The Way We Were (song)
Encyclopedia
"The Way We Were" is the title song to the 1973 movie The Way We Were
The Way We Were
The Way We Were is a 1973 American romantic dramatic film co-starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford, directed by Sydney Pollack. The screenplay by Arthur Laurents was based on his college days at Cornell University and his experiences with the House Un-American Activities Committee.A box...

, starring Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...

 and Robert Redford
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...

. The song was written by Alan Bergman
Alan Bergman
Alan Bergman is an American lyricist and songwriter.-Life & career:Born in Brooklyn, New York, he studied at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UCLA. His involvement in the entertainment industry began in the early 1950s as a director of children's television shows...

 and Marilyn Bergman
Marilyn Bergman
Marilyn Bergman is a composer, songwriter and author.She was born Marilyn Keith in Brooklyn, New York and studied psychology and English at New York University...

, scored by Marvin Hamlisch
Marvin Hamlisch
Marvin Frederick Hamlisch is an American composer. He is one of only thirteen people to have been awarded Emmys, Grammys, Oscars, and a Tony . He is also one of only two people to EGOT and also win a Pulitzer Prize...

 and performed by Streisand. It won the Academy Award and Golden Globe
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song was awarded for the first time in 1962 and has been awarded annually since 1965 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.-1960s:...

 for Best Song and also made AFI
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...

's list of Top 100 Songs from Film; it was ranked number eight.

"The Way We Were" topped the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 chart for one week in 1974 and was replaced by "Love's Theme
Love's Theme
"Love's Theme" is an instrumental piece recorded by Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra and released in 1973. It is one of the few instrumental and purely orchestral singles to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States, in early 1974...

" by the Love Unlimited Orchestra
The Love Unlimited Orchestra
The Love Unlimited Orchestra, formed by American R&B/soul musician, Barry White, was a 40-piece string-laden orchestra that served as a backing unit for White and female vocal trio Love Unlimited. From the mid 1970s on, they also recorded several albums under their own name.Their biggest hit...

. It then returned to number one for two additional weeks. The song also spent two weeks atop the easy listening chart, Streisand's second single to reach the top of this chart (following 1964's "People"). The track peaked at #31 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 in 1974.

The 45 version of the song is a different vocal take than the version which appeared on the original movie soundtrack and subsequent greatest hits compilations. Both versions use the same music track. The difference in the vocals can most easily be heard on the line "Smiles we gave to one another" at approximately 1:15 into the song. The true 45 RPM single version has never appeared on CD. The soundtrack version of the song, a completely different take with alternate music track, appears on Just For the Record, Streisand's 4-CD box set collection released in 1991.

A bootleg
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...

 of the recording sessions exists featuring Streisand with composer Marvin Hamlisch in a recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...

 as they perform various takes of the song. One segment reveals Streisand changing the first word of the song from "Daydreams" to "Memories."

Streisand's version was listed at #90 on Billboard's Greatest Songs of All Time.

Lyrics

Memories light the corners of my mind
Misty water color memories of the way we were
Scattered pictures of the smiles we left behind
Smiles we gave to one another fore the way we were
Can it be that it was all so simple then
Or has time rewritten every line
And if we had the chance to do it all again
Tell me would we, could we
Memories may be beautiful and yet
What's too painful to remember
We simply choose to forget
So it's the laughter, we will remember
Whenever we remember the way we were
Memories light the corners of my mind
Misty water color memories of the way we were
Scattered pictures of the smiles we left behind
Smiles we gave to one another fore the way we were

Other versions

  • In 1975, Doris Day
    Doris Day
    Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...

     recorded the song for her television special Doris Day toDay.
  • A 1975 version by Gladys Knight & the Pips
    Gladys Knight & the Pips
    Gladys Knight & The Pips were an R&B/soul family musical act from Atlanta, Georgia, active from 1953 to 1989. The group was best known for their string of hit singles on Motown's "Soul" record label and Buddah Records from 1967 to 1975, including "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "Midnight...

     featured the intro to the song "Try to Remember" and was credited as "The Way We Were/Try to Remember". Released as a single, it reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #6 on the Hot Soul Singles chart. The track reached #4 in the UK Singles Chart in 1975. In 1993, Wu-Tang Clan
    Wu-Tang Clan
    The Wu-Tang Clan is a hip-hop group from Staten Island that consists of RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard. They are frequently joined by fellow childhood friend Cappadonna, a quasi member of the group...

     sampled this version on their single "Can It Be All So Simple
    Can It Be All So Simple
    "Can It Be All So Simple" is the third and final single on Wu-Tang Clan's critically acclaimed debut album Enter the Wu-Tang . It features production from RZA that samples Gladys Knight & the Pips' cover of "The Way We Were"...

    ".
  • In 1975 Shirley Bassey
    Shirley Bassey
    Dame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...

     recorded the song on her album Good, Bad, But Beautiful.
  • José José
    José José
    José Rómulo Sosa Ortiz , known by his artistic name José José, is a Mexican singer.Referred in the entertainment world as "El Príncipe de la Canción" , José José is best known for his romantic ballads and renowned for his vocals...

     recorded the song in Spanish
    Spanish language
    Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

     titled "Nuestros Recuerdos", included in his 1975 album Tan Cerca...Tan Lejos
    Tan Cerca...Tan Lejos
    Tan Cerca...Tan Lejos is the title of the studio album released by Mexican singer José José in 1975. The main hits of the album were: Candilejas , Sentimientos , Nuestros Recuerdos , Paloma 'Cada Mañana Que Te Vas and Divina...

