Both of these songs were recorded for an album Barbra Streisand wanted to make called The Singer. That was before Columbia Records brought in Richard Perry to work with her and the result of their collaboration wasStoney End.

So, eventually, these songs were recycled four years later on Barbra's studio album The Way We Were.

Charnin told writer James Kimbrell how “The Best Thing” came to be written: “I was in New York and I ran into Herb Ross who was directing The Owl and the Pussycat at the time,” Charnin said. “He asked me if I'd be interested in writing a song for Barbra to sing in the film when the characters separate. I told him I'd like to see the roughcut of the film first, but that I was interested. I wrote the song, sent it to Barbra's people and that was it. Later, when the film was released, all the music was done by Blood, Sweat and Tears, so I though my song was just dropped. Barbra, though, liked the song and it ended up on one of her albums three years later.”

Of note about this Streisand single: “Best Thing” contains a different vocal section at the ending than what was subsequently released on The Way We Were album track. On the single she sings “best” as a higher note than on the album on the last phrase.

And one more note: The labels on the single clearly identify two different arranger/conductors on each song: Grusin for “Best Thing” and Legrand for “Summer Me.” But my session notes say Peter Matz conducted the March 10, 1970 session. Barbra also recorded “The Singer” that day, and that song is credited to Matz. The original LP does not credit the arrangements.

Finally, this single did not chart on Billboard's Hot 100, but it did land on Billboard's Easy Listening chart for about nine weeks, rising as high as #19.

NOTE: The audio in the video below is from the single version of this song.