I am a huge Hal David fan, I put him close, though not up there, with Ira Gershwin. In that sorta stratosphere of absolute genius lyricist and I don't mean poet not at all. . David was a playful prosaic with turn of phrase that sounded maybe smarter than it was. His best work, "I Say A Little Prayer" for instance, takes the mundane moment by moment of life, and makes it monumental emotional juggernaut. But "What The World Needs Now Is Love" for instance, can't exist outside of the song. Though written a couple of years before "All You Need IS Love", the lyric shines only dimly.
"Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" is another lyric, with its "feet to big for his bed" that shouldn't really work. It doesn't sound all that smart and yet… Both of these songs played a big role in a couple of movies. "World" at the climax of "Bob And Carol And Ted And Alice" where orgy doesn't happen and yet the friendship survives, and "Raindrops" in "Butch Cassidy And the Sundance Kid", which uses the lyrics uneasiness, a mix of happiness and distilling sadness who'd by the unspoken love between the couple as they whirl around on the bicycle.
In "Sundance", many things the movie doesn't say are hinted at with "Raindrops", the two note drop at the end of the verse is a change of mood. And the couple are so beautiful and Hollywood charming that Butch's inevitable death is clearly foreshadowed.
So what I'm suggesting is that David was the most useful of lyricists. It wasn't that he lacked soul, "This Guy's In Love With You" has a wonderful piece of undersell that feels poetic, "I can tell we know each other very well", but that he was a professional lyricist and if you want to see how difficult that is, check out Costello laboring on "Toledo". It isn't easy and while it is an art it is equally an art and a business.
Hal David died last week at the age of 91, but his words will always be in use.