    .
  • Dick Haymes
    Dick Haymes
    Richard Benjamin "Dick" Haymes was an Argentine actor and one of the most popular male vocalists of the 1940s and early 1950s. He was the older brother of Bob Haymes, who was an actor, television host, and songwriter....

     recorded the song in 1976 for the radio series, Alec Wilder's
    Alec Wilder
    Alec Wilder was an American composer.-Biography:...

     American Popular Song
    .
  • In 1976, The New York Disco Orchestra released a disco
    Disco
    Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...

     version of the song on Artemis Records. This version was produced by Clem Vicari. It was released as a seven inch single and divided into two parts. This version charted for two weeks on Billboard's Disco Action Charts.
  • In 1976, Teresa Teng
    Teresa Teng
    Teresa Teng , was an immensely popular and influential Chinese pop singer from Taiwan. Teresa Teng's voice and songs are instantly recognized throughout East Asia and in areas with large Asian populations...

     recorded the song on her English album, "With Love from...Teresa Teng".
  • Donna Summer
    Donna Summer
    LaDonna Adrian Gaines , known by her stage name, Donna Summer, is an American singer/songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. She has a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Summer is a five-time Grammy winner and was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach...

     performed a cover on her 1978 live double album Live and More
    Live and More
    Live and More was the seventh vinyl long-playing album recorded by Donna Summer, and it was her second double album. The live concert featured on the first three sides of this double LP album was recorded in the Universal Amphitheater, Los Angeles, California in 1978...

    .
  • In 1979, Gilda Radner
    Gilda Radner
    Gilda Susan Radner was an American comedian and actress, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, for which she won an Emmy Award in 1978.-Early life:...

     recorded a somewhat humorous version of the song as character Lisa Lupner, on her LP, Live from New York.
  • Leslie Cheung
    Leslie Cheung
    Leslie Cheung Kwok-Wing , nicknamed elder brother , was a film actor and musician from Hong Kong. Cheung was considered as "one of the founding fathers of Cantopop", and "combining a hugely successful film and music career".In 2000, Cheung was named Asian Biggest Superstar by China Central...

     released a live recording on his 1990 farewell concert album, Final Encounter of the Legend.
  • In 2007, musician Dave Koz
    Dave Koz
    Dave Koz is an American smooth jazz saxophonist.- Life and career :Dave Koz was born on March 27, 1963 in Encino, California....

     recorded a version from his album of pop standards, At the Movies. The song featured vocalist Vanessa Williams
    Vanessa L. Williams
    Vanessa Lynn Williams is an American pop-R&B recording artist, producer, dancer, model, actress and showgirl. In 1983, she became the first woman of African-American descent to be crowned Miss America, but a scandal generated by her having posed for nude photographs published in Penthouse magazine...

    .
  • In 2007, Barry Manilow
    Barry Manilow
    Barry Manilow is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, and performer, best known for such recordings as "Could It Be Magic", "Mandy", "Can't Smile Without You", and "Copacabana ."...

     included the song on his album The Greatest Songs of the Seventies
    The Greatest Songs of the Seventies
    The Greatest Songs of the Seventies is Barry Manilow's follow up to his previous album, The Greatest Songs of the Sixties. The album was released on September 18, 2007. Album producer Clive Davis said about Manilow: "No one can reinvent the great classics better than Barry Manilow...

    .
  • In 2008, Girlicious
    Girlicious
    Girlicious is an American girl group originally formed by Robin Antin, creator of the Pussycat Dolls, from the CW reality TV show Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious. The group was originally signed to Geffen Records and composed of members Natalie Mejia, Chrystina Sayers, Nichole Corvoda and...

     did a remake of the song on their self-titled debut album, Girlicious
    Girlicious (album)
    Girlicious is the self-titled debut studio album by American girl group Girlicious. The album infuses Hip-hop and R&B with urban and dance-pop influences...

    .
  • On December 30, 2008, Beyoncé Knowles
    Beyoncé Knowles
    Beyoncé Giselle Knowles , often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child...

     performed her cover of the song to Barbra Streisand at the 31st annual Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C.
  • In 2010, an a capella version is featured on the 2008 album, Destinations, by Barbershop Harmony Society
    Barbershop Harmony Society
    The Barbershop Harmony Society, legally and historically named the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, Inc. , is the first of several organizations to promote and preserve barbershop music as an art form. Founded by Owen C...

     champions OC Times
    OC Times
    OC Times is a barbershop quartet affiliated with the Barbershop Harmony Society; they received second place silver medals at the International Barbershop Quartet Contest at Denver's Pepsi Center on July 7, 2007, and won the International Quartet Championship on July 5, 2008 in Nashville, Tennessee...

    .

See also

  • List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 1974 (U.S.)
  • List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1974 (U.S.)
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