This Bitter Earth

1960 single by Dinah Washington

"This Bitter Earth"

Single by Dinah Washington

from the album Unforgettable

A-side

"I Understand"

Released

1960

Recorded

1959

Genre

jazz, soul

Length

2:30

Label

Mercury Records

Songwriter(s)

Clyde Otis

Producer(s)

Clyde Otis

Dinah Washington singles chronology

"A Rockin' Good Way (to Mess Around and Fall in Love)"
(1960)

"This Bitter Earth"
(1960)

"Love Walked In"
(1960)

"This Bitter Earth" is a 1960 song made famous by rhythm and blues singer Dinah Washington.^[1] Written and produced by Clyde Otis,^[2]^[3] it peaked to #1 on the U.S. R&B charts for the week of July 25, 1960, and also reached #24 on the U.S. pop charts.^[4]

Charts

Chart (1960)	Peak position
US Billboard Top Pop Songs	24
US Billboard Hot R&B Songs	1

Other recordings

In 1964, Aretha Franklin released a version on her album Unforgettable: A Tribute to Dinah Washington for Columbia Records.
In May 1970, The Satisfactions released a version, reaching #36 on the U.S. R&B charts.^[4]
Miki Howard recorded a version that appears on her 1992 album, Femme Fatale.
In 2004, break-core musician Venetian Snares used vocals from this song in his own composition with the same title on his mini-album Moonglow/This Bitter Earth.^[5]
Gladys Knight recorded the song for her 2006 album Before Me.
Deborah Cox recorded the song for her 2007 album Destination Moon.
On June 10, 2010, the song featured in So You Think You Can Dance, in a routine choreographed by Mia Michaels.
The song was featured on the soundtrack for the 2010 Martin Scorsese film Shutter Island, in the form of a mashup with Max Richter's "On the Nature of Daylight."^[6] In 2012, the mashup was featured as the accompanying track to the launch trailer of The Secret World, an MMORPG from developer Funcom, published by Electronic Arts. It was also used in the Christopher Wheeldon's dance Five Movements, Three Repeats.^[7] The pas de deux set to the mashup was added to New York City Ballet's repertory later that year.^[8] The track featured on Richter's 2018 double-album The Blue Notebooks: 15 Years Edition.^[9]
Erykah Badu and Nas released "This Bitter Land," which featured on the soundtrack of Steven Caple Jr.'s 2016 film The Land.
In 2021 Veronica Swift released her adaptation of the Max Richter arrangement of the song.

Elsewhere in popular culture

The song is a key piece in the 1978 film Killer of Sheep by director Charles Burnett.^[10]

Notes and references

^ "The Essential Dinah Washington - The Great Songs". musicbabylon.com. Archived from the original on 2013-01-29.
^ "Clyde Otis Music Group Beginnings". tcomg.com. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29.
^ "This Bitter Earth". BMI.com. Archived from the original on 2012-07-15.
^ ^a ^b Goldberg, Marv (2007). "The Marvels". Marv Goldberg's R&B Notebooks. Archived from the original on 2008-07-19.
^ Venetian Snares "This Bitter Earth".bandcamp
^ Bambarger, Bradley (March 12, 2010). "Shutter Island soundtrack casts eerie spell". New Jersey On-Line. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
^ Macaulay, Alastair (September 28, 2012). "Old Favorite Returns, Freshness Still In Its Step". The New York Times.(subscription required)
^ Macaulay, Alastair (September 21, 2012). "All This in the Name of Fashion". The New York Times.(subscription required)
^ Richter, Max (2018). The Blue Notebooks: 15 Years Edition. Deutsche Grammophon.
^ Turan, Kenneth (April 6, 2007). "Killer of Sheep". Los Angeles Times.