Classic Hits

Papers of the late songwriter and composer Burt Bacharach, who wrote such songs as “Close To You,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose” and “I Say a Little Prayer,” have been donated to the Library of Congress. 

The collection, donated by his wife, Jane Bacharach, includes musical scores and parts, as well as 180 photographs, letters and telegrams.  

“On behalf of the Bacharach family, we are grateful that Burt’s collection of music has a home in the Library of Congress,” Jane shared. “Out of all of his awards and accolades, Burt was most proud of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, which was presented to him by President Obama.”

She added, “Burt poured his heart and soul into his music, and we are so proud that the Library will give others the opportunity to visit and enjoy his legacy.”

The collection will be available for researchers starting next summer.

“Burt Bacharach’s timeless songs are legendary and are championed by artists across genres and generations,” Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden added. “The Library is proud to be entrusted with ensuring Bacharach’s music and legacy will remain accessible for future generations, in hopes of inspiring them with his creativity and distinctly American musical genius.”

Bacharach died in 2023 at age 94. His more than 50-year career resulted in a slew of chart-topping hits, including 48 top-100 songs, nine #1 tunes and more than 500 compositions.

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Back in 2020, Mariah Carey said she was “talking about” turning her memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, into a biopic, telling Jimmy Fallon, “I really feel like it should [be a movie]; that was always my goal.” Now it seems she may have found a director.

Lee Daniels, who directed Mariah in the film Precious, posted a video on Instagram of him and Mariah together. “Here we are again,” he said. “With all different eras of our lives.”

“With Leeeeee!” Mariah squealed, throwing her arms around the director.

“Getting ready to go on another journey, Oh my God,” Daniels concluded.

He captioned the post, “The Meaning of Mariah … A long time coming … I love this woman!”

When asked recently by BuzzFeed if she planned to tour the world in 2025, Mariah said, “I know that I’m working on a project that needs to be finished, so I don’t think I can go on a world tour. I would if I were able to finish the project while on tour, but I can’t.” 

Could she have been referring to a movie? Stay tuned.

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A new Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers video is set for release on Friday.

The clip will be for the song “Never Be You,” a track that was originally recorded by Rosanne Cash, with Petty’s version appearing on the recently released Long After Dark (Deluxe Edition) reissue.

The video was directed and animated by Jeff Scher. A preview gives a glimpse of the making of the animated clip, featuring drawings of Petty, who passed away in 2016.

Long After Dark (Deluxe Edition) was released in October and featured the remastered original album, plus 12 bonus tracks, including “Never Be You” and “Ways to Be Wicked,” as well as tracks taken from sessions for French TV.

Originally released in 1982, Long After Dark featured the singles “You Got Lucky,” “Change of Heart” and “Straight Into Darkness,” and was the first to feature new Heartbreaker Howie Epstein on bass.

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A new video has just been released for Bruce Springsteen’s collaboration with Jesse Malin on “She Don’t Love Me Now,” which appears on the Malin tribute album, Silver Patron Saints.

The video takes place at the New York bar Heaven Can Wait and centers on a man drinking away his sorrows. He’s soon moved by the music and begins dancing to the tune.

Springsteen doesn’t appear in the clip, although Malin makes a quick cameo as a patron offering a nod to the dancing man.

Springsteen’s take on “She Don’t Love Me Now” features Jesse’s band backing The Boss, along with E Street Band saxophonist Jake Clemons. The tune originally appeared on Malin’s 2015 album, New York Before The War.

Released in September, Silver Patron Saints benefits Malin’s Sweet Relief artist fund. The rocker had a spinal stroke in 2023 that left him paralyzed from the waist down. Other artists on the album include Elvis Costello, Green Day‘s Billie Joe Armstrong, Rage Against the Machine‘s Tom Morello, Bleachers and the late MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer.

A benefit concert for Malin is set to take place Dec. 1 at the Beacon Theatre in New York, featuring Costello, Lucinda Williams, Jakob Dylan, members of Counting Crows, Rickie Lee Jones and others, with Malin teasing, “More surprises to come.”

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Members of the prog rock band Yes are being sued over a song that appeared on their 2021 album, The Quest. 

Riz Story, whose legal name is Rudolph Zahler, filed a copyright suit in Los Angeles claiming Yes guitarist Steve Howe and Jon Davison, the band’s lead singer since 2012, stole the music of his song “Reunion” for the track “Dare To Know,” adding their own lyrics.

In the court documents, Story says he wrote the music for “Reunion” around 1981 when he was just 15, and while it was never released as a single, it was used in the 2014 movie A Winter Rose, and he subsequently copyrighted the song.

He says in 2022 he discovered his music being used in “Dare To Know,” insisting he didn’t give them permission, and contending they violated his copyright by performing the tune and using it to promote their album.

As for how Howe heard the song, Story says it was through his relationship with Davison. They’ve known each other since being introduced by the late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins around 1990. All three were in the band Anyone together.

Story also claims Davison once asked for help co-writing songs for Yes because “he didn’t think he was up to writing songs of a caliber” the band would expect, but Story refused. He says instead Davison opted to “steal” the song “Reunion,” giving songwriting credit to Howe on the album. 

