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- [00:00]
Chris Melanfi
You're listening ad free on Amazon Music. Hey there Hit Parade listeners. What you're about to hear is Part one of this episode. Part two will arrive in your podcast feed at the end of the month. Would you like to hear this episode all at once the day it drops? Sign up for Slate Plus. It supports not only this show, but all of Slate's acclaimed journalism and podcasts. Just go to slate.com hitparadeplus you'll get to hear every Hit Parade episode in full the day it arrives. Plus Hit Parade the Bridge, our bonus episodes with guest interviews, deeper dives on our episode topics, and pop chart trivia. Once again to join, that's slate.com hitparadeplus thanks and now please enjoy part one of the of this Hit Parade episode. Barbra Streisand welcome to Hit Parade, a podcast of pop chart history from Slate Magazine about the hits from coast to coast. Chris I'm Chris Melanfy, chart analyst, pop critic and writer of Slate's why Is this Song number one series on today's show. Back in 2010, this Disco House single by a Canadian American duo who called themselves Duck Sauce reached the top of Billboard's Club Songs chart. The song's title was taken from its only intelligible lyrics. Besides a series of woos. Those lyrics comprised just two words. Barbra Streisand Barbra Streisand. Barbra Streisand the word iconic gets thrown around a lot in popular culture, but you truly are an icon When a chart topping hit is not only named after you, it refers to only you. By the way, the actual Barbra Streisand later said she was flattered by the club song bearing her name. And why not? 31 years earlier to the week, Streisand herself topped the club chart, then called the disco chart as well as the Hot 100 with her Donna Summer duet no More Tears. Enough Is Enough. What's more, at the turn of the 2010s real life, Barbra Streisand was doing fun fine on the charts herself. The year before Duck Sauces hit, she'd topped the Billboard 200 album chart with her ninth number one album in an upset over Mariah Carey.
- [03:37]
Barbra Streisand
That's the time you miss him most.
- [03:46]
Chris Melanfi
When she scored that chart topping CD in late 2009, Streisand became the only artist to score a number one album in five decades. Barbra was topping the charts as far back as the 60s, in the midst of the British Invasion and Motown. Gee, it's all.
- [04:12]
Barbra Streisand
Fine and dandy.
- [04:17]
Chris Melanfi
By the 70s, Streisand was scoring chart topping singles to go with her blockbuster LPs. She was simultaneously one of the biggest movie stars and pop stars in America.
- [04:35]
Barbra Streisand
And you don't bring me flowers anymore.
- [04:42]
Chris Melanfi
Indeed, that was what made Strike and Unusual. She built her stage, screen and pop chart fame all at the same time. Her film and Broadway fame boosted her hits from the 60s.
- [04:57]
Barbra Streisand
If someone takes a spill, it's me and not you who told you you're allowed to rain on my parade?
- [05:05]
Chris Melanfi
How much my band through the 80s 90s and Bey. When she worked with contemporary hit makers, she proved adaptable. From disco auteurs, Two husky rock stars.
- [05:45]
Barbra Streisand
Someone to share my life, I finally.
- [05:49]
Chris Melanfi
Found the world and a half century before our current crop of self powered female performers were asserting themselves as young women and setting chart records. Streisand was doing the same starting in her teens and early 20s. Some of those chart records by women performers previously belonged to her.
- [06:27]
Barbra Streisand
I am woman. You are mad.
- [06:37]
Chris Melanfi
Today on Hit Parade we will take on the Voice, AKA Barbara Joan, AKA Babs as Barbra Streisand cycles back into public consciousness thanks to her long awaited, recently published and best selling memoir. This Time the Streisand Effect is she wants us to pay attention. We consider her estimable chart feats and ask is this overanalyzed, much loved and much hated celebrity now maybe a little underrated after all, 50 years ago this very week, Streisand was topping the charts with a single that swept through popular culture like a colossus. Lest we forget our misty watercolored memories.
- [07:31]
Barbra Streisand
Misty watercolor memories of the way we were.
- [07:43]
Chris Melanfi
And that's where your hit parade marches today, the week ending February 2, 1974, when the Way We Were reached number one on Billboard's Hot 100, Barbra Streisand's first pop chart topper, but certainly not her last. The song from the smash movie of the same name, pairing her with actor Robert Redford, affirmed Streisand as the seventies queen of all media and a legitimate pop star more than a decade after she broke on Broadway. How did Babs use those golden pipes of hers to bring old school showbiz into the era of rock, funk, soul and disco? How did she keep scoring pop hits through the end of the 20th century and platinum albums deep into the 21st? Why is Taylor Swift only now, decades later, beating her chart records? Don't feel guilty if you haven't pondered this before. Hit Parade won't let you choose to forget. Trust us, it will be like Butter. Stick around.
- [09:21]
Barbra Streisand
Why do you know? Why aren't you scared of me? Why do you care for me?
- [09:27]
Chris Melanfi
We just got through another Grammy Awards cycle in which a slew of young women in their 20s and early 30s swept the prizes. And it got me thinking about past winners. Winners like Billie Eilish, who in 2020 became the youngest person to take home album of the year when she won for her LP When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? Eilish was a little over a month past her 18th birthday. It was an impressive feat, but Eilish was not the first Grammy winner to take the big prize on her debut album at a precocious age. Back in 1964, just three weeks past her 22nd birthday, Barbra Streisand won the same prize for an LP recorded when she was still only 20. Cross.
- [10:44]
Barbra Streisand
Me a River, Cry me a River.
- [10:49]
Chris Melanfi
It was a Grammy benchmark that Streisand held for more than 30 years until Alanis Morissette won the prize at a slightly younger age in 1996. Decades before Billy, before Alanis, before Taylor, Barbara was showing what an assertive young woman could achieve. And speaking of Taylor.
- [11:18]
Barbra Streisand
This man's careful daughter, you are the best thing that's ever been mine.
- [11:25]
Chris Melanfi
Just last summer, when Taylor Swift debuted ATOP the Billboard 200 album chart with her LP Speak Now, Taylor's version, it became Swift's 12th career number one album. That made Swift the woman with the most number one LPs in chart history. And who did Taylor beat for that milestone? Yep, Barbra Streisand scored her 11th number one album less than a decade ago in 2016. By the way, Streisand remains the only act to have achieved number one albums in six decades. The 1960s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s and 2000s. Taylor Swift has quite a ways to go to equal that benchmark. And even though we're almost halfway through the 2000s and Streisand is nearing her 82nd birthday, I wouldn't put it past her to top the album chart again.
- [12:40]
Barbra Streisand
Everyone is beautiful at the ballet.
- [12:48]
Chris Melanfi
Every.
- [12:49]
Barbra Streisand
Prince has got to have.
- [12:52]
Chris Melanfi
So that's how Streisand came back on chart followers radar last summer. Then in November, she landed on everybody else's radar with the release of her long, long awaited autobiography, My Name Is Barbara. How long awaited? Reportedly, former first lady and then Doubleday book editor Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis asked Streisand to pen a memoir back in 1984, not long after the thousand page book dropped in November 2023. Word got around that the best way to read the book was to let Babs read it to you.
- [13:38]
Barbra Streisand (audiobook narration)
Both of my albums were now in Billboard's top 10. The second album got all the way to number two. Do you know who kept me from reaching number one? The Singing Nun. Dominique? Something like that. People just couldn't get that catchy refrain out of their heads. I guess I never did dislodge her.
- [13:56]
Chris Melanfi
Yes, that is Ms. Streisand herself, narrating her own audiobook in that legendary Brooklyn accent. I'm in the middle of listening to it, I'll admit. I'm not done. But in my defense, the audiobook's total running time is 48 hours. As you can hear, Barbara is chatty, kibitz y and often riffs extemporaneously on her own writing. And the best parts are like a good podcast. Like when she dissects her own music.
- [14:32]
Barbra Streisand (audiobook narration)
That song just swings along and is much more fun. You hear those squeaks that punctuate the opening bars? That's very Peter Matz. It's a very particular sound.
- [14:47]
Barbra Streisand
I love your lovin arms. They hold a world of character Consuming.
- [14:56]
Chris Melanfi
All this Barbara content, I realized something. For all her stature as a cultural figure, Streisand is not as well remembered as she should be as a pop hitmaker. By her own admission, she wanted to be an actress first, and she eventually became the ultimate multi hyphenate star of stage and screen, a film director, TV producer, a political activist, even a meme. Go ahead, Google the Streisand effect to find out how she tried to prevent photos of her waterfront mansion from appearing on the Internet and stepped into some very online mishigos. But what ultimately gave Streisand all those opportunities, even the memes, was her voice. And that voice appeared on almost four dozen Hot 100 hits, more than half of them top 40 hits. Even Babs herself professes some ignorance about this. In her memoir, she sheepishly claims to be obtuse when it comes to hit making.
- [16:21]
Barbra Streisand (audiobook narration)
The songs I chose were not exactly commercial. I never went into the studio thinking I've got to record a hit. Of course I was happy if a song went to number one. But that was not my motivation. To this day, I don't even remember which songs reached the top spot. So the world of top 10 Billboard singles was not my world.
- [16:41]
Chris Melanfi
While part of me is skeptical of this, after all, Streisand does seem to still hold a grudge against the chart blocking feats of the Singing Nun. And in a way, she has A point when it came to music. At almost no point in her career was Barbra Streisand trendy. Even when she was topping the charts, it was with music that generally ran counter to the prevailing sounds on the hit parade. Her secret weapon was that voice.
- [17:20]
Barbra Streisand
Where am I going?
- [17:25]
Chris Melanfi
And that voice created its own weather, its own chart trends. In the most literal sense of this word, Streisand was always exceptional. So yes, reckoning with the IRV of Barbra Streisand means reckoning with a lot of schmaltz and stuff, like the idea that people who need people are the luckiest people in the world. By the way, Barbara says in the book that she doesn't think that lyric makes any sense either. People.
- [18:14]
Barbra Streisand
Are the luckiest people in the world.
- [18:24]
Chris Melanfi
In any case, I see Barbra Streisand's career as a bridge between the old pre rock days of the Great American Songbook and the modern post rock era of pop as everything music. Mind you, I don't expect Babs to ever be nominated for the Rock and Roll hall of Fame. But if you consider yourself a poptimist, as I do, then you have to reckon with her music, which has made a lot of people across the cultural spectrum very happy. So let's try to boil down Barbra Streisand's EGOT level career to its musical highlights. Even in attempting this, you have to contend with all facets of the woman. She was always in her heart, a showgirl with dreams of starring on the Great White Way, but not necessarily singing. And she nearly missed Broadway's golden era on the charts. They call you Lady Luck, but there is room for doubt at times. You have this is Marlon Brando in 1940, 1955's Guys and Dolls, a filmed adaptation of the hit Broadway musical. One of the 20th century's greatest actors, Brando, unlike Barbra Streisand, wasn't much of a singer. But Streisand was mesmerized when she saw him on screen at age 13 at Brooklyn's King's Theater. According to her memoir, it was one of the first times, she thought briefly, musical theater might be for her. Decades later, by the way, Streisand and Brando became friends. Be a lady tonight Lucky if you've ever been a lady to begin with Luck be a lady Tonight born in 1942 and raised in Brooklyn, Streisand started singing as early as fourth grade. But when she started venturing into Manhattan in her early teens to see Broadway shows with a friend, she preferred straight Plays like the Diary of Anne Frank or Inherit the Wind to musicals. She began dreaming of being on stage, but to act, not to sing. She only began to latch onto musical performances when she saw movie musicals like Kiss Me Kate or the King and I.
- [21:22]
Barbra Streisand
Getting to know you Getting to know all about you.
- [21:31]
Chris Melanfi
The irony was, musicals could not have been hotter on the charts when Streisand was a teenager. As we discussed in our Lullaby of Broadway edition of Hit Parade in the mid to late 50s, the king and I soundtrack and Broadway cast album albums like My Fair lady were number one on Billboard's LP charts for months on end.
- [21:58]
Barbra Streisand
I could have danced all night I could have danced all night and still have met.
- [22:11]
Chris Melanfi
But it took Streisand a few years to find material she liked. A boyfriend turned her onto the music of Harold Arlen, who became her favorite composer. She especially loved Arlen's relatively obscure musical House of Flowers, and its song Asleepin, be made famous by actress Diane Carroll.
- [22:38]
Barbra Streisand
Asleep in Be Done, Toby I'll wax with my feet off the ground.
- [22:49]
Chris Melanfi
By the time Streisand started auditioning for shows and appearing in nightclubs in the early 60s, the golden era of the musical on the charts was nearing its end. Arguably, she extended that golden era by a year or two because her 1962 Broadway debut was a sensation.
- [23:14]
Barbra Streisand
But no, no, it's always Ms. Marmoustein, Ms. Marmoustein. You think at least Ms. M, they could try.
- [23:23]
Chris Melanfi
Streisand originated the role of Ms. Marmelstein in 1962's I Can get it for you wholesale. Though Marmelstein was a supporting role to Harry Bogan, played by Streisand's then boyfriend Elliot Gould. Streisand's witty performance, she sang the song Ms. Marmelstein, while wheeling around the stage in an office chair, reportedly stopped the show every night.
- [23:54]
Barbra Streisand
I might as well get it off my chest Is the drum Appalachian?
- [24:03]
Chris Melanfi
It was only after finding success on board Broadway and remember, Barbara originally wanted only to act, not sing, that she began recording music.
- [24:16]
Barbra Streisand
Happy days are here Again the Skies.
- [24:26]
Chris Melanfi
Streisand's first single was a take on Happy Days Are Here Again, the standard made famous during Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 1932 presidential run. Reimagined by Barbara in 1962 as a torch song, it foreshadowed Streisand's entire career. When she signed to Columbia Records, Streisand accepted a smaller advance in exchange for the ability to choose her own material. Virtually unheard of control for an artist at that time, especially a 20 year old woman. Recording her first album in early 1963, Streisand eschewed the kind of rock and pop. Then on the radio she reinterpreted everything from Disney's who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?
- [25:24]
Barbra Streisand
Who's afraid of the big the big Bad Wolf the big bad Wolf the big bad Wolf who's afraid of the big bad wolf? TRA la la la la Came the.
- [25:34]
Chris Melanfi
Day when fate to her beloved Harold Arlen composition Asleep and Be Asleep and.
- [25:41]
Barbra Streisand
Be Done Toward Me I will walk.
- [25:48]
Chris Melanfi
With My Simply titled the Barbra Streisand album, she rejected Columbia's proposed title, Sweet and Saucy Streisand. The LP hit the charts in April 1963 and despite a lack of radio singles, quickly became a hit. Fueled by her budding Broadway fame and a string of charming TV appearances, by the summer of 63, the Barbra Streisand album had risen to number eight on the top LP's chart. Streisand moved quickly to record a follow up, the second Barbra Streisand album, which climbed to number two by the fall, while her first LP was still in the top 10. By the way, the second Barbra Streisand album was the one that couldn't get her past the Singing Nun. At the Grammy Awards of 1964. Streisand's first album went head to head in the Album of the Year category, with the Singing Nun as well as Andy Williams chart topper the Days of Wine and Roses and trumpeter Al Hurt's smash light jazz LP Honey in the Horn. Amazingly, Streisand won, becoming the youngest ever Album of the Year Grammy winner to that date, just weeks past her 22nd birthday, her demand for artistic control had paid off beyond even her expectations.
- [27:53]
Barbra Streisand
Happy days, I hear again the skies above Our plea.
- [28:03]
Chris Melanfi
In her memoir, Streisand says about her big Grammy night, the awards were not televised back then. That she remembers nothing. Which is understandable, because by the spring of 64, Streisand was back on Broadway, this time starring in a musical that would finally get her on the radio.
- [28:27]
Barbra Streisand
Don't tell me not to fly I simply got to if someone takes a spill, it's me and not you who told you you're allowed to read on my parade?
- [28:39]
Chris Melanfi
Funny Girl, the musical adaptation of the life of vaudeville era actress Fanny Brice, seemed to be tailored to Barbra Streisand's talents. In fact, the creators made Streisand sweat for the role, then spent months tinkering with the show to get the book and the songs right. When Funny Girl finally opened in March 1964, it was not only a smash, one of its songs was already a hit. Barbra Streisand's recording of People debuted on the Hot 100 just a week after Funny Girl opened on Broadway. The poignant ballad about empathy and understanding had already built months of buzz during out of town production productions and previews for the show, and Streisand recorded the single even before the original cast album was complete. It was not only Streisand's first Hot 100 hit. A dozen weeks after it debuted, People reached number five, becoming her first Top five single.
