"Wishin' and Hopin'" is a song by Hal David and Burt Bacharach. It was first recorded by Dionne Warwick in early 1963, and released as the B-side of her second single "This Empty Place". The track later appeared on her debut album, Presenting Dionne Warwick and her third LP Make Way for Dionne Warwick in 1964. However, the song is best known in the United States for the hit version recorded by Dusty Springfield, which reached the U.S. Top Ten in the summer of 1964.
The song was also recorded by The Merseybeats, as well as many other artists, up to and including Stephanie McIntosh in (2006). Bacharach himself would record a version of the song, appearing his debut Kapp Records album Burt Bacharach Hitmaker! in 1965.
Singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco's rendition of this song is featured over the opening credits of the film My Best Friend's Wedding, which starred Julia Roberts, Dermot Mulroney, and Rupert Everett. That film, along with the Austin Powers films, is suggested to have led to the renewed popularity of the Bacharach-David catalog.
Australian singer Stephanie McIntosh recorded her version of the song in 2006, and it appears on her debut album Tightrope, but it does not appear on the UK version.
