Barbra Streisand finds 'The Secret of Life' on her new duets album with Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney

San Francisco Chronicle​

5 hours ago

Barbra Streisand was worried.
She had just spent six days a week for six weeks recording the audiobook version of her 2023 memoir 'My Name is Barbra' — which became more than 48 hours of discussing her storied, EGOT-winning career and the unexpected life that came with it. But now, it was time to record a new album with a stunning lineup of duet partners that ranged from current hitmakers Hozier and Sam Smith to legends Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney and James Taylor. And when producers played the songs for her, she couldn't sing along. Her mighty voice would just squeak.
'My voice was shot,' Streisand, 83, told The Associated Press, calling from her home in Malibu, California. 'I mean, I literally prayed to God in front of that microphone, 'Let my voice be there for me.' And I don't know how, but it was there.'
Fans will be able to hear that for themselves on Friday, when her album 'The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume 2' arrives in stores and on streaming services. And despite her misgivings, Streisand shows she can still deliver the performances she wants, while also coaxing them out of others.
Bob Dylan: 'Would you sing with me?'
Her duet with Dylan had been decades in the making. In 1970, Dylan sent Streisand a bouquet of flowers and a note — written in what she believes was crayon — asking, 'Would you sing with me?'
But they did not connect until decades later, when their styles had converged a bit. When Streisand started work on her new album, she sent Dylan a copy of her memoir with an inscription referring to their time separately performing in Greenwich Village as teenagers and hoping it was time to finally sing together.
Choosing to rework the Ray Noble standard 'The Very Thought of You' — popularized by everyone from Nat King Cole and Tony Bennett to Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald — turned out to be a surprise. It's not one of her personal favorites, though it is her longtime manager Marty Erlichman's favorite song.
Dylan, one of the most revered songwriters in music history, only wanted to sing a standard, not one of his own classics. 'Isn't that great?' Streisand said. 'I would've sung anything with him.'
She also agreed to his request to keep everyone else out of the studio when they recorded — including Streisand's husband, James Brolin, who often goes to her sessions.
'I had heard he wrote 'Lay, Lady, Lay' for me,' she said. 'So I thought, 'Let's make this lush, romantic track.''
Though Dylan has a reputation for not taking much direction from producers, Streisand said he was very receptive to her suggestions.
'He was totally open to 'Why don't you maybe try this?' or 'Phrase it this way' or 'Try something else' — just like I do as a director in movies and he was my actor that day,' she said. 'To capture his originality and his voice and his phrasing, it was just an exciting experience.'
McCartney worries about his 'Valentine'
Her experience with McCartney was more daunting. There was a full film crew on hand, led by Oscar-winning director Frank Marshall, to capture the recording of two of the world's most successful artists for an upcoming documentary on Streisand's life. Streisand said that added to the challenges of the session.
'He was kind of shy about it and I understand him,' she said about recording 'My Valentine' with McCartney. 'I walked into a room of 25 people (to sing) and I don't like that.'
McCartney told his website he was 'terrified' during the three-hour session.
'I thought, 'Well, this will be easy because it's my song, it's 'My Valentine.' What can go wrong?'' he said. 'But what I'd forgotten was that they'd arranged it so that it had to go in Barbra's key and then in my key. So, to get from Barbra's key into mine was kind of difficult. ... It wasn't easy at all!'
They quickly worked it out. 'It turned out great,' said Streisand, who released the song in May as one of the album's preview singles.
It's another single, though, that is resonating even more. 'Letter to My 13-Year-Old Self,' Streisand's duet with Icelandic singer-songwriter Laufey, hit No. 1 on the iTunes chart earlier this month, topping Sabrina Carpenter's 'Manchild' and Mariah Carey's 'Type Dangerous' on release day.
Streisand related to the song because it reminded her of a middle-school report she wrote called 'My Thirteen Years,' which meant so much to her that she still has it. In neat, cursive writing, she recalled what her life was like, her love of Shakespearean sonnets and the death of her father, Emanuel. 'I was too young to realize what had happened,' she writes in the report.
Streisand connects to her '13-Year-Old Self'
It was at age 13 that Streisand also made her first record, when her mother brought her to Nola Studios in Manhattan to record 'You'll Never Know' and 'Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart.'
'When I was 13, that's a very distinguished year in my life,' Streisand said. 'So I hear this song … and it really hit me.'
She worked with Laufey to turn the original, which Laufey sang solo, into a duet. They settled on Laufey singing as the 13-year-old and Streisand as her mother. Streisand said she was 'absolutely thrilled' with how it turned out and how fans have responded to it.
Sure, duet success is nothing new to Streisand, who has topped the charts with Neil Diamond on 'You Don't Bring Me Flowers,' and Donna Summer on 'No More Tears (Enough Is Enough),' and a string of albums including 'Duets,' 'Partners' and 'Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway.'
But 'The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume 2' is different. Streisand said her worries about the world and President Donald Trump's second administration may have subconsciously contributed to her selection of some of the album's more serious tracks — like Sting's 'Fragile' and her reworking of 'Love Will Survive' from last year's 'The Tattooist of Auschwitz' series into a duet with Seal.
'I'd like to be happier,' Streisand said. 'But every time I turn on the television — and I'm a glutton for punishment, obviously — I'm fascinated and horrified at the same time, you know?'
At a recent dinner with U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., Streisand said he described the current state of Washington as 'created chaos, corruption and cruelty.'
Streisand added, 'I thought, 'That kind of sums him (Trump) up.''
However, Streisand, who has retired from touring, said she does plan to work on achieving the goal she set out in her memoir: To enjoy life more. 'The Secret of Life' — named from the James Taylor classic, as well as a children's book she reads her grandchildren — has sparked thoughts about what enriches her life.
'The secret of life is spending time with people you love,' she said, adding she plans to release a string of photos of her and her 'secrets,' including her husband, her son Jason Gould, and other friends, family and, of course, dogs.
Streisand is in her 'stop and smell the roses' era.
'I'm getting older by the day, by the minute, and you have to take a look at your life from that point of view again, you know?' Streisand said. 'I look in the mirror and go, 'How much time do I have left?' … I've had several projects I've never fulfilled, but I have such fulfillment now with people that I love.'