The suit also notes that Story has hired a musicologist who insists the two songs have “a pitch similarity percentage of 96%, which is extremely high.” 

Story is suing for monetary damages, and wants an injunction forcing Yes to stop distributing the song and to give him sole songwriting credit for the music of “Dare to Know.”

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On This Day, Nov. 14, 2006 …

Led Zeppelin and Rod Stewart were among the inductees who entered the U.K. Music Hall of Fame, which honored musicians of all nationalities for their lifetime contributions to music in the United Kingdom.

The ceremony took place at Alexandria Palace in London, with Queen’s Roger Taylor inducting Zeppelin and guitarist Jimmy Page on hand to accept the award.

Stewart was inducted by U.K. artist James Morrison, who performed “The First Cut Is the Deepest” and “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy.” He accepted his award via satellite from Los Angeles.

Other inductees that year included Bon Jovi, Prince, Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, James Brown and Dusty Springfield, with The Beatles producer George Martin receiving an honorary membership.

The 2006 ceremony was the last one to be held.

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Director James Mangold’s long-in-the-works Bob Dylan flick A Complete Unknown, starring Timothée Chalamet, is finally hitting theaters on Dec. 25, and the director reveals in a new interview how the pandemic may have helped in the film’s development.

Mangold tells MOJO that while the pandemic delayed the film, it also allowed him a chance to get more time with Dylan himself. 

“Bob had a tour that he’d just cancelled, and he asked to read the script, and that was the start of our connection,” Mangold shares. “He liked what I was doing and saw that I didn’t have some kind of agenda.”

“Then we sat down and had a series of one-on-one meetings, four or five times for at least a half day, just the two of us drinking coffee,” he adds. “And it became a huge opportunity for me to fill in the cracks in the story that the many books about him don’t cover.”

Chalamet had been cast to play Dylan since 2020, and Mangold says, “I thought he was perfect for it from the start and remained so.”

“Timmy’s incredibly sharp, witty, ambitious, kind of wonderfully odd and cool,” he says. “I felt he kind of could really embody a lot of things that Bob was, especially in that early time in his life.”

The film, which Mangold describes as “a fable,” covers a five-year period of Dylan’s early career — and that was enough for the director.

“I don’t feel pressure to define Bob for the ages and all his work over decades,” Mangold says. “I’m just talking about the moment that this guy blossomed, he became empowered, and then moved on. And where he moved to is either another movie or another writer’s business.”

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Sounds like The Rolling Stones may be hitting the road again next year.

During an interview with BBC Radio’s Front Row, Ronnie Wood revealed that the band is hoping to head out on a tour of Europe in 2025.

If it happens, it would be The Stones’ first European tour since releasing their latest record, Hackney Diamonds, in October 2022. The Stones did tour the U.S. this year, launching their Hackney Diamonds tour in April.

Wood also shared that he’s been working with Faces, saying, “We’re making some continued developments of music we made back in the day. … It still sounds as no time as gone by.”

Ronnie’s interview was to promote his new art exhibit, which opened on Wednesday at the Andrew Martin store in London. It’s set to run through Dec. 3, and features new and previously unseen pieces.

Sharing how important art is to him, Ronnie says, “If I was Chekhov I’d say my lawful wife is my artwork and my mistress is my music.”

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The Beatles’ recent Grammy nomination for their single “Now and Then” has prompted more people to check out the tune.

The song earned a Record of the Year nod Nov. 8, and Billboard reports that since then streams of the song jumped 42%, from 83,000 streams the days prior to the nod to 118,000 streams in the days after.

Released in November 2023, “Now and Then” features vocals John Lennon recorded on a demo in the late ’70s, along with new contributions from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, and guitar parts George Harrison recorded in the ’90s during the sessions for The Beatles’ Anthology series.

The song may have a tough time nabbing a Grammy in that category, though. It’s up against hits from Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX, Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan and rapper Kendrick Lamar.

The 67th annual Grammy Awards air Feb. 2 on CBS.

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Retired NFL star Jason Kelce teamed up with two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Stevie Nicks in early November to release “Maybe This Christmas,” a duet that’s featured on Jason’s annual Christmas charity album. The song outperformed Mariah Carey to hit #1 on the iTunes holiday chart — which Jason’s brother, Travis, teased him about on the latest episode of their New Heights podcast.

“So Jason, how does it officially feel to be the Queen of Christmas?” Travis asked Jason. “You know, I’ve fought my whole life to be the Queen of Christmas,” Jason joked. “The fact that we’re finally there is just really special.”

“It was incredible to work with Stevie Nicks,” Jason continued. “I’m just still in awe that that actually happened. This is really, really cool. There is no percent chance any song that I’m in should be streaming #1 on any service in any genre.”

“Well, don’t give yourself too much credit,” Travis laughed. “It’s Stevie Nicks.”

The song is included on A Philly Special Christmas Party, due out Nov. 22. Boyz II Men also guest star on the record, and proceeds from the vinyl sales will go to support Children’s Crisis Treatment Center’s Holiday Toy Drive and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Snowflake Station, among other charities.

If you want to hear Stevie Nicks sing a Christmas song that doesn’t include the brother of Taylor Swift‘s boyfriend, check out “Silent Night,” which she recorded for the 1987 charity album A Very Special Christmas.

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