They gave us ‘the scores of our lives’

They not only wrote the songs the whole world sings, they performed them in “The Writer, the Singer, the Song.” Hal David, Charlie Fox, David Gates, Albert Hammond, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil shared the spotlight at the one-night-only gig produced at the Directors Guild Theater for members of the Music Center’s Blue Ribbon support group.

“Hal David and Burt Bacharach have given us the scores of our lives,” said emcee Paul Williams as he introduced David, the Oscar-winning lyricist who sang his classic “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head.”

“I thought of the first four lines in one fell swoop -- that doesn’t happen very often,” said David, whose wife, Eunice David, chaired the gala benefiting the Blue Ribbon and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. After crooning “If,” his high-pitched ‘70s hit, Gates said: “If I’d known I’d be singing this years later I’d have written it in a lower key.” Also on the playlist at the Oct. 28 event: “Ready to Take a Chance Again,” performed by Fox; “It Never Rains in Southern California,” by Hammond; “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” by Mann; and “The Rainbow Connection,” by Williams. Performers Sally Kellerman, Patti Austin, Leo Sayer, James Ingram and Jackie DeShannon also thrilled the crowd with tributes. “Leo, if I could sing like you, I’d be arrogant,” Williams said.