Burt Bachrach's "Send Me No Flowers" - Great vehicle for Classical Girls' Group smash

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Burt Bachrach's and Hal David's "Send Me No Flowers" would have been a great song for Classical Brill Building Girls' Group smash hit, sung by The Shirelles, Chiffons, Cookies/Honey Bees, Orchids, Charmettes, Blossoms, Crystals, Victorians, Lollipops, Buttons/Alder Ray, Royalettes, Cinderellas, Butterflys, Jelly Beans, Charmers, Chantels, Jades, Pandoras, etc.

I only have heard the Doris Day version [[movie theme for her film of that title). Usually, I think her singing is very bland. But, even with her bland, but nice singing, the strength of this well-crafted song comes through. Sung by one of the great groups listed above, it would have been a big hit. For whatever reason I have never seen any version of this song done by anyone other than Doris Day.

Does anyone know if a girls' group version was released?

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Here's Doris Day's version. I am surprised that Bachrach, a producer and arranger with Flo Greenberg's Scepter-Wand Records, didn't have The Shirelles record it. I admit that the Doris Day version is a little "corny". But, I would have recorded it with the regular treatment the New York Brill Building girls' group producers for Don Kirschner's Dimension Records, Screen Gems/Colpix, Laurie Records gave, using Gary Sherman's orchestra, and using the baritone sax that The Cookies' and Little Eva's recordings had. I would have sped up the tempo, as well, to the point where would have sounded something like The Cinderellas on Dimension.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYyNq75Fg-U

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No mid-sixties Girls' Group fans here? No one has any ideas about this song? I think it's Bachrach's best that could fit that genre. There's a similar thread to this in The Clubhouse, about Frankie Avalon's "Venus". THAT thread has tonnes of posts!

I remember reading somewhere that HDH sometimes used movie titles for inspiration to write a song, for example “Ask Any Girl”. Perhaps their own “Send Me No Flowers” not only used the Doris Day title but took inspiration from the song itself because it did/does have girl group flavor.

On another thread recently I was discussing Day’s song “Moving Over Darling”. Producer and co-writer Terry Melcher [[Day’s son) brought in Phil Spector alumnus Jack Nitzsche to do the arrangement and The Blossoms to do the background. It clearly features a wall of sound nod, and IMO could have been a good song for a more pop oriented girl group like Diana Ross & The Supremes.

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Originally Posted by sophisticated_soul

On another thread recently I was discussing Day’s song “Moving Over Darling”. Producer and co-writer Terry Melcher [[Day’s son) brought in Phil Spector alumnus Jack Nitzsche to do the arrangement and The Blossoms to do the background. It clearly features a wall of sound nod, and IMO could have been a good song for a more pop oriented girl group like Diana Ross & The Supremes.

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I listened to the song, and I can hear Jack Nitzsche's arrangement, and The Blossoms sound good. But the song does nothing for me. It has no nice hooks like "Send Me No Flowers". It has a couple changes, but is really dull, and not an inventive tune. I don't think anything can be done to make it sound good. I don't like it's tune or structure. I guess it's just a matter of taste. I think that "Send Me No Flowers" would have been a fabulous Philles/Dimension style Girl's Group hit with any of the really good groups/ lead singers singing [[Darlene Love, Darlene or Earl- Jean McCrea, Alder Ray Mathis, Diane Christian, Ramona King, Shirley Alston, Cathy Saint, Margaret Mandolph, La La Brooks, Barbara English, Kendra Spotswood/Sandie Sheldon, etc.)., using any of the good Soul/Girl's Group producers and arrangers.

Connie Francis also sang one Soul style Girl's group style song, and it sounded quite good, even with her MOR/Pop delivery. But, I'd rather have heard that one with Van McCoy or Jerry Ragovoy arranging, and a group with a strong lead, like The Blossoms, Butterflys, The Sweet Things, The Delicates, etc. singing it.

Move Over Darling is my favorite Doris Day song!:)

It looks like neither song was inspired by the other. Diana Ross & The Supremes recorded HDH’s “Send Me No Flowers” May 4th 1964 [[and it remained vaulted until 1986) while the Bacharach/David “Send Me No Flowers” debuted with the movie October 14th 1964.

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Originally Posted by sophisticated_soul

It looks like neither song was inspired by the other. Diana Ross & The Supremes recorded HDH’s “Send Me No Flowers” May 4th 1964 [[and it remained vaulted until 1986) while the Bacharach/David “Send Me No Flowers” debuted with the movie October 14th 1964.

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I didn't think so, as the words and melody are totally different. I can't imagine that HDH were inspired to write the song from the film title alone, because they would have known that Doris Day sang the title song to the film, meaning there might be confusion between 2 songs out in the same year with the same title. The timing is weird because the film people had there title before HDH, as they started making the film one year earlier than the release, but HDH would know about the film until its release. So, neither knew about each others. And, as HDH's was not an "A" side, there was really no need to change the title after the fact.

Robb, I can totally hear this song being done by a girl group. I am surprised that it didn't happen at some point. That said, I don't remember ever hearing this song before! It certainly contaons a few Bacharach touches that identify the song as his. I appreciate Doris Day and this is a cute version totally befitting a 1960's movie theme recording. Would have been nice to hear the Funk Brothers soul it out a little bit.

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Originally Posted by robb_k

Attachment 12196
Burt Bachrach's and Hal David's "Send Me No Flowers" would have been a great song for Classical Brill Building Girls' Group smash hit, sung by The Shirelles, Chiffons, Cookies/Honey Bees, Orchids, Charmettes, Blossoms, Crystals, Victorians, Lollipops, Buttons/Alder Ray, Royalettes, Cinderellas, Butterflys, Jelly Beans, Charmers, Chantels, Jades, Pandoras, etc.

I only have heard the Doris Day version [[movie theme for her film of that title). Usually, I think her singing is very bland. But, even with her bland, but nice singing, the strength of this well-crafted song comes through. Sung by one of the great groups listed above, it would have been a big hit. For whatever reason I have never seen any version of this song done by anyone other than Doris Day.

Does anyone know if a girls' group version was released?

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I don't know if a "girl group" rendition of Doris Day's "Send Me No Flowers" was ever released but I do agree with you that it would've been a good choice for any of the '60s girl groups.

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Originally Posted by jack020

Move Over Darling is my favorite Doris Day song!:)

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Hi Jack, I'll take her version of "Fly Me To The Moon." I heard a high resolution version of her singing it on a 3D movie titled "Legends of Flight." Her version is a very nice production. Too bad they only used a short piece of the song.

By the way, I like the song "Send Me No Flowers." Never heard it till just now. It wasn't bland to me.

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Originally Posted by Motown Eddie

I don't know if a "girl group" rendition of Doris Day's "Send Me No Flowers" was ever released but I do agree with you that it would've been a good choice for any of the '60s girl groups.

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The Supremes did a song with that title: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmSUgF-dX9Q. It might be a different song though. The music matches to a point the lyrics are a bit different. Otherwise the beat in the Supremes production is taken up a notch in comparison. If anyone else finds obscure Barcharach/David tunes please post them at SDF. I've always been interested in their work.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mxtqhqbSZA

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Originally Posted by robb_k

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mxtqhqbSZA

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Thanks Robb.