This Guy's in Love with You topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks from June 22, 1968.
Herb Alpert, famous for his trumpet, sang the lead himself.
It was his first No. 1 single, and the first for his label, A&M.
Table of Contents
- A Song With an Earlier Life
- The Beat of the Brass
- One Take at the Piano
- Four Weeks at No. 1
- Dionne Warwick and the Covers
- FAQ
A Bacharach and David Song With an Earlier Life
"That Guy's in Love"
Burt Bacharach and Hal David wrote the song in 1967.
It was copyrighted on June 15, 1967, under the title "That Guy's in Love."
British singer Danny Williams recorded it as "That Guy's in Love with You" for a 1968 Deram LP.
Who Changed the Words?
The accounts do not quite agree.
Hal David, quoted by Robin Platts, said, "It was a song he was going to sing to his wife."
David added that "the lyric was not quite appropriate for what he wanted to say," so he rewrote parts of it.
Alpert, quoted in Bacharach's 2013 memoir, said the song reached him as "This Girl's in Love with You" and he asked for the gender change.
The revised lyric was registered on April 15, 1968.
The Beat of the Brass
By 1968 Alpert had a network television special of his own.
The Beat of the Brass aired on CBS on April 22, 1968.
Alpert told The Guardian that director Jack Haley Jr. pushed him to try something new.
Haley's words, as Alpert recalled them: "I'm tired of filming you with a trumpet in your mouth, why don't you try singing a song?"
In the filmed segment, Alpert walks through woodland and along the beach at Malibu, singing to his wife.
Songfacts says calls to CBS afterward pushed A&M to issue it as a single, which Alpert had not planned.
One Take at the Piano
As Far Out reports his account, "Burt played piano, and I did a rough vocal to see if my voice would fit."
Then Bacharach and the musicians came into the control room and told him to leave it alone.
"So it was one take," Alpert said.
Hal David's lyric is built almost entirely from one-syllable words.
Bacharach's arrangement does the rest, and Alpert still takes a trumpet solo before the end.
Four Weeks at No. 1
Between Simon & Garfunkel and Masekela
The single replaced Simon & Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson" at the top of the Hot 100.
It held No. 1 on the charts of June 22, June 29, July 6 and July 13, 1968.
Hugh Masekela's "Grazing in the Grass" took over on July 20.
It was also the first US No. 1 for Bacharach and David as a team.
| Chart | Peak |
|---|---|
| Billboard Hot 100 | No. 1 (four weeks) |
| Billboard Easy Listening | No. 1 |
| Canada (RPM) | No. 1 |
| Australia (Go-Set) | No. 1 |
| UK Singles (Official Charts) | No. 3 |
Gold, and a No. 1 Album
The RIAA certified the single Gold for a million copies.
In Britain it charted for 19 weeks, matching the No. 3 peak of "Spanish Flea" two years earlier.
The companion album, The Beat of the Brass, also reached No. 1 on Billboard's album chart.
Billboard ranked the single No. 7 for all of 1968.
Dionne Warwick and the Covers
"This Girl's in Love with You"
Dionne Warwick sang the female version on her November 1968 LP Promises, Promises.
Released as a single in 1969, it reached No. 7 on the Hot 100 and No. 7 on the R&B chart.
Other Versions
- Nancy Sinatra sang it on The Ed Sullivan Show on May 26, 1968.
- Eydie Gormé's 1968 single reached No. 22 on the Easy Listening chart.
- Australian band The Reels took it to No. 7 at home in 1982.
- Noel Gallagher sang it with Bacharach at the piano in London on June 29, 1996.
Where It Fits
It belongs to 1968, the year the Brass's leader stepped up to the microphone.
The full career is in our Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass biography.
For the wider sound, see our 1960s jazz and easy listening guide.
Or tune the Radio Dial to 1968 and hear what played around it.
FAQ
Who wrote Herb Alpert's 1968 No. 1?
Burt Bacharach wrote the music and Hal David wrote the words.
Bacharach also arranged Alpert's recording.
Was Alpert the first to record the song?
No.
British singer Danny Williams recorded an earlier version, "That Guy's in Love with You," on a 1968 Deram LP.
It was not a single and did not chart.
Did Herb Alpert usually sing?
No.
He was known as a trumpeter and bandleader, which is why a lead vocal from him surprised listeners in 1968.
Did Dionne Warwick record it?
Yes, as "This Girl's in Love with You."
Her version reached No. 7 on the Hot 100 in 1969.
What album is the song on?
The Beat of the Brass, the 1968 companion album to the CBS special.
It reached No. 1 on Billboard's album chart.
Wikipedia's entry on the song lists more chart runs and covers.
Press play above and hear This Guy's in Love with You, the one-take vocal that put a trumpeter at No. 1.