THE guitarist of Oasis, Noel Gallagher, was once asked by a friend if he had heard much Burt Bacharach. When Noel said he had never heard of Burt, the friend played some records to which Noel knew every word.

Such is the prolificness of Bacharach, you could bet your house that everyone has heard one of his songs without even realising it.

But far from staying in the shadows the songwriter, though often not the leading performer, became a household name throughout the 1960s and 70s.

His compositions include I Say A Little Prayer For You, sung by both Aretha Franklin and Dionne Warwick, and I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself by Dusty Springfield, to name two.

Others include What's New Pussycat (Tom Jones), Magic Moments (Perry Como), Walk On By (Dionne Warwick), Close To You (The Carpenters) and Raindrop Keep Falling On My Head (BJ Thomas).

Despite scooping six Grammies and two Academy Awards, Bacharach admits he has not always made the right call on some of his biggest songs.

Speaking exclusively to The Guide from Los Angeles, US, he says, "I have been wrong on songs I thought were not good enough.

"What The World Needs Now Is Love is an example – I wrote the song with [lyrical legend] Hal David and played it with Dionne Warwick because Dionne at the time would have first look at anything we would write.

"We thought it might work for her but she didn't like it, she turned it down.

"I respected Dionne for her musicianship and taste, so I put it in a draw so as to speak.

"If it hadn't been for Hal... well... One day we were about to record with Jackie DeShannon and Hal asks, 'Where did you put that song?' I said, 'It's in the draw.'

"We played it with Jackie and she sang four bars, five bars, six bars. And boy, was I wrong! It was so great.

"But, you know, I like how sometimes you can be really wrong."

Let's get lyrical

Bacharach forged a songwriting partnership with Hal David, whose lyrics only enhanced such delicate, nuanced songwriting. It was a partnership that ran on and off from 1957 until 2011 when the pair were awarded the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. David died the following year, aged 91.

Bacharach, himself now 88, remembers, "They were great lyrics, great lyrics. Hal was a good buffer. I would go into the control room [where the mixing desk is in a music studio] and say, 'Hal how do you feel about this?' He would tell me.

"For me it was just a case of, 'Gimmee some words that sound great on these notes. It doesn't have to mean something.'

"And Hal wrote some amazing lyrics. At the end of the day, a bad lyric is a bad lyric."

Like many relationships, theirs had its bumps. The "big bump" arose during a failed attempt to remake the film Lost Horizon as a musical in 1973. It meant they didn't speak for ten years except through lawyers, with Bacharach retrospectively "taking the count" for the feud in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.

But Bacharach tells us he was big enough to know when his version of a song was not working.

"My original record for Close To Me [by The Carpenters] was terrible," he says, "just terrible rhythm, feel and everything."

The song was given a re-work by the sibling vocal duo and went on to become a worldwide favourite.

The acid test

Bacharach says the acid test of a good song is getting it into the studio with a band.

He says, "For me, it has always been the moment of truth when I take the song into the studio with the band, the artist and the strings with everything going on and it all connecting, everyone playing the song at the same time."

But what if you realise a song isn't working at that stage?

"If I ever got stuck with a record, I would give the band a ten-minute break and go into the men's room and close myself into a cubicle.

"There's no keyboard in there, of course - I would just put the song in my head and hear what's not working. Way more times than not I wouldn't have anyone around me to distract me or suggest things to me.

"That's where the song will live or die ... whether you can make that piece that you visualise in your head."

He says not every song is ready for the studio: "If you're trying to edit or critique your orchestration, you can do it on the spot with expensive musicians.

"But If I don't think a song's ready then the question is do we even go to the studio and record it? No - maybe ditch it.

"But again I have been wrong. I have written things that I thought were good possibilities."

There is a school of thought that good songs should come effortlessly, much like some of the Beatles' classics written in 15 minutes with an acoustic guitar. At the other end of the spectrum, some rock bands have spent years in the studio, only to produce sub-standard albums.

Under pressure...

Bacharach definitely veers towards the shorter end of the scale, citing Alfie as the composition that took the longest period of time to write.

"I wouldn't say Alfie was effortless," says Bacharach, "It took me three weeks. And if Paramount Pictures hadn't put pressure on me saying, 'You've gotta have it done, you've gotta have it done,' I would have taken another week, maybe two weeks.

"Pressure for me is good, like when someone says, 'Yeah, we're going into the studio in four days.'

"I have seen bands spend forever... a day trying to get a four-bar bass figure that sounds like the right part. That's kinda crazy because, when it's all said and done, it's the song that makes it, right?"

Bacharach wouldn't restrict himself, though.

He says, "I think even if it's written in 15 minutes, I like the chance to look at it 15 minutes later and maybe the next day, spend half an hour on it, improve it.

"I like to be able to have the option to check it out and hear it in my head, like I was saying about the men's room.

"Then I might think maybe I can make it a bit better. And then have that add-on time. I've not written many songs in one day."

All in the head

When Bacharach goes on to explain how he pieces together his music, it's easy to understand why they are not immediate.

He says, "When I write a song, the arrangement is being written in my head as well: where the strings play, where they don't play, do I use background singers or don't I, everything's pretty well written out. The song is born with the accompanying orchestration.

"Take a song like Walk On By, that was all written at the same time the song was written. It wasn't a case of, 'Let's add it on the day in the studio.'

