Known as the artist who "bridged the gap," Warwick's soulful blend of pop, gospel and R&B music transcended racial, cultural, national, and musical boundaries.
Throughout the 1980's and 1990's, Warwick collaborated with many of her musical peers, including Johnny Mathis, Smokey Robinson, Luther Vandross, Jeffrey Osbourne, Kashif and Stevie Wonder. Warwick was also host of the hit television music show, "Solid Gold." In addition, she recorded several theme songs, including "Champagne Wishes & Caviar Dreams," for the popular television series "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous," and "The Love Boat," for the hit series from Aaron Spelling. More recently, Warwick recorded her first Christmas album entitled "My Favorite Time of the Year" featured jazzy interpretations of many holiday classics. In 2007, Rhino Records re-released the CD with new cover art, a critically acclaimed Gospel album, "Why We Sing," for Rhino/Warner Records, and a new jazz album, "Only Trust Your Heart," a collection of standards, celebrating the music of legendary composer Sammy Cahn for Sony Red/MPCA Records.
Dionne Warwick has won 5 Grammy Awards during her music career:
• 1969: "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance" for the single, "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?"
• 1971: "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance" for the single, "I'll Never Fall in Love Again"
• 1979: "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance" for the single, "Déjà Vu"
• 1979: "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance" for the single, "I'll Never Love This Way Again"
• 1986: "Best Pop Performance By a Duo or Group With Vocal" for the single, "That's What Friends Are For"
Dionne Warwick was born in a musical family of which numerous superstars arose.
Warwick's sister Dee Dee Warwick had a successful singing career, Warwick's aunt is gospel singer Cissy Houston, and one of Warwick's cousins is Whitney Houston.
Close To You
Dionne Warwick Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Every time you are near?
Just like me, they long to be close to you (so close to you)
Why do stars fall down from the sky
Every time you walk by?
Just like me, they long to be close to you (so close to you)
And decided to create a dream come true
So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair
And gold and starlight in your eyes of blue
Your eyes of blue
And that is why all the girls in town
Follow you all around
Just like me (just like me) they long to be close to you (so close to you)
On the day that you were born, the angels got together
And decided to create a dream come true (a dream come true)
So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair, of gold
And starlight in your eyes of blue (your eyes of blue)
Your eyes of blue (your eyes of blue)
And that is why all of the girls in town
Follow you all around
Just like me (just like me) they long to be close to you (so close to you)
And just like me (and just like me)
They long to be
To be close to you (so close to you)
Hey, just like me
They want to be (so close to you)
Close, so very close
So very close to you (so close to you)
Close, so close
So close to you (so close to you)
So close, so very close
So very close to you
So close (So close to you)
The lyrics to Dionne Warwick's song Close to You describe the strong attraction and longing that the singer feels towards someone she admires. The song begins with her questioning the natural phenomena that seem to occur whenever this person is nearby, saying "Why do birds suddenly appear, every time you are near?" and "Why do stars fall down from the sky, every time you walk by?" The singer uses these observations to explain her own feelings, saying "Just like me, they long to be close to you (so close to you)."
The middle section of the song contains a vivid and poetic description of the person she admires, saying that "On the day that you were born, the angels got together and decided to create a dream come true." She describes how they "sprinkled moon dust in your hair, and gold and starlight in your eyes of blue" and declares that "that is why all the girls in town, follow you all around, just like me (just like me) they long to be close to you." The song ends with the singer reiterating her desire to be close to this person, saying "And just like me (and just like me), they long to be, to be close to you (so close to you)."
Overall, the lyrics to Close to You express feelings of admiration, attraction, and longing towards a particular person, using poetic language and vivid imagery to convey these emotions.
Line by Line Meaning
Why do birds suddenly appear
Why do birds seem to magically appear out of nowhere when you're around?
Every time you are near?
Is there some sort of mystical force that draws the birds to you when you're close by?
Just like me, they long to be close to you (so close to you)
I feel the same way that the birds do - I want to be close to you, so incredibly close.
Why do stars fall down from the sky
Why do stars fall out of the sky when you walk past?
Every time you walk by?
Is it because the stars are trying to get closer to you as you pass them?
And just like me (and just like me)
Like I said earlier, I feel the exact same way as those stars do.
They long to be
They want to be next to you, just like I do.
