One of the glaring omissions in the Rolling Stone “Greatest Singer” list made me think of a song that totally belongs on my personal essentials list:
Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born), Barbra Streisand. I think I’ve blogged before about my mom taking me to see the movie A Star Is Born when I was little. I just checked IMDb and realized that I was 3 years old at the time. But I remember it like yesterday – sitting there and being absolutely transfixed by Barbra. I wanted to be her, and I made it my mission to learn all the songs from the movie. I must have made this mission clear to my mom immediately, because on the way home she stopped at a record store and bought me the soundtrack.
I played that album on my little Fisher-Price record player endlessly (The full soundtrack is on my iPod now. Still love it!). Particularly this song, which was then – and now – just spellbinding to me. I’d put on a long dress and take my hair down, trying to look like Barbra (ok, yeah, I know, but I was 3!) and sing the song into the mirror. I knew one day I’d be on stage like Barbra singing it.
I got my chance a couple of decades later at my sister’s wedding. That makes the song even more special to me.
Trivia: Did you know Kris Kristofferson wrote Janis Joplin’s Me and Bobby McGee?
All I have to hear is her humming the intro to “The Way We Were” and I start crying. Do you have her “Broadway Album”? I LOVE it. I listened to it ad nauseum in high school and college. Other kids were listening to Nirvana. Me? Barbra’s version of “Somewhere”.
OMG I LOVE the Broadway Album!!! Like Buttah…