Today, I’ve been pondering why I’m grateful to Barbra Streisand.
Historically, when I’ve written about anyone for his or her birthday, it’s been someone I’ve known personally. Not this time.
I don’t know Barbra Streisand personally. I’ve never met her. In fact, to my knowledge, I have only been in the same place at the same time with her once, in 1994, at Madison Square Garden, when I sat in the highest balcony to hear her.
She isn’t someone whose picture hung on my wall in a passing adolescent phase. But she is someone whose voice and choices shaped the trajectory of my life, and whose example as a woman in the music and movie business, as well as an activist and philanthropist have paved the way for me and, frankly, for every other woman since.
So today, on her 80th birthday, I want to say “thank you” from this particular songwriter and activist.
Hers was the voice that inspired me to write, to become a professional songwriter. Hers is the voice indelibly etched in my mind, the one song cut I still yearn for, and the yardstick by which I have measured both singers and songs.
I don’t recall a time before her voice reverberated through my home. My mother was a fan, and I am a year older than her son, Jason. So I was learning from infancy both what great singing was, yes, but also what great songwriting was. I don’t know of any other kid in single digits who read liner notes or aspired to be a member of ASCAP.
My tastes and influences were formed before the era where genres of music were stringently separated. Musical theater and pop songs coexisted on the same album and charts, so in my mind, it was all one big, glorious thing – music.
I can’t say that I have always had an easy go of the music business, but I distinctly remember thinking of Ms. Streisand when I was running a recording session in Nashville with a bunch of guys who were rolling their eyes and pushing back. I remembered a speech she gave to Women in Film, where she said:
“A man is commanding, a woman is demanding.
A man is forceful, a woman is pushy.
He’s assertive, she’s aggressive.
He strategizes, she manipulates.
He shows leadership, she’s controlling.
He’s committed, she’s obsessed.
He’s persevering, she’s relentless.
He sticks to his guns, she’s stubborn.
If a man wants to get it right, he’s looked up to and respected.
If a woman wants to get it right, she’s difficult and impossible.”
Until you’re the person experiencing that firsthand, you cannot appreciate the veracity of it. I can’t say that my job was made easier, but there was something inspiring about knowing that someone else had called it out, named it, and moved forward in spite of it, that made me able to move forward, too.
And that brings me to what we use our voice and platform for. Artists are criticized for using their celebrity for things outside the arts. And I’d like to thank every damn one of them who does it, especially Barbra.
Our time on this earth is brief, and if you are one of the fortunate few, who have an opportunity to reach and influence people or raise money to save this planet and the people on it, then I say have at it, it is incumbent upon you, make a difference, be the change.
Whether it’s been standing outside a congressman’s office with a bullhorn and a news crew to get universal healthcare passed, or live streaming concerts to raise money for humanitarian aid in the Ukraine, I stand on the shoulders of people like Barbra, who aren’t afraid to take a stand and do what they can with what they have from where they are. For that, I will be forever grateful.
As for the elusive song cut, I still hold out hope. Not because I’m delusional about statistical likelihoods, but because I believe there is still something of value that needs to be said, that can best be said by the sum of the parts.
So Barbra, if you’re reading this – I wish you many more happy, healthy, joy-filled years…and thank you.
Love,
Ilene
