Watch Elvis Costello Honor Friend & Collaborator Burt Bacharach In New York City

Elvis Costello’s “100 Songs And More” 10-concert residency at New York City’s Gramercy Theatre began last night. The solo performance saw Costello honoring his late former collaborator, Burt Bacharach, who died Wednesday at age 94.

Costello and Bacharach first worked together on the song “God Give Me Strength,” for the 1995 film Grace of My Heart. The song also appeared alongside 11 other Costello/Bacharach compositions that made up their 1998 album, PAuinted From Memory. That same year saw Costello and Bacharach recorded “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” for the soundtrack to the Austin Powers sequel The Spy Who Shagged Me, with the pair making a memorable cameo in the film.

A compilation album, The Songs of Bacharach & Costello, will be released on March 3. Curated by Costello, the album “brings together all of the published songs” written over the years by Costello and Bacharach.

During Thursday’s “100 Songs” concert, Costello addressed the crowd to honor Bacharach. Costello told the Gramercy Theatre audience:

“A really great man left us yesterday. People say when people reach a great age, they say, ‘Well it was a good ending.’ It’s never time to say goodbye to somebody if you love them and I’m not ashamed to say I did love this man and for everything he gave – Mr. Burt Bacharach.

“If any of you are coming here once [pianist] Steve [Nieve] arrives [for the final five songs of the residency]… we will of course be delving into the songbook that Burt and I assembled over 30 years of working together. I always like the opportunity to play one of his songs. I wanted to sing a gentle song of his and I’m thinking about Jane his wife and Raleigh, Oliver and Christopher, his children – and all the people.

“I read an extraordinary, I have to say, not tremendously insightful, article in The New York Times today – there was a long list of items the writer didn’t know or understand. At one moment he made the strange claim that Burt Bacharach, the man who wrote the music for ‘What The World Needs Now Is Love,’ was [an] apolitical one. I can’t help you with that one.”

Costello then performed “Baby It’s You,” which was written by Bacharach and Luther Dixon and recorded by The Shirelles and The Beatles, among others. Later in the evening, Costello also performed “Anyone Who Had a Heart” which was co-written by Bacharach and his frequent partner Hal David and popularized by Dionne Warwick. Watch audience-shot video of “Baby It’s You” and “Anyone Who Had A Heart” below: