BWW Interviews: Legendary Lyricist Don Black!

Hello, Don, and welcome to BWW:UK! Before I spoke to you, I was talking to a colleague about our favourite songs that you've written the lyrics for - are you allowed to have favourites yourself?

Not really! You tend to think of where you were when you wrote it, and the situation - I remember writing Born Free in my kitchen. It's not a great romantic image! There are better images - I remember writing Tell Me On A Sunday with Andrew Lloyd Webber in the South of France - but it's not just the song. Yes, you do have favourites; usually they tend to be either the one you just finished, because there's a bit of relief that goes with that, or the early days, when I think, "How lucky you were!", when John Barry asked me to write Thunderball, and what just seemed like an easy, simple sentence that he said was life-changing. It didn't seem to be at the time - he said, in his Yorkshire accent, "Do you fancy having a go at this?" and it opened up the whole James Bond family. When I look back at that list myself - so many songs, you just can't believe it.

The press release for your forthcoming Royal Festival Hall concert also says you can't believe it's been 50 years in the business...

I don't suppose I'm unique in that, I suppose everyone feels that, but it is very, very odd when you come across these songs - a B-side of a Tony Bennett or Johnny Mathis record, all so long ago. You do get emails and letters from people who remember all this stuff, and it's probably a couple of thousand songs if I add them all up, so it's going to be a hell of a night!

How did it come about?

I was approached by a promoter, Ollie Rosenblatt, who said he'd always been a fan of mine, and he'd like to put on an evening of celebration. I said, "Well, who are you? What have you done?" and he only mentioned one name to me, he said, "I've just promoted Burt Bacharach," and I said, "Well, that's good enough for me." What's really amazed me is how well it's going - we've nearly sold out and we haven't mentioned anyone who's going to be on it yet.

Yes, you've not confirmed any performers yet - can you give us any clues?

We're still talking to people! I know that Michael Ball's going to come along. There will also be some surprises there. I'm going to try and do some different songs - people do know the Bond songs and the Lloyd Webber songs, but I'll do things like The Self-Preservation Society from The Italian Job, and people have asked me to do the EastEnders theme [Anyone Can Fall In Love] which was a big hit for Anita Dobson - I'm not sure if I'll do that! It depends what artists we get as to what songs we choose.

I'll tell you one thing I am hoping for - to do a song from the new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical that I've done [Stephen Ward]. We open December 3rd at the Aldwych, so this concert will be the first chance people will get to hear anything from it.

And the concert is being filmed on the night for the BBC.

Yes, that'll be great - Michael Grade is interviewing me between songs, so I can tell him anecdotes about each of them. It'll be good - I just hope everyone enjoys my life as much as I have!

Yes - it seems so unusual, not in a bad way, but lyricists - you guys don't often get the spotlight!

We never have done! If you listen to DJs on the radio, it's really aggravating, they'll say, "Here's Burt Bacharach's Alfie," or "Here's Henry Mancini's Moon River," and of course these people didn't write words. It's something you learn to live with, and in a way I kind of like my anonymity, it doesn't bother me at all. They don't really get a fair shake - so hopefully this will redress the balance.

Don Black - A Life in Song is playing the Royal Festival Hall on October 3, 2013.

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