“Memory” from the musical Cats by Andrew Lloyd Webber was a semi-hit for Barbra Streisand, reaching number 18 on Billboard’s singles charts. It was one of the new songs on Barbra's album of previously-released hits, Memories.
Lloyd Webber was proud to work with Streisand. “We met when she came to see the show [Cats] and we’ve been working on a number of things together,” he told columnist Liz Smith. “[Barbra] is sheer magic!” Lloyd Webber recorded Streisand singing “Memory” live with an orchestra. “I thought it unlikely that she’d sung live with an orchestra in a long time. With no overdubbing, no technical tricks, no nothing,” Lloyd Webber said. “She was nervous, but her phrasing was unerring and her musicality was uncanny. It was wonderful the way she responded. It showed me that Barbra Streisand is fundamentally a theater animal.”
When it came time to make a promotional video, Streisand lip-synched to her original recording. Filmed simply with one camera on a set resembling a recording studio, “Memory” also utilized some vintage stock footage of New York and New Year's Eve parties to make the mood melancholy. Barbra filmed the video in London while she was doing preproduction work on Yentl. The video was seen in the UK only. Jack Semmens directed. The video was produced by Chips Chipperfield.
Observant Streisand fans will notice that Barbra was not filmed from her right side in the video. Instead, the editor flip-flopped the original shot, probably to achieve a bit of variety in the edit.
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