From the Library of Congress Archives: A Conversation with Burt Bacharach

The music division of Library of Congress has done several "A Conversation With..." pieces on famous musicians, lyricists and contributors to not only the music scene but also the musical theatre community. In this video the Library of Congress sits down with Gershwin prize winner, musician and lyricist and over all legendary man BURT BACKARACH.

Burt Backarach sat down with the Library of Congress to discuss his song writing process and his impact on the musical theatre community. He talked about his process and writing down little tunes wherever he goes. Backarach says, "It's definetly in my process. If it's not on an airplane, if it's not on music paper, which it rarely is, then it's on a cocktail napkin, half of a page of a legal pad. Borrow it from somebody and I'll just draw a staff and put five lines."

Backarach dives deep into scoring movies and writing his music. He talks about writing lyrics down and simply dumping them later, however those intital lyrics are where the final product stems from.

He also doesn't want to exhaust his audience with a song. He wants it to be enjoyable. Bacharach says, "I am my own judge, not the audience out there. They may get to judge the work, but it's got to pass, it's got to make it by me. I'm questioning it."

For the entire hour long conversation with Burt Backarach click below and be sure to check out more "A Conversation With..." pieces as part of the Library of Congress.