‘Walk On By‘ is a song composed by Burt Bacharach, with lyrics by frequent collaborator Hal David. The song was originally recorded by Dionne Warwick at the same December 1963 session that yielded her hit ‘Anyone Who Had a Heart.’ ‘Walk On By’ was the follow-up to that single, released in 1964 and reaching #6 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Warwick also recorded a German version of the song, entitled ‘Geh Vorbei.’ Funk/soul musician Isaac Hayes released a cover version in 1969 on his album ‘Hot Buttered Soul’ and transformed the song into a twelve-and-a-half minute funk vamp.
Edited for single release down to under 5 minutes, this single reached #30 on the U.S. charts. In 1978, The Stranglers recorded a gritty punk-inspired version (with an extended organ solo) that charted in the UK. Alicia Keys recorded a hip hop version of the song on 2003 mutli-platinum album ‘The Diary of Alicia Keys.’ The Isaac Hayes version samples from a cover of the song by The Jackson 5, and was itself sampled by numerous artists, notably Hooverphonic in ‘2Wicky,’ The Notorious B.I.G. in ‘Warning,’ 2Pac in ‘Me Against the World,’ and Portishead in ‘All Mine.’
The Daily Omnivore 
Leave a Reply