Barbra at MSG 8/3

[jerrybythesea]

Was there Sat night and what a concert !!! I thought she was in great voice altho she was not the Barbra of the 70s or 80s but for a 77 y/o she was superb. I wish she would have skipped the political talk and the Trump bashing which did get ugly at times. There were scattered boos for this.But all in all a 8.5 score out of 10 from me. This would probably be her last live concert and I do believe it will.

[+ WilliamM]

Bill and Hillary Clinton were there. I had a ticket for her concert last night but decided not to travel from Philadelphia to New York. I like Barbra, but seeing her at MSG would bring back good memories of seeing Judy Garland there in 1967 around Christmas.

Edited August 5, 2019 by WilliamM

[bostonman]

I wish she would have skipped the political talk and the Trump bashing which did get ugly at times. There were scattered boos for this.

 

Indeed - I tend to think that the majority of people coming to see a concert - no matter who the performer is - are wanting to ESCAPE the news, not get too much of the singer's political views. I know everyone feels they need to have their say, Babs included, but I probably would have booed her too. Sing for us, entertain us. Help us forget the world outside the theatre for a few hours. This is not a political rally, no matter how outspoken you may be.

[+ WilliamM]

I have no problem with Barbra Streisand voicing her politcal views at a concert, especially with Hillary and Bill Clinton there.

 

It happened often during the war in Vietnam and earlier during the civil rights struggle. Joan Baez and Jackie Washington sang about civil rights in Cambridge, Northeast U and Sympathy Hall. Bob Dylan sang his protest song of the 1960s, updated to include Nixon. I never saw Frank Sinatra, but knew he was friendly with Reagan and Nixon's former vice president, Spiro Agnew.

 

Janis Joplin, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Cleo Laine seldom talked about politics U2, Patti Smith, Jefferson Airplane, Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam are far more politcal. Keanu Reeves and his band Dogstar were silent about everything!

[bostonman]

Yes, but singers like Baez and Dylan already often had a social/political bent to their music, so that was part of their rasion d'etre as a performer. I can't offhand think of a Streisand song that's overtly political, so her comments might seem much less connected to her concert.

[+ WilliamM]

Yes, but singers like Baez and Dylan already often had a social/political bent to their music, so that was part of their rasion d'etre as a performer. I can't offhand think of a Streisand song that's overtly political, so her comments might seem much less connected to her concert.

 

"Happy Days are here Again" is vividly associated with Franklin Roosevelt. Barbra is 77-years old, surely she knew the association. I am 76, and remember her singing "Happy Days are Here Again" from the beginning of her career, even before "Wholesale" on Broadway.

Edited August 5, 2019 by WilliamM

[bostonman]

"Happy Days are ere Again" is vividly associated with Franklin Roosevelt. Barbra is 77-years old, surely she knew the association. I am 76, and remember her singing "Happy Days are Here Again" from the beginning of her career, even before "Wholesale" on Broadway.

 

Her song from Wholesale - a commentary on her anonymity as a secretary - to me has more of a social/political message than her slowed-down version of Happy Days Are Here Again, lol. And since the majority of her current audience wouldn't know who Roosevelt was aside from a president in a history book, I don't think it's a good example.

 

Streisand is not a political entertainer.

[+ WilliamM]

Her song from Wholesale - a commentary on her anonymity as a secretary - to me has more of a social/political message than her slowed-down version of Happy Days Are Here Again, lol. And since the majority of her current audience wouldn't know who Roosevelt was aside from a president in a history book, I don't think it's a good example.

 

Streisand is not a political entertainer.

 

This time you are incorrect I saw "Wholesale." Again, Barbra is 77 years old. Given her age, and subsequent

politicial, she knew it was about FDR.

 

It does not make a difference if more that fifty years later some people know little about Roosevelt.

 

In "Wholesale," she stopped the show with that first song during the Boston tryout.

[bostonman]

This time you are incorrect I saw "Wholesale." Again, Barbra is 77 years old. Given her age, and subsequent politicial, she knew it was about FDR.

It does not make a difference if more that fifty years later some people know little about Roosevelt.

