Painted From Memory is a collaboration between Elvis Costello and famed sixties pop tunesmith Burt Bacharach, released September 29 1998, on Mercury Records, a division of Universal Music Group.
The collaboration commenced with "God Give Me Strength", a commission for the 1996 film Grace of My Heart, directed by Allison Anders and starring Illeana Douglas. Apparently pleased with the result, the pair expanded the project to this full album, the first for Costello after an absence of two years, and for Bacharach after an absence of 21 years. Lyrics and music are co-credited to both Bacharach and Costello.
A companion album was made concurrently by jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, released in 1999 on another Universal label, Decca Records, The Sweetest Punch. It consists of jazz arrangements of the Painted From Memory songs done by Frisell and his studio group. It features vocals by Costello on two songs, and by jazz singer Cassandra Wilson on two songs, one of which is a duet employing both.
Costello had long been a Bacharach fan, and had recorded several Bacharach songs, beginning with "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself," released on a 1978 Stiff Records compilation Live Stiffs.
Painted from Memory won a Grammy Award in 1998 for "Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals" for Bacharach and Costello.
