Alfie
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Added: 5 years ago
From: RenoJones
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  • She was the voice of the generation...particularly during the time of her pop hits, so many memories flood my brain of my childhood when I hear her, because her melancholic voice was always in the background like a veil layering timeless and happy memories of growing up and discovery during the 60's.

  • please don't compare this legend to random singers

  • An angel

  • LOL... They aren't running for President man. They both can kick my ass on any Karaoke Night. G-d Bless them for their amazing renditions.

  • Perfect song...perfect performer...pure art.

  • The best ever. such a crystal voice as we will never find again! I miss her songs

    already.

  • One of the most beautiful songs ever written. Dionne, embraced the tune and sentiment perfectly. :)

    

  • One of the most distinctive voices of our time. Beautiful rendition of the song.

  • You are so correct...NO ONE SOUNDS LIKE HER. What a blessing to have had

    her here to entertain and inspire us. I have sung professionally and would have loved to have sung with her...She has been my inspiration...as well as many others I'm sure. Don't you wish we had music like this today?! There is nothing but CRAP everywhere you turn. And I agree...Cilla Black's version does not even come close.

  • You are so correct...NO ONE SOUNDS LIKE HER. What a blessing to have had

    her here to entertain and inspire us. I have sung professionally and would have loved to have sung with her...She has been my inspiration...as well as many others I'm sure. Don't you wish we had music like this today?! There is nothing but CRAP everywhere you turn.

  • Classic. Nobody sounds like her.

  • Heard Mrs. Warwick sing live--what a blessing!

  • Goosebumps!!!!!

  • Burt and Dionne, ....such a perfect duo of expression. He created magic with lyrics and melody and she was not only his muse but ONLY Ms. Dionne could deliver vocally whatever Burt created on the page. They had something that's quite rare together.

  • Oh Dionne, I am so charmed by this profound and inspirational performance of yours. I keep wanting to see it again & lucky to have it on the youtube. I can only imagine what it would have been like to see it live. I transcend watching here. Your exquisite vocal skill, the emotion, the feeling, it is both nostalgic and uplifting & you bring the message of the beautiful lyrics forth so mysteriously & articulately & the arrangement also just blows me away, i bet you had to do with it. God Bless u

  • This will always be a classic, and it is a damn shame that we are in the times we are now in because times were so much easier and better then and we can only wish we were back in the days.

  • She is beautiful and AMAZING-besides lyrics Dionne will never die.....as a kid I saw Valleyof the Dolls---and her voice is what i remember....I love her....

  • Thank you Dionne Warwick,

    For being the angel that you are. God has blessed you with a special gift and we are all blessed be able to hear and see your exceptional talent as a singer and we are also blessed by the good human being that you are.

    Sincerely, Stathi

  • Isn't Dionne Whitney Huston's Aunty ?

  • @markanthony1920 dionne is whitney's cousin...

  • @markanthony1920 dionne is whitney's cousin...

  • No one! Absolutely no one can render tears in my eyes like Dionne singing about Alfie!

  • fucking camera GETTING CLOSER AND CLOSER MADE ME FEEL LIKE IM GONNA GET INHALED.

  • thank you

  • Dionne Warwick, you are the best singer ever to grace this planet. I love you and I love this song!

  • Comment removed

  • @salty1954

    I will have to agree with that statement. True talent is not sen or heard anymore. All the singers todaY LOOK LIKE 2 DOLLAR WHORES

  • Sheer beauty unlike todays trashy medis whores

  • Thank you Lord for this song and this Voice......such great harmonies I love it so much!

  • perfect.....

  • does anyone knows if it exists an mp3 file of this performance? I searched on itunes but none corresponds to this! when and where is she singing it?

  • absolutely brilliant

  • Absolute genius on the part of Dionne (with equal credit to Bacharach and David). It's so incredible to think that the category of pop music used to include stunning performances like this one.

    I'm curious - what is this video from? There are so few videos of Dionne singing during her prime in the 60s, so this is truly a gem. Hopefully there are more clips out there waiting to be discovered!

  • @MikeyG0901

    This is taped concert footage from the mid 1970's. If I remember seeing the year listing correctly on videos that have since been taken down, this is from 1975.

  • ****Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick go together like peanut butter 'n jelly!!!**

  • @russell0769- opting for Cavern slag Cilla Black's version to soulful legend Dionne Warwick's is ridiculous and plain stupid!FACT!

  • Awesome, one of the best pieces

  • beautiful song!

  • A truly beautiful song, delivered perfectly by one of the greatest of all time. If I wanted to quibble with the amazing lyrics, I would change the line that suggests that cruel people are stronger than kind ones. Nothing could be further from the truth.

