“So what happened? Burt probably didn’t campaign, and no one involved with the Kennedy Center is smart enough to include him. What a shame. Instead we get Amy Grant.” Roger Friedman, Freelance Writer
I know what you're thinking, so what does this post have to do with my heads up in the clouds you might ask? I'm still working on it and have a few interesting cloud photos I'll be sharing shortly. The truth is the clouds in San Francisco haven't been that interesting the past few months.
I'm posting this primarily because my deceased relative Buddy Merrill (1936-2021) performed Burt Bacharach's Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head in 1970 as a guitar soloist on the Lawrence Welk Show to cause our family to suffer from delusions of grandeur. I recall my mother listening for the first time to the arrangement of Bacharach's song recorded on her husband's 1970's album. Her excited response was "It's a hit hun! A hit!"
When I had my own recording studio back in 2008, I did a singing duo with Dionne Warwick and Marilyn McCoo hacking into Burt's songs that YouTube had to eventually take them down.
In my response to Roger Friedman’s article Kennedy Center’s Most Egregious Mistake Not Inducting Composer/Musician Burt Bacharach…
“The Kennedy Center’s award was likely withheld due to Bacharach’s daughter Nikki committing suicide in 2007. Burt and his former wife, Angie Dickinson, had a 3 month premature birth due to Angie not following her doctor’s instructions. The baby Nikki grew up with medical problems due to being born prematurely. Additionally, whatever Burt wrote in his biography is quite possibly another reason he wasn’t under consideration for induction. (See Amazon biography reviews below.)
Nikki became an accomplished prodigy pianist since 4 years old and had a beautiful smile. The couple placed Nikki in a mental institution while misleading her it was special education for up to 1 1/2 years but she was practically abandoned there for 10 years! Tragically, back in 2007, Nikki committed suicide at 40 years old leaving a note Burt said he decided not to read.
Due to an abhorrent decision to place Nikki in a mental institution that clearly was harsh and destructive to her future, Burt Bacharach’s name and reputation will never be the same in my humble opinion. It's very interesting many of the reviews of Burt Bacharach's biography demonstrate his latest book actually tarnished his legacy a great deal. You see, we like our songwriters from that era romanticized, not demonized in their own books! We have enough dirt on this culture and don't need any more proof every unsaved fallen man on earth tends to be corrupted by sin.
I guess it's shocking to many someone who wrote so many heartfelt masterful songs could be such an unanticipated sinner. It seems to be the case all of those in creative arts who don't have Jesus in their lives are very fallen to the core. Perhaps Satan provides faux gifts for music since he was once Lucifer as the top angel assigned to God's Worship music prior to his fall from heaven. Here's an example how the song Nikki was used as an opening for ABC's TV Movie of the Week in 1973 for the movie Deliver Us From Evil.
So Bacharach daughter's suicide was a big deal that was a horror for many to comprehend. Sometimes writing love songs isn’t enough to be a good person so, as in this case, you have to seek deliverance from demons! Burt Bacharach had his place in the sun for a very long time. May God have mercy on Burt Bacharach’s soul and may he repent of his sins to Jesus who was sent to suffer and die in order to save every soul from ending up in eternal hell. Jesus saves! John 3:16
