Comments: 10

• Joe from New Orleans, Louisiana, UsaAmazing the lyricist says this line meant nothing: 'what will you lend on an old golden rule' .... the golden rule is widely accepted in most cultures (even among atheists) as "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" (as in treat others as you would like to be treated by them) -- a sentiment which fits perfectly with the overall challenge the song poses to its title character, Alfie, a self-centered, post-war, would-be playboy with a love-them-and-leave-them approach to women, even if he impregnates them. The song questions the meaning of life: 'what's it all about, alfie, is it just for the moment we live....are we meant to take more than we give or are we meant to be kind? ... and if only fools are kind, alfie, then i guess we are wise to be cruel, and if life belong only to the strong, alfie, what will you lend on an old golden rule?" the song inventories alfie's shallow, self-centered, self-justifying way of thinking and living to show how misguided and contrary to the golden rule he is.....as are many if not most other humans, especially the unwise when they are young. GEEZUZ ! How can the writer of such a lyric have stumbled stupidly into including it just to fill space and claim it had/has no meaning at all - it must be Divine Intervention that he wrote it at all .... or a demonstration that there is no god and everything is just random and accidental, including the most important message lyric of a great song.
• Babbling Babette from Tulsa OkI've always loved this song, although I wasn't alive when it was released. Later in life, I inherited my big sister's record collection including the movie soundtrack LP (Cher's verson included) and then Dionne Warwick's single. I listened to both recordings. Both have great merits. My personal favorite is Warwick's version though. Her voice really did it for me. I'm a fan of both singers, but Warwick has such a unique vocal expertise it is just hands-down the best version for me.
  
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn July 24th 1966, "Alfie" by Cher entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #62; and on August 21st, 1966 it peaked at #32 (for 1 week) and spent 6 weeks on the Top 100...
  The week that Cher's version peaked at #32, Britain's Cilla Black's version of the song entered the Top 100 at position #98, her version stayed on the chart for 3 weeks, peaking at #95...
  On March 12th, 1967 Dionne Warwick entered the Top 100 with her version, eventually it would peaked at #15...
  And in 1968 Eivets Rednow, actually Stevie Wonder spelled backwards, released an instrumental version, it reached #66.
• Barry from Sauquoit, Ny"Alfie" was nominated for Best Song at the 1966 Academy Awards {Lost to "Born Free"}!!!
• Jake from Lubbock, TxAccording to Dionne Warwick, Bacharach and David wanted her to record the song for the movie but the British producers of the movie wanted English singer Cilla Black. When the movie arrived here in the USA, it was distributed by United Artists and they wanted one of their singers (Cher) to record the song for the soundtrack. Dionne claims to be the 43rd person to record "Alfie" and the "only" one to have a hit record with it.
• Guy from Woodinville, WaNot to sidetrack this Ken, but Brian Epstein had many cleints besides the Beatles, including Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer, the Fourmost, the Cyrkle, and Cilla Black.
• Larry from New York City, NyIt is funny how "THE BIGGEST" singer at the time get to record a track for new movie. Althought Cher's version wasn't sucessfully as Dionne Warwick's version, it still captured the mood of the time and the low key element of the movie. It wasn't supposed to be a love song, but someone who is brokenhearted by this man named "Alfie". Some day you should watch the movie and be open to Cher's version of this wonderful song.
• Garrett from Nashville, TnBacharach and David are one of the most celebrated and successful songwriting teams in popular music history. Out of their many, many hits, BOTH usually cite this one as their #1 favorite.
• Ken from Louisville, KyBacharach and David were not happy with Cher's soundtrack version and wanted Cilla Black (Brian Epstien's other client, besides the Beatles) to sing this, since they liked how she sang an earlier song of their's called "Anyone Who Had A Heart". Her version was a top-10 hit in the U.K. But Warwick's manager urged them to allow Dionne to sing the U.S. version. Ironically, Warwick had also done a version of "Anyone Who Had A Heart" in the U.S.
  
  
  
  
• Todd from Atlanta, GaCher actually sang the song "Alfie" in the 1966 movie and is included on the movie soundtrack. Cher's version peaked at #32. When Dionne Warwick released her version about 9 months later, it charted higher and is now considered by many, but of course not all, to be the definitive version.

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