Jackie DeShannon — “Windows and Doors”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — May 8, 2024

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,202) Jackie DeShannon — “Windows and Doors”

This ’66 A-side, a Burt Bacharach/Hal David composition, is a “haunting” and “underrated gem[]” (Joe Marchese, https://theseconddisc.com/2011/01/06/come-and-get-them-upcoming-releases-due-from-deshannon-nelson-and-more/), “a wonderful, haunting ballad with a gorgeous melody – a secret favourite of the big Bacharach/David catalogue” (Xanadu, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2vJtIfD5HA), with “a melody that can’t be beat and a quaint ‘60s philosophical quotient: “True love is something you can’t buy in stores.” (Jeff Gemmill, https://oldgreycat.blog/2020/04/05/the-essentials-jackie-deshannons-are-you-ready-for-this/)

Serene Dominic adds some snark:

After two despairing singles, Bacharach and David return Jackie DeShannon to the gentle social relevance of “What the World Needs Now.” Instead of not needing another mountain or river, Jackie’s rejecting the need for more ceilings and floors. “If we have each other,” she concludes, “that’s all we need.“

Burt Bacharach: Song By Song

Billboard predicted (Oct. 29, 1966) that “Windows”, “an excellent showcase for the talented vocalist . . . should quickly spiral up the charts.” Alas, it only reached #108.

As to Jackie, Steve Leggett writes that:

Jackie DeShannon is best known as a pop singer who scored a handful of memorable pop hits in the 1960s . . . . [but this] just scratches the surface of [her] accomplishments. She was also a gifted songwriter who wrote hits for the Byrds, the Searchers, Irma Thomas, and Kim Carnes . . . . [By 1965] her sessions were dominated by her own songs, a rare accomplishment for a female artist at the time. In the ’70s, she blossomed into a sophisticated recording artist whose best work . . . stood beside that of Carole King and Joni Mitchell . . . . Born Sharon Lee Meyers in Hazel, Kentucky . . . [she] was singing country songs on a local radio show by the time she was six years old. By 11, she was hosting her own show . . . . [She] recorded regional singles under various names as a teenager . . . . Her versions of a pair of country songs . . . caught the ear of rocker Eddie Cochran, who sought her out and introduced her to his girlfriend, singer, and songwriter Sharon Sheeley. [The two women] began writing songs together, including “I Love Anastasia” (a hit for the Fleetwoods) and “Dum Dum” (a hit for Brenda Lee). Myers signed a recording contract with Liberty Records in 1960. By this point she . . . become known as Jackie DeShannon . . . . Although she . . . release[d] fine singles . . . she only had moderate success on the charts. Her biggest break came when she opened for the Beatles on the group’s first U.S. tour in 1964 . . . . DeShannon moved briefly to England the next year and began writing songs with a pre-Led Zeppelin Jimmy Page . . . . [She q]uickly bec[ame] an A-list songwriter . . . . Moving to New York, DeShannon began writing songs with a pre-fame Randy Newman . . . . In 1965, [she] finally conquered the pop charts with her version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “What the World Needs Now Is Love[]” . . . . In 1969 she returned to the pop charts with her own “Put a Little Love in Your Heart,” following it with the only slightly less successful “Love Will Find a Way.” DeShannon left New York and moved to Los Angeles, signing with Atlantic in 1970 — although her work for the label was critically acclaimed . . . [her] fine albums . . . failed to find large audiences. . . . “Bette Davis Eyes,” which DeShannon co-wrote with Donna Weiss, was a huge hit for Kim Carnes in 1981.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/jackie-deshannon-mn0000127451#biography

Here is a wonderful cover by the UK’s Truly Smith:

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