On February 2, 1974, a sweet, soft ballad by a 31-year-old Barbra Streisand knocks Beatle Ringo Starr down a notch on the Billboard Hot 100. Streisand’s “The Way We Were” overtakes the jaunty “You’re Sixteen” as the No. 1 song—Streisand’s first. It would spend 24 weeks total on the Hot 100 chart, three in the top slot.
Released on September 27, 1973, Streisand’s “The Way We Were” served as the love theme from the film of the same name, an opposites-attract romantic drama directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Streisand and Robert Redford. The song, co-written by composer Marvin Hamlisch with lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman, earned a 1973 Golden Globe for Best Original Song, a 1974 Oscar for Best Original Song and a 1975 Grammy for Song of the Year.
Legendary L.A. session musician Carol Kaye, who played bass on the recording, remembers that the richly orchestrated song famously required 33 takes. According to Hamlisch, the song was omitted from the original cut of the film. But after a lackluster screen test, he says, he lobbied the studio hard to let him rescore the final scene with it. Audiences weeped, and the song stayed in.
The melancholy, wistful tune—paired with lyrics like “Memories / light the corner of my mind / misty watercolor memories / of the way we were”—is sometimes played at funerals. Scores of other artists, from Bing Crosby to Gladys Knight, have covered it.
David Ware’s Memories*
(has time re-written every line?)
Circular breathing’s almost impossible
to fathom: a technique practiced
over centuries by cultures: a method
of creating uninterrupted song, sounding
natural as breath itself, simple as life.
(we will remember)
A skill specially designed for moments
when no thought’s required, improvising
as a way to survive: memory’s execution
facilitating a stream that will overwhelm
death and counteract the things it takes.
(the way we were)
(*Avant-garde saxophonist and bandleader David S. Ware honed his playing technique and style over decades of dedicated practice, mastering breath control to enable a seemingly superhuman endurance. His circular breathing can be savored during the ten-minute introductory solo on the standard “The Way We Were,” from his seminal Live in the World album.)
