar * Bill Holman: Saxophone *Sid Sharp *William Kurasch *Ralph Schaeffer *Arnold Belnick *Assa Drori *Tibor Zelig *Bernard Kundell *Henry Ferber *Robert Konrad *

Bud Shank Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank Jr. (May 27, 1926 – April 2, 2009) was an American alto saxophonist and flautist. He rose to prominence in the early 1950s playing lead alto and flute in Stan Kenton's Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra and thro ...

: Flute, Alto Saxophone * Jim Horn: Saxophone * Emil Richards: Vibraphone, Percussion *William Hinshaw *Jim Decker *Richard Perissi

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Use in media

The 5th Dimension version of the song was prominently featured at the same time in an episode of the

Robert Wagner Robert John Wagner Jr. (born February 10, 1930) is an American actor. He is known for starring in the television shows ''It Takes a Thief (1968 TV series), It Takes a Thief'' (1968–1970), ''Switch (American TV series), Switch'' (1975–1978), ...

TV series '' It Takes a Thief''.

Other versions

Bacharach himself included a version of it as the closing number, with Cissy Houston singing, on his own 1971 eponymous A&M album.

Rosemary Clooney Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 – June 29, 2002) was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the song "Come On-a My House", which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-a-Me (Ba-Ba-Baciami Piccin ...

had a national

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit s ...

chart record of this song in 1968 (US No.34).

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand ( ; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, songwriter, producer, and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success across multiple fields of entertainment, being the ...

partially covered the song in the medley "One Less Bell to Answer/ A House Is Not a Home" on her 1971 album '' Barbra Joan Streisand''. Also in 1971, Rita Reys recorded the song for her album ''Rita Reys Sings Burt Bacharach'', which won her an Edison Award.

Dionne Warwick Marie Dionne Warwick ( ; born Marie Dionne Warrick; December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. During her career, Warwick has won many awards, including six Grammy Awards. She has been inducted into the Hollywood Wa ...

recorded a version of the song on her 1972

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

album ''Dionne''; Bacharach and David produced their track for Warwick. Another 1972 cover was by

Shirley Bassey Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer. Known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the James Bond music, theme songs to three James Bond films - the only artist to officially perform more than o ...

on her album '' I Capricorn''.

Vikki Carr Florencia Vicenta de Casillas-Martínez Cardona (born July 19, 1940), known by her stage name Vikki Carr, is an American vocalist. She has a singing career that spans more than five decades. Born in El Paso, Texas, to Mexican parents, she has ...

, Michael Ball,

Vanessa Williams Vanessa Lynn Williams (born March 18, 1963) is an American singer, actress, model, producer and dancer. She gained recognition as the first Black woman to win the Miss America title when she was crowned Miss America 1984. She would later Vanes ...

from '' Everlasting Love'' (2005), Trijntje Oosterhuis, and

Sheryl Crow Sheryl Suzanne Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. She is noted for her Optimism, optimistic and Idealism, idealistic subject matter, and incorporation of genres including Rock music, rock, Po ...

also have performed covers, and the song (specifically the Streisand medley version) was performed by Matthew Morrison and

Kristin Chenoweth Kristin Dawn Chenoweth (; born Kristi Dawn Chenoweth; July 24, 1968)Kristin Cheno ...

in an episode of the American television series ''Glee''. In 2012 Steps covered the song on their album ''Light Up the World''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:One Less Bell To Answer 1967 songs 1970 singles The 5th Dimension songs Songs with music by Burt Bacharach Songs with lyrics by Hal David Songs about loneliness Torch songs Bell Records singles