  • @KantEsKapeU But that IS exactly what the song is saying.. The line about cruelty is essential within the song in order to negate it's alleged truth. It's what the whole film is about. Alfie is manipulative and emotionally cruel, but he cannot let love enter his heart, so he is nothing.

  • @Lytton333 You and I know this to be true, but sadly, we're living in an age where kindness, generosity and compassion are all too often mistaken for weakness, naivete or stupidity. Worse yet, greed is written off as ambition and callous cruelty is seen as a sign of strength. It's a case of rewriting the Golden Rule to read, "Do unto others before they do unto you".

  • @KantEsKapeU it's true but those who live with such low values are not served well by their lack of character in old age while those who developed character are rewarded with a certain beauty and peace in those golden years. in other words, time will tell.

  • This live version is so personal and heartfelt

  • wow, instead of the folks simply enjoying a beautiful song, there acting like children. Shut the hell up

  • my name is Alfie.... :|

  • Good. But cant touch Cilla`s version.

  • @russell0769

    LOL.. Dionne's version is a million times better

  • @shootforthemoon89

    I totally disagree. Dionne is clearly a better singer technically, but Cilla could more than hold a tune in those days. The charm of Cillas version is that its meant to be just a normal girl singing about a normal guy. Its a British girl singing about a British girl. Her version is innocent and unpretentious. She is singing her thoughts out loud. Dionne is performing it. Cilla lives and breathes it from her innocent 60s heart. Its about more than vocal performance.

  • @russell0769

    Cilla's version sounds so crude and brash, she just sings the words while Dionne actually interprets the songs with sweeping nuances around every line. I understand what you mean by " singing her thoughts out loud" but most of the forgotten covers of Alfie tend to have that mood while the most popular ones are more subdue and layered. Even take a listen of Streisands Cover, much more thoughtful than Cilla's.

  • @shootforthemoon89

    I see we arnt going to agree on this one. Your sweeping nuances to me are just showing off and making it more about the singer. Burt Bacharach himself conducted the Cilla version. Its a simple song about innocent times . The singers you mention are American belters. Its meant to just be about a young girl singing a song. Asking a question. When it becomes all about the singer, it loses its charm and its heart. Like I said, Dionne is great. But this is Cillas song. 

  • @russell0769

    What are you talking about, Dionne doesn't really belt in this song...... " sweeping nuances" is what a capable singer of Dionne's caliber is able to manifest through her singing, she's actually harmonizing with Burt's instrumentals while Cilla screams over them. You say that Dionne is showing off, how? Cilla is the one singing with all her might and force . Most would agree with me that Cilla sounds awful and just sounds like a cat in a pool of water with all her shrieking.

  • @shootforthemoon89

    No need to get childish about it. I sensed that any kind of intelligent debate with you would be unlikely after you decided to LOL at my first comment, in which I said that this version was good anyway. Grow up. learn to listen, interpret, and appreciate. Most of all, drop your superior attitudinal and learn not to LOL at people who have a different opinion to your own. This is a working class song sang in a working class style by a working class girl.

  • @russell0769

    "This is a working class song sang in a working class style by a working class girl. "... what does that have to do with anything? is Dionne some uppity business class girl?...... Dionne's version is the best cover and has been since she recorded it in one take, also the best selling and was even inducted into he Grammys halll of fame. Its funny, over 20 people had recorded it before she did but her reading is considering the definitive version by everyone including Burt

  • @shootforthemoon89

    What has that got to do with anything? That has to do with everything. Its called interpretation of the song in the context in which it was written. Now please run along. I offered my opinion politely, and respectfully of Dionnes version. No ones life is at stake over this. I like Cilla, you like Dionne. Both great versions of a brilliant song. Everyone wins. What`s your problem with that?

  • @russell0769

    Please Define " Working class" and how it pertains to this song? Because I do not understand what your getting at. I dont think you've given a sound opinion on Dionne's version but rather a murky response that I cant really figure out. Plus, I dont understand why your getting so defensive instead of answering my questions you seem to boil over.

    Its fair if you prefer Cilla's cover more because the way it makes you feel but just remember that Dionne's reading is superior in every

  • @shootforthemoon89

    Im saying no more about this to you. I find you too rude. If you want to win, then I will hand it to you. I posted a comment. You disagreed. Anything else is recovering what we have already said to each other. I havnt boiled over. In time and maturity, you may understand my comments. Goodnight.

  • @russell0769

    Too rude? I asking for feed back and your unable to respond back instead to whimper and throw in the towel. This is not a sparring match but a discussion, but you think otherwise. LOL.... I bet your from the UK.... how old are you?

