Saturday Night Studio – Walk On By
The song “Walk On By” was released in 1964, sung by Dionne Warwick. It was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, both part of the famous Brill Building group.
Her voice from 1:40 to 1:53 is a thing of wonder.
It spawned a large, nay, ridiculous number of cover versions, ranging from a 12 minute odyssey by Isaac Hayes…
…then from funk to punk with the Stranglers…
… and a version by Richard X with vocals by Deborah Evans that sounds like it was recorded next to a beachside video arcade…
{yeah, I dig that one]
… and back to radio-friendly yet very cool format by Seal in 2005 –
A very long list of covers can be found here.
Posted on August 29, 2015, in ♫ ♪ ♫, Fun Stuff and tagged fun stuff, music, radio, Saturday Night Studio. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.
nightskyradio 
Ah, an oldie but goodie. Yes, she had quite the voice.
The Richard X version is… different. Not bad, just not the same thematically. Has an almost dystopian/cyber-punk vibe to it. Blade Runner, I guess.
And Seal does a good job. Modern feel but true to the original.
Yeah, I can feel a little Blade Runner/cyberpunk dystopia in the Richard X version. But mostly it reminds me of the video arcades I frequented in the 80s. I swear that’s the sound of the spaceship firing in Asteroids. That and all the coins dropping
I’m not sure, but I think it might have sampled the piano riff from the original version.
Here’s one by Seal that I’ve always liked.
Gotta wonder what’s in that fattie he’s holding at the start of the video.
Great blast from the past!
I can’t think of Isaac Hayes anymore without thinking of Bart & Lisa doing the “Shaft” theme with Karaoke: