Download Instrumental I can’t stand Barbra Streisand. It’s not just her politics. There’s something about her whole persona that makes me go “Ewww”. Now, before I start getting hate mail from all you “Babs” fans out there, let me say that I know she’s a fantastic vocalist and actress and she’s won Oscars and Grammys and is an icon and I’m not. I know all that. She’s just not my cup of tea. But this tune belongs to her.
That being said, “The Way We Were” was a perfect fit for Streisand. However, the arrangement was soooo sweet and sappy, much like most of her other recordings. I can understand the movie soundtrack having to be melodramatic (saddest movie ever!), but she recorded it again a year or two later and it was just as maudlin… only in a different way. I guess that’s why I lean toward the Gladys Knight version for my arrangement here. If you plan on using my backups of this song, be sure to give Gladys a nod when you perform it. Don’t mention me, unless you want to confuse the crowd – “Who’s that?” “Wha’d she say?’ “Who?” “Never heard of him”.
Marvin Hamlisch wrote the music for “The Way We Were” in 1973. Sadly, he died in 2012 at the tender age of 68. Streisand sang this song as a tribute to Hamlisch at the 2013 Oscars ceremony. She stepped out onstage when his picture was displayed, humming the lyrics and seeming to float across the stage (she floats everywhere). Then she said a few words about her friend Marvin, ending with, “Marvin left us way too soon, but I’ll always have those wonderful…” (then she deftly moves into singing the famous first line of the song) “memories, like the corners of my mind”. It was pretty cool and well performed – much as it pains me to say it.
See her Oscar performance on the link below:
Stageworthy Backing Tracks by Dave Zobrist 