"Message to Michael" | ||||
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Single by Dionne Warwick | ||||
from the album Dionne Warwick in Paris | ||||
A-side | "Message to Michael" | |||
B-side | "Here Where There Is Love" (Bacharach & David) | |||
Released | March, 1966 | |||
Format | 7" single Scepter 12133 | |||
Recorded | 1966 Paris, France | |||
Genre | Soul, pop, adult contemporary | |||
Length | 3:09 | |||
Label | Scepter, Disques Vogue (France), Pye International (UK) | |||
Writer(s) | Burt Bacharach, Hal David | |||
Producer(s) | Blue Jac Productions | |||
Dionne Warwick singles chronology | ||||
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"Message to Michael" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, that has been a hit for several different artists under several different titles. The song was first recorded as "Message to Martha" by Jerry Butler in 1962. In 1964, singer Lou Johnson had a minor US hit with the song, with the title "Kentucky Bluebird". UK singer Adam Faith also recorded the song as "Kentucky Bluebird" in 1965, and had a substantial hit with it in the UK, reaching #12. Exactly the same recording was issued in Australia as "Message to Martha", where it was a #15 hit for Faith. Americans are probably most familiar with the 1966 Top Ten version by Dionne Warwick, which was titled "Message To Michael".
In all versions of the song, the lyrics are addressed to a bluebird by the singer. The singer is in Kentucky, and his/her sweetheart is vainly pursuing musical stardom in New Orleans. The singer asks the bluebird to take a message to Martha/Michael, asking for the sweetheart to return.
The song was first recorded as "Message to Martha" by Jerry Butler in the 1962 session in New York City which produced Butler's hit "Make It Easy on Yourself". However, Butler's "Message to Martha" was not released until December 1963 when it appeared as a track on Butler's Need to Belong album. Marlene Dietrich recorded a German version of the song in 1964, singing to the instrumental track of the Butler original (with augmentations); Dietrich's version was entitled Kleine Treue Nachtigall ('faithful little nightingale'), the German lyrics were written by Max Colpet. In 1964 Bacharach had Lou Johnson record the song as "Kentucky Bluebird": this version reached Billboard's "Bubbling Under the Hot 100" chart at #104 that fall. Johnson's single was also released in the UK where it was swiftly covered by Adam Faith as "Message to Martha", which reached #12 UK in November 1964, becoming Faith's last Top 20 hit. Featured on the Adam Faith album released in the US in March 1965 in the wake of Faith's US Top 40 hit "It's Alright", "Message to Martha" was performed by Faith on the Shindig! broadcast of 23 June 1965 but the track was not given a US single release. In Australia Faith's "Message to Martha" – as "Kentucky Bluebird" – was issued on a single with "It's Alright" in February 1965 and the single became a double-sided hit with a #15 peak.