  • @shootforthemoon89

    LOL isnt discussing. LOL is rude and patronising and juvenile. And now derogatory assumptions about nationality. Out of respect for this page and its users, I have no more to say on this. I repeat my first comment, that I enjoyed this but prefer Cilla. I dont have to explain myself further than that.

  • single way. Vocally and musically they are different plains. Cilla barks the song with no sense of direction whatsoever while Dionne sings it gracefully and takes you on a journey of questions. The song isn't meant to be sung in full throttle, like many of Burt's compositions. Compare there versions of " Anyone who had a heart", again Dionne is shoulders above Cilla. Cilla is a competent singer but Dionne is a songstress

  • single way. Vocally and musically they are different plains. Cilla barks the song with no sense of direction whatsoever while Dionne sings it gracefully and takes you on a journey of questions. The song isn't meant to be sung in full throttle, like many of Burt's compositions. Compare there versions of " Anyone who had a heart", again Dionne is shoulders above Cilla. Cilla is a competent singer but Dionne is a songstress

  • @shootforthemoon89: i'm with you...Dionne's subtle & vocally controlled version soars in the stratosphere, while Cilla's version, though competant, is somewhat frenetic & unpredictable. When an artist paces her every word with naked vocal, that is a sign of true artistry, not one's sheer ability to sing with timing & tone.

    But in all due fairness, when it comes to taste...........opinions always vary....

  • Beautiful song. Enuff said.

  • My mother and father named me( Alfie) after this song..she would even sing a bar or two, whenever i got into that kid attitude thing, or after getting a good butt whoopin..the song did not mean shit to me back then. i actually thought it was a sissy name. but i get it now..and im so proud ..i love you and miss you..both..your son ..ALfie..

  • oh my..this is stunning!

  • this is why burt sings alfie in his concerts in recent years...no one can come close to dion....so what the point in trying

  • She sings this song brillantlly, an the other people who recored just sung the song, including this cila lady! this is her song

  • they eat grass

  • @MultiShades hahahahaha

  • One of the finest singers of all time. Talk about class! Dionne is nonpareil.

  • remember the time when there was substance over image?

  • This beautiful and natural Diva needs no smoke and mirrors to captivate an audiance.

    She is elegance in motion. I Love you Ms.Dionne and Thank You!

  • @MPDCSCOUT135 You hit the nail on the head. No laser lights. No fog machines. No flame throwers. Just her. Who needs more when you have TRUE TALENT.

  • @MPDCSCOUT135

    and she doesn't need high tech recording studious to enhance her voice

  • Ms. Dionne is proof GOD loves us!

  • Ms. Dionne is proof GOD loves us!

  • Her abilities are all her own. Not really an equal to this woman's gift to the world...

  • I agree! magic!

  • a genuine talent. so blessed! so pure! i love this girl so much

  • So incredible!  "I believe in love!"

  • Simply perfection!

  • Brilliant, she has always owned this song,,,,, but not like this,,, she has so much to bring to her performances as she has gotten older,,,,, so much depth,,, experience,, Thank You Dionne for sharing your Heart with us,,, and thank you for this post!!!

  • wow....Ms Dionne HAS to be proud when she listens to this! this is truly how u deliver a song and use your GOD given talent like a PRO!

  • Not the kind of thread you expected to read on a Dionne Warwick "Alfie" thread was it?

  • The moral of the story is this: This whole scenario is one gigantic poker game. Only you and I didn't get to buy into the game.  The buy-in was 500 million.

  • It is jump a bump in the road though. After the dollar crashes and American lifestyle with it, there will be an adjustment period. Chinese currency will become stronger and the Chinese will be the new world power. They will just begin to purchase their own goods as their economy strengthens. Other foreign markets will thrive and they will be able to sell goods to them as well.

  • These elite put pressure on the government to squash this "element of freedom" in any and all forms. They also knew that they would not be able to gain as much control as they wanted by spreading the wealth. Yes, they would have continued to gain control in a linear fashion but not geometrically as they wished. By moving to China, they consolidated their financial power. Yes they are having a slow-down because the average U.S. citizen can not afford to buy their products anymore.

  • It's really sad what happened in the 60's. Culture was thriving. There was a renaissance in the arts with a level of freedom that would be crushed today. Amid all of this was a growing conservative element that was amassing great financial power. Not that this elite class of "conservatives" were themselves conservative by any measure. What I mean by "conservative" is that they were "conservative" when it came to anything that was a threat to their power and position.