- [30:07]
Barbra Streisand
Are Very Special People?
- [30:13]
Chris Melanfi
This was remarkable for a couple of reasons. For one thing, Broadway songs and cast albums were no longer commanding the charts as reliably as they had in the 50s and early 60s. For another thing, the 22 year old Barbara was competing with an even bigger 1964 chart, Youthquake Beatlemania. The Beatles commanded the Hot 100 and the album chart for most of the summer of 64 with their song, movie and soundtrack LP A Hard Day's Night. The funny Girl cast album did manage to reach number two on top LPs before the hard day's night LP arrived and took the number one spot for 14 straight weeks. In the meantime, Columbia got Streisand back into the studio to record an entire LP called People built around the Broadway single. When the People album arrived in the fall of 64, Amazingly it ousted the Beatles from the top of the album chart, giving Barbra Streisand her her first number one lp. People stayed at number one for more than a month until just before the Christmas season. For the next two years, while Streisand continued to play Fanny Brice on Broadway, she turned out a string of hit LPs including the soundtracks to two TV specials. All of them made the top five on the album chart. Though Streisand's singles were not massive hits, she did crack the top 40 in early 1966 with a cover of Second Hand Rose, a song made famous by Fanny Brice.
- [32:43]
Barbra Streisand
That's why they call.
- [32:49]
Chris Melanfi
The relentless pace of Barbara's schedule began to take its toll around 1967. Finally freed of her stage commitments, Streisand returned to the studio and recorded both a regular studio album and a Christmas album, releasing them the same week in October. 67. The holiday album was the greater success topping Billboard's special Christmas LP's chart. But Barbra's regular albums started missing the top 10 and between 1967 and 69, none of her singles made the top 40. Of course, Streisand had other ambitions at this time. She finally kicked off her Hollywood career in 1968 with the movie version of Funny Girl, which not only became a box office blockbuster and a hit soundtrack, it also gave Streisand her first Oscar. In her debut film role at the 1969 Academy Awards were Barbara was given her statuette by screen legend Ingrid Bergman under unprecedented Oscar circumstances. The winner. It's a tie. The winners are Catherine Hepburn in Lion in the Winter and Barbra Streis.
- [34:34]
Barbra Streisand (audiobook narration)
Hello, gorgeous. Well, I'm very honored to be in such magnificent company as Katharine Hepburn and Gee whiz. It's kind of a wild feeling.
- [34:54]
Chris Melanfi
As amazing as this was, Streisand's pivot to Hollywood had taken her eye off the pop charts. Even as the charts were pulling ever further away from the pop standards she loved, she was gamely trying to keep current on Broadway. The new sensation was the musical hair, which by 1969 was generating hit songs as well. For her 1969 album what About Today, Streisand's first album composed entirely of contemporary pop songs. She covered the Hair song Frank Mills, but the single did not chart. Or after the duo of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel took over the charts in 1968, wish I was a Kellogg's.
- [36:07]
Barbra Streisand
Corn flake floating in my boat taking movies.
- [36:16]
Chris Melanfi
Barbara tried her hand at their ditty Punky's Dilemma, but it too did not chart.
- [36:23]
Barbra Streisand
We share was a Kellogg's cornflake floating in my.
- [36:31]
Chris Melanfi
Streisand even tried covering the Beatles for the first time in 69. Perhaps unsurprisingly, she homed in on Paul McCartney's music hall style ditty from the White Album. Honey pie, honey pie, you are making.
- [36:51]
Barbra Streisand
Me crazy I'm in love but I'm lazy so won't you please.
- [36:57]
Chris Melanfi
But yet again, Barbra's take did not chart, and the what about today LP peaked at number 31. Streisand's lowest charting album of the 60s.
- [37:11]
Barbra Streisand
Honey pie, you are making me crazy I'm in love but I'm lazy so won't you please come home?
- [37:21]
Chris Melanfi
An interesting footnote was that Bob Dylan penned his 1969 top 10 hit Lay Lady Lay with the intention of singing it as a duet with Streisand. But he never managed to get in touch with her.
- [37:41]
Barbra Streisand
Play Across My Big Breast Bed.
