Make It Easy on Yourself

"Make It Easy on Yourself" is a popular song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David which was first a hit for Jerry Butler in 1962. The best known version is the 1965 recording by the Walker Brothers for whom it was a No. 1 UK hit. Dionne Warwick, who made a demo of this song in early 1962, later had a hit with the song in 1970. Jerry Butler Chicago-based Vee-Jay Records head A&R man Calvin Carter brought back "Make It Easy on Yourself" from a trip to New York City scouting song publishers. Carter played the demo, featuring Dionne Warwick's vocal, for Vee-Jay artist Jerry Butler who commented: "Man, it's a great song, and the girl who's singing it, and the arrangement, is a hit." When Carter explained that Florence Greenberg, the owner of Scepter Records who'd recently signed Warwick, was not interested in "Make It Easy on Yourself" Butler recalls being "ecstatic" and, wanting the same arrangement featured on the demo flew to New York City to record the song in a session overseen by Burt Bacharach (although Bacharach's official credit was limited to arranger). "Make It Easy on Yourself" was released in June 1962 to reach No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 that August; the track's R&B chart peak was No. 18. The Walker Brothers The most successful pop version of "Make It Easy on Yourself" was the 1965 single by the Walker Brothers which reached No. 16 on the Hot 100 that December; this version had been a No. 1 hit in the UK in September 1965. The song appeared as the opening song on the group's début studio album Take It Easy with the Walker Brothers and as the opening song on side 2 of their début US album Introducing the Walker Brothers.