  • It's so funny when you look at the history of this song. At first Dionne was not selected to sing the song for the movie so it was given to Cilla Black....not a hit

    then to Cher......not a hit

    Finally when Dionne did record it, it was as the B- Side to "The Beginning of Loneliness" and again.....not a hit.

    DJs flipped it and....IT BECAME A HIT

  • Yeah Dionne. Yeah.

  • THE version. Life or recorded.  She must have really been feeling something this performance because her eyes look full of tears.

  • I love this song from DW, it was played in piano by my secret

    lover and it was so nice when he played it.

  • incredable.no equal in her prime

  • Incredible version by Dionne Warwick,still singing well too. Whatever happened to those old skinny microphones LOL!

  • This film and song had a profound effect on me as a lad in the 60's. I still wonder WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT ?

  • incredible  over and over again!~

  • STILL FLAWLESS - how fabulous and tender - how strong and fragile - all at the same time - you better sang Ms Warwick - this has got to be one of the most difficult songs for even the greatest singers to sing.

  • @ramona2400 Strong and fragile, indeed.

    That is not always the easiest combination.

    Today's singers all sound the same.

    They just sell a product...... This was a whole diffrent "era and time"

    It is by far one of my favorite Warwick interpretation's.

  • WOW. I can really feel her. This is THE rendition with the most soul - making it better than the recorded version.

  • this is what a natural women suppose to look like her voice is one of a kind i saw her video of dont make me over just amazed me thanks

  • It is sad that a lot of people will only know her as the weird psychic lady. One of the great female vocalists of our time.

  • what else is there......violins????

  • what else shallI bring....to this trip

  • Always a class act.......

  • Dionne Warwick.....A Real Smooth Simply Beautiful Voice.

  • Timing...perfect..delivery..pe­rfect

  • Amazing, pure talent and class!!!

  • Dione canta de forma simples, singela e incomparável! É uma diva! A emocao está em todas as notas musicais e gestos dela! Um presente para nossos ouvidos e sentimentos!

  • This rendition offers a stunning example of Warwick's impressive dynamic range and control. And yet all of that is utterly incidental, for the true beauty of this rendition comes from the soulfulness of the interpretation. One moment worth highlighting comes near the end at the peak of the song. She delivers a brilliant decrescendo on a D natural from full belt to pianissimo head voice. It takes a unique talent to accomplish that technically. Here Dionne makes it seem as easy as breathing. Wow!

  • Today marks the 70th Anniversary of the blitz of London. My cousin Alfie was evacuated to our sleepy village of Harpole to keep him safe, I dedicate this to him and for all of my London family who survived this tragic event.

  • Today marks the 70th Anniversary of the blitz of London. My cousin Alfie was evacuated to our sleepy village of Harpole to keep him safe, I dedicate this to him and for all of my London family who survived this tragic event.

  • the best singer of this song & one of the best song stylists EVER

  • As a child this song always made me cry. Burt Bacarach was a pneonominal song writer. Dionne sang the HELL out of his songs. So did a lot of artist. Ms. Warwick A TRUE DIVA.

  • @bassfima this song had the same affect on me.

  • amazing talent

  • i love dionne, but cilla's version is the top.

  • @aknowneemus I agree, Cilla made the original version in 1966 and it became a UK top ten hit. Dionne Warwick's version appeared the following year, but only reached the US top twenty.

  • mmm.............

  • She is Unique!

  • omg

  • I like Dione Warwick, but I really think that Cilla Black does a better version of this song.

  • @gooners105

    Cilla's version is just noise... Dionne interpretation is magic and so much more imaginative

  • I hate her she arrogant.....and ive heard far better

  • @alfie1438 stop hating

  • the best ! what can you better in this day

  • Her voice is lovely. So clear and controlled. Unmistakable as Dionne. It's funny, you can hear hints of Whitney now and again.

  • Can anyone tell me if this video begins at the top of this version of the song or is it missing the first line of the song due to a technical error or editing? It seems to me that she sings the most memorable first line of the song in her head and begins with the second...it is brilliant! thanx

  • Dionne's version is the best in my opinion. I've heard of Cila Black and watched some of her on here. She's not Dionne. For the people making fun of her nose.Camera is too close.. This was in the 60s. I saw and heard her and Burt Bacharach some years ago and met her. Classy lady. Her version is better than Streisand's.Listen to D. sing it on Hot! Live CD or on here in Brazil.Dionne is a musician She never sings something the same way twice.

  • @mjimme completely agree! she interpreted songs differently

    and and what she's doing from 2:04 to 2:15 is just out of the world isn'it

    :)

  • I might be late... but isnt she Whitney Houstons aunt? I think I heard that before.