"But there is a certain freedom because I always work with a rhythm section that is adjustable and has ideas. I will never write a drum part out. But I'll certainly say, 'That's not it, you didn't get it.' When I work with a rhythm section I try to use the same one; there's no ego going around and things feel good. They will hear everything else that's going on and that's key. They will hear what the singer is doing and change if they need to - there's an interconnect, they interact."

Magic formula?

Given his 73 US and 52 UK top-40 hits, one might wonder if Bacharach knows the formula for a good song.

"There is no formula," he says emphatically, "Memorability is the main thing. The work ethic should be to do as good as you can do. Don't force it into the wrong spot. It's hard to study composition. What really can be taught in a composition class? What constitutes good composing?

"Then again if you are commissioned to write a song for a film, you have to make it conform to the picture so it works."

The 1960s saw a turbulent change in the direction of pop music. Did Bacharach ever feel he was part of that?

He says, "I just knew that certain things I was doing were different and that they were right. And they became successful.

"They stayed in different time signatures, but it wasn't intentional. I wasn't trying to make listening to music hard for anybody. It shouldn't be difficult.

"I would talk to record company executives and they would say, 'If you change it this way, making that a four-bar phrase, which is more natural, we'll give you So-And-So to record the song.' There goes the song. Ruined.

"But you need that first hit with a record label. It frees you up so you can be more creative."

Right place, right time

He remembers getting his first film score gig (for 1965 film What's New Pussycat) by bumping into the right man at the right time.

"I wanted to score a movie but it was an accident," says Bacharach, "I happened to be in London at the Dorchester Hotel and met Charles Feldman, who needed a composer for What's New Pussycat. That's how I got it. That opened the door to Butch Cassidy and Raindrops."

Bacharach ranks Dionne Warwick as the best singer he worked with because of the wealth of material produced and also fondly remembers the 1998 Painted From Memory album sessions, collaborating with Elvis Costello. "When we wrote those songs together, that was something," Bacharach remembers, "and then performing them..." he trails off wistfully.

With his headline appearance at Love Supreme coming a year after a set at Glastonbury, Bacharach feels he still has something to offer.He says, "I like doing it. I would like to become an ambassador for goodwill. It sounds very pompous but these are tough times for the world.

"I have not written many up-tempo tunes. Take The Windows Of The World, What The World Needs Now Is Love, Alfie, A House Is Not A Home, That's What Friends Are For. These are all songs that tug a little bit at people's hearts.

"A lot of the music I have written and performed gets you in the heart.

"It's emotional."

Burt Bacharach headlines the main stage of Love Supreme in Glynde Place, near Lewes, on Sunday, July 3 at 8.30pm, visit lovesupremefestival.com.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

AN array of international artists from across the musical spectrum fill the line-up for the Love Supreme jazz festival in Glynde, near Lewes.

Set in Glynde Place within the South Downs, its programme crosses jazz, soul, hip-hop and R 'n' B.

As well as songwriting legend Burt Bacharach (featured above), the festival sees performances from four-time Grammy-winning US bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding and multi-million-selling French trumpeter Erik Truffaz’s quartet lining-up as well as our picks below.

SKYE/ROSS FROM MORCHEEBA - Saturday, main stage, 5.45pm

Skye Edwards and Ross Godfrey, the singer and guitarist of Morcheeba bring a signature mix of their influences from trip hop, blues and downtempo soul to the festival.

LIANNE LA HAVAS - Saturday, main stage, 7.30pm

Lianne La Havas released her hybrid of folk and soul as a four-track EP featuring a duet with Willy Mason in October 2011. Two months later she was nominated for the BBC's Sound Of 2012 poll. Her first album, Is Your Love Big Enough?, charted at number five. Her second album, the bolder and more produced Blood, followed in 2015.

GRACE JONES - Saturday, main stage, 9.30pm

Grace Jones secured her first record deal in 1977 resulting in a string of dance-club hits. Three disco albums established her as a major recording artist. Jones was often photographed by Andy Warhol and became the subject of a series of iconic portraits, and later found equal fame for film roles including Conan The Destroyer (1984) and A View To A Kill (1985).

GILLES PETERSON - Saturday, arena, 10pm

Best known as a presenter on BBC 6Music, the international club DJ is also an avid record collector, a curator and music producer. He has a history of running record labels, including Acid Jazz in the late 1980s and Talkin Loud in the 1990s through to his current venture, Brownswood Recordings, which focuses on underground music.

GOGO PENGUIN - Sunday, big top, 3.45pm

The Manchester-based trio mash up minimalist piano themes, propulsive bass lines and electronica-inspired drums, seeing them shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize. They have signed a multi-album deal with famous jazz label Blue Note Records. They released album Man Made Object in February.

KELIS - Sunday, main stage, 4.45pm

Now on her sixth album, Kelis describes her new work as "a kind of unspoken lovefest" - sounds almost ideal for this gathering. Her big hits of the past include Got Your Money, Caught Out There and 2003 global smash Milkshake. Having been difficult to pigeon-hole in the past, the results this time are said to be unexpected and highly personal.

CARO EMERALD - Sunday, main stage, 6.30pm

Caroline Esmeralda van der Leeuw, known by her stage name of Caro Emerald, is a Dutch pop and jazz singer heading to the festival. She debuted in July 2009 and, after scoring a number one in her homeland continues her musical march with a Brighton Centre show next year.

Love Supreme runs from Friday, July 1, until Sunday, July 3. Weekend tickets start at £110 and day tickets are £54. For more information, visit lovesupremefestival.com.