BARBRA STREISAND - MEMORY

MEMORY

BARBRA STREISAND

SONGWRITERS: ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER & TREVOR NUNN

COUNTRY: U.S.A.

ALBUM: THE BROADWAY ALBUM

LABEL: COLUMBIA RECORDS

GENRE: POP

YEAR: 1985

As its title indicates, this 1985 recording marked Barbra Streisand’s return to her Broadway roots (significantly, she had dropped her pop-period Guilty perm and returned to straight hair). The CD contains a broad selection of show tunes, from Guys and Dolls’s “Adelaide’s Lament” to Sweeney Todd’s “Not While I’m Around.” But let’s face it: this may also be one of Babs’s most dated albums, due to typically ’80s synthesizer-heavy arrangements that simply don’t work with the material. Company’s “Being Alive” is scarred by a preening alto sax, while West Side Story’s “Something’s Coming” features what sounds suspiciously like syndrums. But–and it’s a pretty big “but”–Streisand sounds more buttery than ever (“Send in the Clowns” may be one of her finest ’80s moments), so much so that she often manages to overcome the cheesy production. Now that’s a singer. –Elisabeth Vincentelli.

Midnight

Not a sound from the pavement

Has the moon lost her memory

She is smiling alone

In the lamplight

The withered leaves

Collect at my feet

And the wind begins to moan

Memory

All alone in the moonlight

I can dream of the old days

Life was beautiful then

I remember the time

I knew what happiness was

Let the memory live again

Every street lamp

Seems to beat

A fatalistic warning

Someone mutters

And the street lamp sputters

And soon it will be morning

Daylight

I must wait for the sunrise

I must think of a new life

And I mustn't give in

When the down comes

Tonight will be a memory too

And a new day will begin

Burnt out ends of smoky days

The stale cold smell of morning

A street lamp dies

Another night is over

Another day is downing

Touch me

It is so easy to leave me

All alone with the memory

Of my days in the sun

If you touch me,

You'll understand what happiness is

Look, a new day has begun.