David's lyrics tells the tale of a distraught lover, who after getting dumped by his girlfriend browses through his "little red book" and taking out several girls to dance in a vain effort to get over her.

Issued through Ascot Records in the United States on May 26, 1965, "My Little Red Book" was released in place of Manfred Mann's contemporary UK single "Oh No, Not My Baby".

By the mid-1960s, Burt Bacharach and Hal David were an established and respected songwriting duo, responsible for several hit singles with easy listening artists such as Dionne Warwick and Gene Pitney.

[2] David and Bacharach were already composing music for a contemporary movie, Made in Paris (1966) and were afraid they wouldn't have time for both projects at once; this issue was solved when they had an agent hired by John Heyman, who believed What's New Pussycat?

[4] The song lyrically refers to a man missing his previous girlfriend, though in a vain effort to get over her, "goes from A to Z in his red book", implied to be a telephone directory or an "affectionate journal detailing girls he admired.

[8] Despite having hits with rhythm and blues-oriented compositions, Manfred Mann's original musical style was largely rooted in jazz, which was useful when Bacharach used them as a basis for writing the song.

[9] He had no previous experience in working with a pop band and had opposed of rock and roll during the 1950s;[10] to spite Manfred Mann, Bacharach composed "My Little Red Book" with several unorthodox modulations and chord progressions.

[7] Manfred Mann were scheduled to appear at the EMI Studio in London by United Artists after being told that "Burt, Angie and Hal" would be present there.

She states it lacks anything characteristic of Manfred Mann besides "Paul Jones" edgy, rough vocals, which meant that the version was relatively simple in terms of overdubbing.

[15] Vickers also had trouble figuring out the chords for the song, while Bacharach found bass guitarist Tom McGuinness to be the only member that understood his songwriting.

soundtrack album than it did as a stand-alone item "My Little Red Book" nonetheless became one of the worst performing singles during Manfred Mann's original tenure.

in theater, bandleader Arthur Lee and lead guitarist Johnny Echols decided to add "My Little Red Book" to the band's setlist.

[38] Biographer John Einarson highlights the recording practices used on the track as adding to its appeal, particularly the instruments being "mixed high and loud" which gave it "a dynamic presence and immediacy.

"[33] Holzman credited this to Botnick's mixing; however, he also said that the "signature Elektra approach" involved very close microphone placement to make the instruments "sound bigger.

"[33] For Love's debut album, Botnick explained that they "basically played their [live] set",[39] a point that rhythm guitarist Bryan MacLean echoed.

[40] Although Lee liked the arrangement of Manfred Mann's version,[38] Love had increased the song's tempo[33] and accentuated its beat,[41] giving it "a stomping, tambourine-fueled rhythm" (Mason).

"[33] Lee, who was a fan of Paul Jones,[38] gave a "snarling" vocal performance which AllMusic's Stewart Mason says "seem[s] only barely to mask a suppressed fury".

[52] In a contemporary review, Cash Box named the single their "Newcomer Pick" of the week, describing it as a "mighty impressive re-working" that features "an imaginative slow starting but effectively-building rhythmic style with a catchy, continuing throbbing beat.

"[53] Guitarist Sterling Morrison named the song one of his favorites and said that his band the Velvet Underground would listen to it repeatedly and try "to unlock Love's sound".

[33] Early Pink Floyd manager Peter Jenner said that the song "Interstellar Overdrive" originated when he tried to hum the riff from Love's "My Little Red Book" to Syd Barrett.

[46] Bacharach himself wrote in his 2013 memoir: "although I didn't like their version because they were playing the wrong chords, it was nice to have a hit that gave me some credibility in the world of rock and roll.