(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)
Barbra Streisand - "The Way We Were"
Hit Number 1: February 2, 1974
Stay at Number 1: 3 Weeks
For years, I had no idea that Barbra Streisand's "The Way We Were" came from a movie of the same name. I'll accept all "living under a rock" jokes, as I deserve them. The Way We Were was a box office smash in 1973, and Streisand, who played one of the main characters of the movie, and lead actor Robert Redford were nominated for several awards. As always, I'm not going to spoil a movie plot in any of these entries, but I will say that The Way We Were appears to be your run-of-the-mill romantic drama film. It's not the kind of movie I'll ever go out of my to watch, but to each their own. The film was still a major success, and the song "The Way We Were" was nominated for Best Original Song and won. Now knowing this, it doesn't make it all too shocking that Billboard would eventually rank the song as being the top-selling single of 1974. Without the movie, I can't imagine "The Way We Were" would achieve the same levels of popularity.
"The Way We Were", a lot like the movie, is a very somber, sad song about what used to be a good, fun and healthy relationship. The song is supposed to resonate with Streisand's character in the film, Katie Morosky. Now, I'm not sure how I knew this, but I already knew that Streisand was older than 30 when her The Way We Were glory occurred, but what I didn't know is that she'd already released 14 studio albums before it. Her first album was called The Barbra Streisand Album, (creative), and was released all the way back in 1963. Streisand released an album in America before the Beatles did, which is just crazy to me. As you might have guessed, she really didn't do a hell of a lot with any of those 14 albums from The Barbra Streisand Album to Barbra Streisand...and Other Musical Instruments, which was her final album before The Way We Were. The movie and the song by that name would be a turning point in Streisand's life. She'd achieve her first huge hit, would become a successful actress and started coming up with more creative album names.
One thing that Streisand did very well was putting together a gloopy ballad, but "The Way We Were" was not a song she had any part in making. The song was written by the husband and wife songwriting team of Alan and Marilyn Bergman, along with some help from Marvin Hamlisch. The sole purpose of the song was to be played towards the end of the movie for some kind of dramatic effect, but evidently people who watched the movie ended up loving the song, and once it was released as a single, it sold fast. The best feature about the song is Streisand's voice. She softly coos at the beginning of the song, and at times, she really lets her pipes shine, reaching for some pretty big notes. "The Way We Were" is a showcase of her range, which admittedly, is impressive.
The rest of the song is pretty underwhelming, though. I've just never been a big fan of these kinds of songs that gently trudge along, without much of a purpose in the world. Streisand delivers some heartbreaking lyrics like "If we had the chance to do it all again, tell me would we? COULD we?" Those words can especially hit you hard when you're following along in the movie I'd assume, but by itself, "The Way We Were" just doesn't resonate with me in any way. It's an ordinary gloopy ballad. Gloopy fudge on a gloopy hot fudge sundae. The heart of a gloop monster, I could go all day here. It's smothered with soft, gentle strings and a quiet, repetitive piano riff. Your signature gloop sound. Streisand would later have a much more interesting period of a music career after she finally ditched the boring ballads. The next time she'll appear in this blog, though, will be before then. It'll be with another song from a movie, but that one's probably even worse and more boring than "The Way We Were". At least "The Way We Were" has a little bit of raw emotion connected with it that keeps it from being a dreadful song.
GRADE: 4/10
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