"Make It Easy on Yourself" | ||||
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Single by Jerry Butler | ||||
from the album Need to Belong & Other Great Performances | ||||
B-side | "It's Too Late" | |||
Released | June 1962 | |||
Format | 7" | |||
Recorded | 1962 | |||
Genre | Rhythm and blues | |||
Length | 2:30 | |||
Label | Vee-Jay | |||
Writer(s) | Burt Bacharach, Hal David | |||
Producer(s) | Calvin Carter | |||
Jerry Butler singles chronology | ||||
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"Make It Easy on Yourself" | ||||
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Single by The Walker Brothers | ||||
from the album Take It Easy with the Walker Brothers | ||||
B-side | "But I Do", "Doin' the Jerk" | |||
Released | August 1965 (UK) September 1965 (US) |
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Format | 7" | |||
Recorded | June 1965 at Philips studios in Marble Arch | |||
Genre | Baroque pop | |||
Length | 3:11 | |||
Label |
Philips Records BF 1428 Smash Records (U.S.) |
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Writer(s) | Burt Bacharach and Hal David | |||
Producer(s) | Johnny Franz | |||
The Walker Brothers singles chronology | ||||
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"Make It Easy on Yourself" | ||||
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Single by Dionne Warwick | ||||
from the album Very Dionne | ||||
B-side | "Knowing When to Leave" | |||
Released | 1970 | |||
Format | 7" | |||
Recorded | 1970 | |||
Genre | Pop | |||
Length | 3:32 | |||
Label | Scepter Records | |||
Writer(s) | Burt Bacharach and Hal David | |||
Producer(s) | Blue Jac Production | |||
Dionne Warwick singles chronology | ||||
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"Make It Easy on Yourself" is a popular song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David which was first a hit for Jerry Butler in 1962 and has since been a Top 40 single for the Walker Brothers, for whom it was a #1 UK hit, and Dionne Warwick.
Chicago-based Vee-Jay Records head A&R man Calvin Carter brought back "Make It Easy on Yourself" from a trip to New York City scouting song publishers. Carter played the demo, featuring Dionne Warwick's vocal, for Vee-Jay artist Jerry Butler who commented: "Man, it's a great song, and the girl who's singing it, and the arrangement, is a hit." When Carter explained that Florence Greenberg, the owner of Scepter Records who'd recently signed Warwick, was not interested in "Make It Easy on Yourself" Butler recalls being "ecstatic" and, wanting the same arrangement featured on the demo flew to New York City to record the song in a session overseen by Burt Bacharach (although Bacharach's official credit was limited to arranger). "Make It Easy on Yourself" was released in June 1962 to reach #20 on the Billboard Hot 100 that August; the track's R&B chart peak was #18.
The most successful pop version of "Make It Easy on Yourself" was the 1965 single by the Walker Brothers which reached #16 on the Hot 100 that December; this version had been a #1 hit in the UK in September 1965. The song appeared as the opening song on the group's début studio album Take It Easy with the Walker Brothers and as the opening song on side 2 of their début US album Introducing the Walker Brothers.