  • @luvly1988

    No, she's not her aunt. She's her cousin. I think Cissy Houston, Whitney's mom, sister was Dionne's mom. Dionne is an older cousin. They say that in My Best Friend's Wedding but it's wrong. Cousin.

  • That was shattering...

  • she looks like Amy from Congo

  • @lookitsagrape1 Thanks for the compliment. I see the trend for some is loud,clownish dressed jerks screaming,jumping around a in most uncoordinated way, that is called music, If anything ever looked more like a cage full of chimps gone mad, breaking instruments, and looking like sissys.If that looks good from your eye, yes I said eye. through reverse evolution, and as a space saving move, one orifice takes the place of eye a-hole, ear and mouth. Listening and looking thru that must be rough.

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  • @new10l3 im very impressed by your long run on sentences. you save the word man.

  • Wonderfully done by a great woman.

  • Love how this video captures her beauty.

  • I was never a big fan of hers hovwever, I have much love and respect for her talents in this song.

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  • Just pure Perfection !!! How Brilliant is this !!???? Ten STARS !!!

  • Heartfelt song. She is the best!!!!!!!!!

  • best version ever of this song!

  • @mikesterSTLMO thank God Streisand nose is as perfect as the notes she sing. 

  • @nanenoah ZING! I gotta give ya that one:---) Hey did ya hear about the lady at the beauty shop; she said "give me the Streisand look!" ... so the hairdresser smashed her in the nose with his hair brush. A bing badda boom.

  • The top singers today can't even come close to the talent of this woman. The subtle inflections in her voice, the smooth delivery..Just magic.

  • @lgwelsh1 I agree 100%

  • @lgwelsh1 Lots of emotion - which she augmented in her later versions as her voice warmed. I am trying to get the DVD she did with Bacharach. Anybody know the number of the DVD?

  • "Dionne always had a special way of praying to God" she has a special anoiting and the gift of song and revealation.

  • "one of auntie D's monumental track " studio audio check had to settle down the audience because of loud breaks in clapping.because of the special arrangement.

  • A voice of timeless beauty. Truly a master of styling. She brings the words and melody alive. I grew up listening to the domination of the music charts of Hal David and Burt Bacharach in the 60s and early 70s. And thanks to this irrepressible, award winning singer, those songs will live forever!

  • Yes, this is the best Alfie.

  • It doesn't matter who recorded this song first. It belongs to Dionne Warwick. She is identified with "Alfie" more than any other artist alive or otherwise, and deservedly so. This version alone is testimony to Dionne's total mastery of this piece, as she relaxes the tempo and widens it's dynamic range from a whisper to a wail and back again. And it appears all so effortless, as great performances often do. This sublime rendition is perhaps the finest "take" on this song I've ever seen.

  • I still remember when Dionne was hosting "Solid Gold" and she had Frank Sinatra on! Now that was a real lalapalooza when they sang a duet together. I believe it was Peter allen's "You and I". There just so much soul in Dionne's voice. She is a vocal pyrotechnician of the highest dynamic stature!

  • Mastery at it's most high (Whoosh)+!!!!1

  • I totally agree!!

  • bass cello...sounds great with this monumental song....

  • still tryin to find version by the delfonics , yes they did sing alfie,, please somebody post,, worth hearing, right up there with dionne..

  • Alfie foi gravada pelos anos 69/70, Burt sempre foi um gênio, canção imortal de que nos acompanha há mais de 40 anos ! Melodia e letra inesqueciveis, para quem sabe o que quer !

    Ivan Bocalon

  • No one sings like Dionne Warwick..Incredible!

  • she had such an interesting look and sound...very elegant and exotic

  • one word:  gentle....

  • Pure soul from the best.I feel like bowing down and saying,"we're not worthy." Can you believe that in a world this shallow and crass today that we get this gift!Magic!

  • @ToeIn2194 tears flow, but here, in the eyes too. no one could be better, ever.

  • Gosh I just realized they practically had the Television camera stuck up her nose LMAO!

  • @damone77 ....Not really. They are just doing what is known as a "tight shot" ..... a normal thing. You are just too afraid to say that Dionne simply has large nostrils--probably helped her with her long, extended notes.

  • Her best performance of this song was at the 2000 Academy Awards.

  • @miguelucho20008

    I wish that was posted on here. 

  • Cilla Black's original version is much better and became a bigger hit, reaching the top ten.

  • In the UK not in America. Most americans don't even know Cilla Black is a singer. That's just the truth...in america the song is mostly associated with Dionne because in fact it was written for Dionne.