Remember When an Obscure Movie Brought Together Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach in 1996?

Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello developed a songwriting partnership that the world didn’t know it needed. Their 1998 album Painted From Memory pooled their respective strengths and stood out as one of the most moving albums of the decade.

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None of that would have happened had the pair not been brought together for a project. That project was a 1996 movie, now largely forgotten, that featured the first collaboration between the musical giants.

Saving ‘Grace’

The movie in question was called Grace Of My Heart. Starring Illeana Douglas, it’s an extremely loose retelling of the career and life arc of Carole King. It follows Douglas’ lead character as she makes her way from songwriter to artist in her own right, with plenty of obstacles and false starts along the way.

Since Douglas was already standing in for King, the filmmakers decided to include other characters who could easily be traced back to 60s musical legends. John Turturro plays a Phil Spector-like producer and publisher, while Matt Dillon takes on a character that resembles Brian Wilson.

At one crucial point in the movie, Douglas’ character finally gets a chance to record a single. She chooses a song that she has recently written. While an outstanding song, its highly personal nature contributes to it flopping when released to the public. The song producers chose for that portion of the movie was “God Give Me Strength”, the first co-write from Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach.

When EC Met BB

In 1995, Costello and Bacharach were contacted by the filmmakers to work on a song for the soundtrack. The two men had met years earlier when Costello was making the album Spike. He had invited Bacharach, who was working nearby, to the studio to hear the song “Satellite”, which Elvis admitted owed a debt to some of Burt’s 60s classics.

When both men agreed to the gig for Grace Of My Heart, Costello quickly sketched out some lyrics and a melody for a song called “God Give Me Strength”. He faxed sheet music of the song to Bacharach to begin the process.

Bacharach quickly followed up with his own fax. This missive included a version of the song with some melodic changes, a part for a flugelhorn at the start of the track, and a new bridge. Costello followed up by writing the words to the bridge. In this back-and-forth, long-distance manner, the two men created “God Give Me Strength”.

“Strength” in Numbers

Costello and Bacharach convened in New York City to record the song. The producers of the movie loved it when they heard it. It appeared in the film sung by the lead character. Meanwhile, the version with Costello singing over Bacharach’s orchestration appeared as the lead track to the Grace Of My Heart soundtrack.

Unfortunately, “God Give Me Strength” didn’t get much exposure because Grace Of My Heart didn’t do that well at the box office. The song didn’t receive any Oscar nominations, although it did get a Grammy nod. (It lost.)

Nonetheless, Costello and Bacharach realized that the song was a towering piece of work. It wasn’t long before they were in the planning stages for an entire album. Painted From Memory appeared in 1998. And “God Give Me Strength”, the pair’s first piece of work, earned pride of place as the closing track on that wonderful LP.

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