Burt Bacharach apparently is a philosopher, after all (apologizes to Monty Python's Meaning of Life!) He has written several anti-war songs for his new album.

"You could say 'how does a guy who has written love songs his entire life suddenly decide to rock the boat?'" he said.

"I thought that was very important because I couldn't have somebody else write these lyrics."

He added: "I never was a political person in my life. I wrote songs during Vietnam, not about Vietnam. I was just writing love songs. Leading my own life in my own insulated world."

I'm grateful he decided to take himself out of that insulated world. It will be interesting to hear the album. My mom took my daughter to a Burt Bacharach concert over the summer (or was it last summer?) Hannah loved it, even though her musical tastes lean towards punk. I'll bet she's going to love him even more now.