Alfie
from Hard Place To Find by Tobin Mueller
ALFIE by Burt Bacharach and Hal David
(slight alterations)
What's it all about, Alfie?
Is it just for the moment we live?
What's it all about when you sort it out, Alfie?
Are we meant to take more than we give
or are we meant to be kind?
And if only fools are kind, Alfie,
then I guess it's wise to be cruel.
And if life belongs only to the strong, Alfie,
what will you lend on an old golden rule?
As sure as you believe there's a heaven above, Alfie,
I know there's something much more,
something even non-believers can believe in.
I believe in love, Alfie.
Without true love we just exist, Alfie.
Until you find the love you've
missed you're nothing, Alfie.
When you walk let your heart lead the way
and you'll find love any day...
Song Notes: Alfie is the one song Suzanne is convinced she sings better than I do. In fact, she calls it "her song." Her version is more like the original recording sung by Cilla Black. Mine is more like Burt Bacharach's solo version, recorded when he was around my age now. I love hearing composers sing their own work. I am also a big fan of Randy Newman. And Tim Minchen. And Ben Folds, Bruce Hornsby, Leon Russell, Billy Joel, Elton John...
I love the structure of this song. It is unlike most songs. Brilliant. Like a stream of consciousness monologue. Very theatrical. The singer is posing the question and, at first, I always thought the singer new the answer and was merely asking the question so he/she could provide an answer already known. But when I got to the line "As sure as I believe there's a heaven above, Alfie," something hit me. If I were the singer and Alfie were Suzanne (which seems a natural juxtaposition when I am singing to her in our living room), then, surely, belief in heaven would belong to her, not me. If I change that one word and sing, instead, "As sure as you believe there's a heaven above," the song takes on new significance, a kind of spiritual symbiosis. And when I sing "I believe in love, Alfie," what I really mean is "I believe in you, Suzanne."
The many chord substitions in this arrangement speaks to the questions behind each statement, the shifting thought between each question, the uncertainty the surrounds every kernal of belief.
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