- [37:47]
Chris Melanfi
In 1969. Barbara really could have used that hit more in a moment. What finally got Barbra Streisand back on the charts was a shift in the zeitgeist away from hippie rock toward singer, songwriter pop, especially by women songwriters. And by the early 70s, Streisand found some songwriters who were kindred spirits. Laura Nero, the New Year York performer who'd penned a string of hits for acts ranging from the Fifth Dimension to Three Dog Night and Blood, Sweat and Tears, was already something of a songwriting legend by 1970. That's when Streisand, at the encouragement of journeyman producer Richard Perry, whom we discussed in our Poynter Sisters episode of Hit parade, covered Nero's 1967 song Stony End. And it was a truly new sound for Barbara. The shambling, soulful Stoney End proved an unusual but compelling fit for Streisand's voice. Evoking a gospel like tone, Stoney End not only became Streisand's first top 40 hit in half a decade, it climbed to number six on the Hot 100 by early 1971. That same year, in a similar mode, Streisand heard Carole King's blockbuster album Tapestry, and she admired its deep cut, where you lead.
- [40:00]
Barbra Streisand
I will follow Anywhere that you tell me to if you need.
- [40:08]
Chris Melanfi
And so Barbara covered Carol as well, taking where you lead into the top 40 twice. A studio recording reached number 40 in 1971, and a live version performed by Barbara at a fundraiser for Democratic Presidential candidate George McGovern reached number 37 in 1972. Still, by 1973, Streisand had yet to score a number one pop single. The trick was choosing the right material, and sometimes she let potential chart toppers get away. She turned down at least two songs that eventually became number one hits for other singers. Helen Reddy's Delta dawn in her younger.
- [41:13]
Barbra Streisand
Days, they called her Delta dawn, prettiest one.
- [41:22]
Chris Melanfi
And Maureen McGovern's the Morning after, which not only topped the charts but won the Oscar for best Original song at the 1973 Academy Awards.
- [41:35]
Barbra Streisand
It's not too late we should be giving Only with love can we climb.
- [41:46]
Chris Melanfi
But if Barbara's music career was erratic, her movie career was now on Fire. In 1970 and 72, she starred back to back in the romantic comedies the Owl and the Pussycat and what's up Doc? Each a box office smash. By 1973, she was teed up to star in a period romantic drama from director Sidney Pollock about a female political activist who becomes involved with a writer and war veteran played by Robert Redford at his matinee idol peak. Streisand did not always record songs for the films she acted in, but the one she recorded for this film became a standard.
- [42:40]
Barbra Streisand
Mother.
- [42:49]
Chris Melanfi
The title song for the movie the Way We Were was written by score composer Marvin Hamlish and husband and wife songwriters Alan and Marilyn Bergman. Its lyrics were wistful, recalling the highlights of a cherished but untenable romance with nostalgia and warmth.
- [43:11]
Barbra Streisand
Memories light the corners of my mind Misty watercolor Memories.
- [43:30]
Chris Melanfi
Of the world Released as a single in the fall of 1973, just ahead of the release of the movie, Barbra Streisand's the Way We Were climbed the charts while the film dominated the box office. In February 1974, just as it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, the Way we were topped the Hot One 100, Streisand's first ever number one single, and stayed at number one for three weeks. It was still in the top 40 by early April, when the song won that Oscar, and its longevity meant that it loomed large over 1974's Hit Parade. Eight months later on American Top 40's year end show, Casey Kasem counted it down. The song that comes in at the number one position in our countdown of the 100 top hits of 1974. It was written by Marvin Hamlisch and it was sung by Barbra Streisand. Here it is. If there's one song most associated with Barbra Streisand, the Way We Were is probably it. It's the song that solidified Streisand's reputation as your mom's favorite singer. Indeed, more than a decade later, the Tom Hanks movie Big riffed on this when Hanks's boy, trapped in the body of a man, proves who he is to his mot by singing it to her over the phone.
- [45:25]
Barbra Streisand
Memories.
- [45:28]
Neil Diamond
Like a corner of my mind Misty watercolor memories of the way we.
- [45:36]
Chris Melanfi
Were.
- [45:38]
Neil Diamond
Scattered pictures.
