Singer Barbra Streisand finds ‘The Secret of Life’

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 media, 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.

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.

Associated Press