 

 

I'm not incorrect. "Miss Marmelstein" is all about an ordinary secretary who is treated as if she has no other identity. She could bust, lol. Even in the era before official "women's lib" this was a political statement, couched in a comic cameo. "Happy Days" was a rather generic song that was already popular as simply a depression-era uptempo Tin Pan Alley song (1929) before Roosevelt used it for his campaign (1932). It's not a political song (look at the lyrics) any more than Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow)" is. And Streisand's take on the song is remembered entirely for its "daring" change in tempo, not its non-existent ties to Roosevelt.

Edited August 5, 2019 by bostonman

[+ WilliamM]

I'm not incorrect. "Miss Marmelstein" is all about an ordinary secretary who is treated as if she has no other identity. She could bust, lol. Even in the era before official "women's lib" this was a political statement, couched in a comic cameo. "Happy Days" was a rather generic song that was already popular as simply a depression-era uptempo Tin Pan Alley song (1929) before Roosevelt used it for his campaign (1932). It's not a political song (look at the lyrics) any more than Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow)" is. And Streisand's take on the song is remembered entirely for its "daring" change in tempo, not its non-existent ties to Roosevelt.

.

Her song in "Wholesaler" was not written as a political statement. And that is way she sang it in the musical.

 

Yes the other song has a well-known association with Roosevelt. I wrote about Roosevelt in grad school as a political science student in 1966 and 1967.

[bostonman]

Her song in "Wholesaler" was not written as a political statement. And that is way she sang it in the musical.

 

Yes the other song has a well-known association with Roosevelt. I wrote about Roosevelt in grad school as a political science student in 1966 and 1967.

 

Ok, let's put it this way. NEITHER song was originally written with any political intent. That can be stated as fact.

 

A few years after "Happy Days Are Here Again" had become a popular song of the day, it became associated with the FDR campaign. But I do not believe that Streisand picked the song for that reason, and I do not believe she was using the song in a political way. In the same way that if someone were to do a cover of "Don't Stop," it would not probably have anything to do with the Clintons.

 

Looking back on "Miss Marmelstein," one can see that even if it was not intended as a social/political song, the lyrics as written address some of those issues. If the lyric in "Happy Days Are Here Again" (and it's truly a rather banal lyric, probably on purpose) has any true social/political leanings, it would be to distract from the effects of the Depression, as many songs of that era attempted to do. I can think of similar songs of the period, like the Gershwins' "Who Cares," which was even literally meant to be satirical at the time, but is not seen that way now. (And one of its more topical lyrics, "who cares what banks fail in Yonkers" is often replaced.)

 

Certainly when "Happy Days Are Here Again" was featured - twice, as I recall - on "All In The Family," it had nothing to do with FDR. One time it was fitted with a new lyric (by Gloria) to celebrate Michael. The other time Archie sang it, and I can't remember why. But he HATED Roosevelt, so that certainly wasn't the association. (The association is more likely that for Archie and Edith, this was the music they grew up with - something that was a bit of a recurring idea in the series.) I tend to think that Streisand was also not singing the song because it had anything to do with FDR, rather that it was a popular/nostalgic song from an earlier time. What she did with it - slowing it down in a way no one seems to have done before - was the thing that made her version unique.

 

Writing about Roosevelt in grad school does not have anything to do with the meaning behind Streisand's cover of "Happy Days Are Here Again."

 

And the original point of this whole thing is that even if Streisand DID intend some sort of political leaning with "Happy Days Are Here Again," one such song does not make her a politically-leaning performer. So that when she chooses to start talking politics during her concerts, she might not always find a receptive audience, because people are coming to hear her sing, not necessarily opine. Which is surely why she got some boos the other night.

 

Enough. Please. Thank you.

[+ WilliamM]

One comment.

 

Streisand was directed to sing "Miss Marblestein" to show her comedic side. And she wasn't new to all audience members. Barbara had been a guest on late night television shows, Mike Wallace and Jack Paar.

[bostonman]

One comment.

Streisand was directed to sing "Miss Marmelstein" to show her comedic side.

 

I'm sure she was. It's a comic song. But I also think (just as the satirical songs in How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, for instance - a very similar show written right around the same time), that there's something more there to look at in the song itself. When Rosemary in How To Succeed sings "Happy To Keep His Dinner Warm," that's also to show off the actress' comedic side. But there's more to the song itself than just that. There is a social commentary there.

[+ WilliamM]

Yes, it has been recognize later, but very seldom when those shows opened in New York in the early 1960s.

[Boy4]

I was a little taken back when I saw a few celebs had taken photos with her. Her dental bill looks like it could be through the roof.