- [45:43]
Chris Melanfi
The Way we were so permeated mid-70s culture that it also inspired crossover covers. In 1975, the great Gladys Knight and the Pips took a live medley of the Way We Were, plus the show tune Try to Remember to number 11 on the Hot 100 and number 6 on the R B chart.
- [46:10]
Barbra Streisand
Can it be that it was all so simple?
- [46:19]
Chris Melanfi
Speaking of R B, Streisand herself was covering even more contemporary material. She adapted all in Love Is Fair, a deep cut from Stevie Wonder's Inner Visions LP.
- [46:41]
Barbra Streisand
I Had To Go Away.
- [46:47]
Chris Melanfi
Into a single that went top 10 on Billboard's Easy Listening chart and helped push the Way We Were LP to Number one on the Billboard album chart.
- [46:59]
Barbra Streisand
Ahead lies mystery, But all is fair in love.
- [47:10]
Chris Melanfi
Streisand now had the clout both at the box office and on the charts to not only headline a movie but produce it and make it a musical. In 1976, she would take a Hollywood classic and reimagine it as a music business favorite TABLE and a showcase for both her acting and her singing. She remade A Star Is Born. For a deep dive on Streisand's ultimate vanity project. I encourage you to go back to our Lady Gaga episode of Hit Parade in which I detailed the Differences among the four count em4 versions of a Star Is Born. This tale of a budding female starlet who rises while her drunken male romantic partner falls has proved very adaptable. What started as a film business tragedy in 1937, star starring Janet Gaynor and was remade as a musical in 1954 with Judy Garland was transformed by Streisand in 1976 into a story about the music business co starring her and Kris Kristofferson. By the way, the 2018 version starring Lady Gaga and helmed by Bradley Cooper and is essentially a reboot of the Streisand version. All of the versions of this movie satirized the star making machine, but Streisand's A Star Is Born was conceived by her as a vehicle to give her the swagger of a contemporary rock star.
- [49:14]
Barbra Streisand
Pleasure is hollow, secret old life that I found.
- [49:28]
Chris Melanfi
The project also gave Streisand clout in one other area as a songwriter in her decade plus as a recording artist. To date she had almost entirely sung songs penned by others, taking only a couple of minor co writing credits. But for A Star Is Born, Streisand taught herself guitar and came up with a few chords that she thought sounded like a song. She took them to songwriter Paul Williams, who added lyrics and completed Barbara's composition.
- [50:08]
Barbra Streisand
Love, Ageless and Evergreen.
- [50:16]
Chris Melanfi
Evergreen, the love theme from A Star Is Born, did for that movie what the Way We Were had done three years earlier. It was released with Rose alongside and defined the movie as A Star Is Born swamped the box office. It became the third highest grossing film released in 1976. Evergreen debuted on the Hot 100 in December 76 and climbed to number one by March of 77.
- [50:50]
Barbra Streisand
They warm and excited.
- [51:03]
Chris Melanfi
Also, like the Way We Were, Evergreen was nominated for an Academy Award, but when the Way we were won in 74, its songwriters Marvin Hamlisch and the Bergmans took home the Oscar. This time Barbara herself, along with Paul Williams was nominated for the prize. And at the 1977 Oscars, Barbara's friend and fellow Brooklynite, Neil diamond took special pride in announcing the winner.
- [51:37]
Neil Diamond
Before I, before I mention the winner, about three weeks ago, I was talking to Barbara and I said, I love your song so much that no matter who wins, I'm going to read your name. But I, I have to cancel out on that Barbara. So if I called your name out, you actually won. And if I didn't, if I don't call your name, I. That means you wrote a fantastic song first time out. We'll see. The winner is Evergreen. Barbara Skyzone. Paul Williams.
- [52:05]
Barbra Streisand (audiobook narration)
In my wildest dreams, I never, never could ever imagine winning an Academy Award for writing a song. I'm very honored and excited. Thank you all very much.
- [52:15]
Chris Melanfi
Very much. Evergreen not only gave Streisand her second Oscar as a song, it finally made her an imperial chart presence. Now singles of Barbara's would more consistently crack the top 40. A spring 1977 single, for example, my Heart Belongs to Me, shot straight into the top 10, peaking at number four. A year later. Speaking of Neil diamond, he and Barbara were the beneficiaries of an odd coincidence that we discussed just two months ago on Hit Parade in our second chance hits edition. After Neil co wrote and recorded a heartbreak ballad called you Don't Bring me.
