She’s 82 years old, and her voice isn’t what it used to be. It’s a little thinner, and the vibrato falters on occasion.
But oh, that voice. Barbra Streisand’s voice is recognizable anywhere, whether it’s underneath the ocean or on top of the highest mountain. And what she hasn’t lost is the sweetness, the achingly beautiful longing in a voice that reaches down and touches the soul.
Whitney Houston had that kind of a voice. The notes would go through the chest and wrap around the heart squeezing until tears would come to the eyes. But Houston flamed out and died far too soon.
Streisand’s voice has haunted our airwaves since 1961 when she made her first appearance on TV. It was the “Jack Paar Show” (later “The Tonight Show”) and after singing a Broadway show tune by Harold Arlen, comedian Phylis Diller remarked that the 19-year-old Streisand was “one of the great singing talents in the world.”
Streisand’s autobiography, “My Name is Barbra,” a thousand-page self-indulgent but fascinating read, came out last November. It was panned, but most reviewers walked away from reading it astonished at the sheer level of detail. It was honest and, given the subject of the book, a story of American culture over the last 50 years.
Streisand’s latest project was to sing the end-title song to the new Peacock series “The Tattooist of Auschwitz.” The series is based on the real-life story of a Slovakian Jew deported to Auschwitz, the most infamous Nazi death camp. He was forced to tattoo identification numbers on incoming prisoners’ arms.
The haunting song, “Love Will Survive,” was written by Hans Zimmer in collaboration with Kara Talve and Walter Afanasieff.
“Because of the rise in antisemitism around the world today, I wanted to sing ‘Love Will Survive’ in the context of this series as a way of remembering the 6 million souls who were lost less than 80 years ago,” she said in a statement. “And also to say that even in the darkest of times, the power of love can triumph and endure.”
“Until I’m near you, somehow I’ll hear you,” Streisand sings. “Your voice will echo inside me forever.”
The theme tune for Sky’s forthcoming TV series The Tattooist of Auschwitz is released today, a melodically expansive if lyrically rather prosaic song about abiding love: “Until I find you / And walk beside you / Until we face every heartache together /I’ll keep believing / Feel you breathing / Hear your cries / With every season of sorrow / Somehow our love survives”.
Prosaic or not, the point about love is made. Even in a death camp, love is possible.
At 82, you can just about hear the advancing years etched into Streisand’s voice – no longer perhaps quite as perfectly smoothly flowing in the high range or as fulsomely rich in in the low – but the sense of passing time lends its own gravitas to the song’s message of memory and endurance. Honestly, it would be a world-class performance by any standards. For an octogenarian who hasn’t performed live since 2019, it is astonishing.
Barbra Streisand’s career has spanned more than 60 years. Perhaps no song epitomized her talents more than “The Way We Were,” which still stirs the soul today.