A-side "This Empty Place" Genre Pop Label Scepter | Released 1963 Length 2:55 | |
Writer(s) Burt Bacharach, Hal David | ||
"Wishin' and Hopin'" is a song, written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach, which was a Top 10 hit for Dusty Springfield in 1964.
Contents
History
The song was first recorded by Dionne Warwick and was the B-side of Warwick's single "This Empty Place" in the spring of 1963; the track was also featured on Warwick's debut album Presenting Dionne Warwick. Warwick's rendition became a charting single in France, reaching #79 in 1963.
Dusty Springfield, who had heard the Warwick album track, recorded "Wishin' and Hopin'" in January 1964 at Olympic Studios. Personnel for the session included Bobby Graham on drums, Big Jim Sullivan on guitar, and the Breakaways vocal group. Ivor Raymonde arranged and conducted on the session for which Johnny Franz was the producer. The track was included on Springfield's solo album debuts in the UK: A Girl Called Dusty, and the US: Stay Awhile/I Only Want to Be with You.
In February 1964, Springfield met with Burt Bacharach in New York City to listen to other songs to consider recording. Bacharach recalls at that time: "I [think] I tried to talk her into releasing 'Wishin' and Hopin'' [as a single] because she had some ambivalence about it."
A New York disc jockey, Jack Lacy, began to play "Wishin' and Hopin'" following some encouragement from David and Bacharach, and Philips' US label issued it as a single in May 1964; "Wishin' and Hopin'" broke nationally that June entering the Top Ten in July to peak at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 (#4 in Cashbox).
The release of "Wishin' and Hopin'" as a concurrent UK single release for Springfield was precluded by the presence on the UK charts of Springfield's single "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" – one of the songs Bacharach had pitched to her when they met in New York City in February 1964. "Wishin' and Hopin'" was recorded by UK band The Merseybeats whose inaugural single had been another song (reissued in 1982) from the Presenting Dionne Warwick album: "It's Love That Really Counts" (UK #24). The Merseybeats "Wishin' and Hopin'" peaked at #13 on the UK Singles Chart in 1964, the same week Springfield's "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" spent at its #3 peak. Another UK male vocal group The Eagles also had a single release of "Wishin' and Hopin'", although it was the B-side of their non-charting single "Write Me a Letter".
Despite not being a UK hit single for Springfield, "Wishin' and Hopin'" was strongly identified with her in the UK public consciousness: she performed the song with the Merseybeats on the 8 August 1964 episode of Ready Steady Go! – actually both acts lip-synched to a track spliced together from their respective versions – and on that show's Sound of Motown edition broadcast 28 April 1965 which Springfield hosted, the only one of her own songs she performed was "Wishin' and Hopin'" with the vocal accompaniment of Martha Reeves and the Vandellas.
Springfield's recording was featured in the film, A Home at the End of the World (2004).
"Wishin' and Hopin'" was also featured in Tricks and Treats, the second episode of American Horror Story: Asylum.
Springfield recorded foreign language versions of "Wishin' and Hopin'" in July 1964: in Italian as "Stupido Stupido" – which was a combination of lyrics in Italian and English, the latter being newly written rather than taken from the original song – and in German as "Warten Und Hoffen". "Wishin' and Hopin'" was also a hit for Springfield in Australia (#2), New Zealand (#3) and South Africa (#2).
Other versions
Ani DiFranco's rendition of this song recorded in 1995, was featured over the opening credits of the film, My Best Friend's Wedding. That film, along with the Austin Powers films, is suggested to have led to the renewed popularity of the Bacharach-David catalog.