To be close to you (so close to you)
I want to be closer to you than anything else in the world.
On the day that you were born, the angels got together
The day you were born must have been a very special day - the angels themselves gathered together for it.
And decided to create a dream come true
They must have known that you were going to be something truly special - a dream come true.
So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair
To make sure that you were all set for your amazing life, they sprinkled moon dust in your hair.
And gold and starlight in your eyes of blue
They also made sure that you had the most beautiful eyes in the world - eyes that shone with gold and starlight.
And that is why all the girls in town
It's no wonder that all of the girls in town are drawn to you.
Follow you all around
They can't help but be near you, to see the amazing person that you are.
Close, so very close
I want to be even closer to you than the birds or stars ever could be.
So very close to you (so close to you)
I want to be right next to you, to feel your warmth and touch.
Lyrics © TuneCore Inc., BMG Rights Management
Written by: Burt Bacharach, Hal David
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
KATHY MARSAN
Close to you
Why do stars fall down from the sky
Every time you walk by?
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you
On the day that you were born the angels got together
And decided to create a dream come true
So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair of gold and starlight in your eyes of blue
That is why all the girls in town
Follow you all around
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you
On the day that you were born the angels got together
And decided to create a dream come true
So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair of gold and starlight in your eyes of blue
That is why all the girls in town
Follow you all around
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you
Wa, close to you
Wa, close to you
Ha, close to you
La, close to you
Evelyn Wright
This song brings tears to my eyes. My mom loved this song. Now I understand why she loved it. Love this song. She use to sing this to me.
Erik Schmieman
What a lovely mom
sagahammer
I always loved this version of the song because I was very much in to Dionne Burt and Hal aat that time. They are both excellent and very different. You can enjoy them both without taking sides.
Harriet Johnson
PLEASE check out Isaac Hayes’ version. It too is awesome!
65motowngirl
sagahammer me too. Dionne Warwick was my absolute favorite female vocalists when I was a teen. I loved this soulful version of this song far better than the Carpenters. Although The Carpenters had their hit version at a time I was dating a really special guy.
R.U. Kiddingme
This shows you just how important arrangement is. It's a great song, but it's missing something in this version, with a great singer like Dionne Warwick, and the other "Golden Throats" version with Richard Chamberlain. Richard Carpenter deserves all the credit for turning this around and into a #1 hit in 1979.
Harry Price
Even with all that said, pieces of the arrangements from the warwick and chamberlain versions showed up in Richard's version. You can definitely hear it in the break right after the words, "eyes of blue.." In the original arrangements, the piano alone does a solo triplet and then a solo quintuplet before the song gets going again, but Richard's version does quadruplets instead.
Harry Price
@Bruce Rogers Without Herb, and without his leadership and vision, the song could have sat on the shelf collecting dust. His vision for the new recording and the arrangement was modeled on the Carpenters' first album and other recordings. Arrangements are vital but they aren't everything...so many things go into a production...the intended market, the studio, the equipment, the spectators during the session, the location, the performers and their energy level for that day, the money, the amount of time and the time of day or night, the mixdown from multi-track, the stress level, etc....maybe even the weather has influence. Listening to Dionne Warwick's version, it sounded like her voice was stressed and unnatural, and maybe a little too high in the upper range.
Herb felt that the Carpenters were a good fit for the arrangement...that's why he requested Richard not to listen to any other arrangement...Herb wanted that undisturbed Carpenters sound. For example, I've made the same request in my own productions...I wanted the performance and the instrumentation to be pristine, natural and undiluted, and then sometimes, a serendipitous, unintentional moment would make the best performance and sound capture. So Richard gets most of the credit for the arrangement but doesn't get "all the credit" for turning it around.
Bruce Rogers
@Harry Price I just listened to an interview with Richard Carpenter. Herb gave the song to Richard to rearrange from scratch. Herb didn't want him hear this earlier version by Dionne Warwick before he started to work on it. Richard did put the final arrangement together that the Carpenters recorded and released in 1970 that became a hit.
Jason Burger
This version was originally released in 1964. The Carpenters released theirs in 1970. Theirs was a cover of hers. Both did well in their own musical styles. Notice how high Dionne had for a voice in the 1960s. It was a mezzo-soprano. It later on became and has stayed lower as a contralto.