Ten Pop Songs That Make Me Cringe: Evergreen (Love Theme From "A Star Is Born") (#5)

Tweet

It's early in the day, and I usually post in the evening, but the weather is very spring-like and I'm going out and enjoy it! Plus, I figure that this attack on one of the icons of American music will require some time to hide. Here's the next pop song that makes my skin crawl. #5: Evergreen (Love Theme From A Star Is Born) - Barbra Streisand Y'know, I've never been a Barbra Streisand fan. There is one song that she's done that I liked (it'll be posted at the end as the alternative to this)...and, in truth, she didn't do it as well as Linda Ronstadt did (can I get an amen from the choir, @JohnRoberts ? ). There's so many reasons I don't care for her, and it has nothing to do with her politics (Billy Bragg is a freaking communist, and I love his music). She's got such a high opinion of herself that she doesn't need my piddly accolades. In fact, I.B. Singer, who wrote the short story "Yentl the Yeshiva Boy" from which Streisand adapted the film Yentl (which she wrote, directed, produced, and starred in), criticized the film by saying in the New York Times, "I must say that Miss Streisand was exceedingly kind to herself. The result is that Miss Streisand is always present, while poor Yentl is absent." And, for those of you who don't know, it was not the Eagles who introduced the $100-ticket to the concert-going public. It was Barbra Streisand. She had retired in the late 80s, and when she realized that there were Streisand impersonators out there who were making a comfortable living by performing tribute concerts, she staged a two-show comeback in Vegas on New Year's Eve 1993 and New Year's Day 1994. A total of 30,000 tickets were sold...and she made $14 million. The Eagles just took advantage of that PT Barnum (mis)quote (Barnum didn't actually say, "There's a sucker born every minute," a banker said it about Barnum's schemes). And, unlike Sinatra, who could sing just about anything with that marvelous voice of his, I never thought much of Babs' voice. So when she remade the Judy Garland film A Star Is Born (and yes, that was a remake itself) and unloaded this smarmy hunk of junk on the world I was not impressed. In fact, I disliked this song so much that after the opening line, "Love sssssssoft (yeah, she sang it like a leaking aerosol can) as an easy chair" I was setting land speed records to get to the radio to change the station. "Easy like Sunday morning" is hokey, but I can forgive the Commodores because they also gave us "Brick House." There's no excuse for such a smarmy opening line. And, of course, I'm in the minority. This song was a #1 song, won an Oscar, a Golden Globe, and shared a Grammy with another forthcoming barf-inducer in this series. Sorry. She may be a legend, but the legend she is in her own mind should more than compensate for how much I don't care for her....or this song. Evergreen (Love Theme From A Star Is Born) Written by Barbra Streisand and Paul Williams Recorded by Barbra Streisand From A Star Is Born, 1977 I said there's one Streisand song I like....and she didn't write this, the great Laura Nyro did. And, as I said, Linda Ronstadt's version with the Stone Poneys is better (so's Nyro's original):