- [53:15]
Neil Diamond
Flowers, you think I could learn how to tell you goodbye? Cause you don't bring me flowers.
- [53:32]
Chris Melanfi
And Streisand recorded the same song in the same key on her own 1978 solo LP. An enterprising DJ spliced together the two recordings to turn you Don't Bring Me Flowers into a duet. Inspired by the DJs makeshift mashup, diamond and Streisand went into the studio for real to re record Flowers as an actual duet. That single shot to number one in the fall of of 1978.
- [54:27]
Neil Diamond
They just lay on the floor till.
- [54:29]
Barbra Streisand
We sweep them away Baby, I remember all the things you taught me.
- [54:40]
Chris Melanfi
In turn, that Success sent Barbara's 1978 compilation Greatest Hits Volume 2 to number one on the album chart. Her first fourth number one LP, by the Way, After People in 1964, The Way We Were in 1974, and the soundtrack to A Star Is Born in 1977. Babs was on a roll and feeling brave enough to now try her hand at disc.
- [55:16]
Barbra Streisand
I can't wait, I gotta celebrate.
- [55:21]
Chris Melanfi
In 1979, Streisand starred with Ryan O' Neill in a boxing satire slash romantic comedy called the Main Event. Though panned by critics, the main Event was a box office hit, and it produced a smash single by Barbra called the Main Event Fight, her first foray into disco. The Main Event Fight peaked at number three on the Hot 100 in the summer of 79. That summer, the reigning queen of disco was the great Donna Summer, who was commanding the charts with multiple number one hits from her acclaimed double album Bad Girls. Songwriter Paul Jabarra, who had written Both Donna Summers 1978 hit Last Dance and Barbra Streisand's the Main Event Fight, convinced Barbra she should duet with Donna. At the time, Streisand was working on a concept album called Wet, in which all of the songs would have water themes, like, for example, her future hit Kiss Me in the Rain. Paul Jabarra and songwriting partner Bruce Roberts had written a fierce disco anthem called Enough Is Enough. Streisand asked if they could add some lyrics about water, so they grafted a whole first movement onto the track, a ballad section over a minute long that they called no More Tears. And so Streisand agreed to record the song with Donna Summer. Legend has it that in the studio the two vocal powerhouses sang so hard, at one point Donna fell off her stool. No More Tears parentheses Enough Is Enough was essentially a guaranteed smash, the two biggest female pop stars each at her imperial peak at the time on one song. Debuting in October 1979 on the Hot 100, the single took just six weeks to rise to number one. As I noted at the top of our show, it also took Streisand to number one on the disco chart for the first time, and it even cracked the R B chart. Funnily enough, Barbara caught disco just as it was crashing in the pop marketplace. No More tears hit number one several months after the Disco Sucks movement and Chicago's infamous Summer 79 disco demolition night event. What made it doubly ironic was that after scoring a smash with Donna Summer, Streisand was now about to connect with a group even more associated with disco, And she would prove to be their commercial salvation as much as they brought her to new pop heights. When we come back, Babs and the Bee Gees prove a match made in heaven before Barbara Goes Back to Broadway. Though Streisand is about to peak as a pop star, her run as a Billboard record setter has decades left to go. Never count Barbara out Non Slate plus Listeners will hear the rest of this episode in two weeks. For now, I hope you've been enjoying this episode of Hit Parade. Our show was written, edited and narrated by Chris Melanfy, that's me. My producer is Kevin Bendis. Special thanks this month to Uni Hong for research assistance. Derek John is executive producer of Narrative of Podcasts, and we had help from Joel Meyer. Alicia Montgomery is VP of Audio for Slate Podcasts. Check out their roster of shows@slate.com podcasts. You can subscribe to Hit Parade wherever you get your podcasts, in addition to finding it in the Slate Culture feed. If you're subscribing on Apple Podcasts, please rate and review us while you're there. It helps other listeners find the show. Thanks for listening, and I look forward to leading the Hit Parade back your way. We'll see you for part two in a couple of weeks. Until then, keep on marching on the one. I'm Chris Melanfi.