Columbia Records held the rights to the original cast album of the Broadway musical Sweet Charity starring Gwen Verdon. In order to publicize the show's music, Columbia asked its recording artists to release single versions of songs from the score. Tony Bennett, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Jerry Vale, and Sylvia Syms all recorded Sweet Charity songs, as did Barbra Streisand.

“Where Am I Going?” was the A-side of the single Streisand released. Cy Coleman told writer Lynn Ahrens that Sweet Charity leading lady Gwen Verdon “wanted to cut the number because she said she was already dancing too much and was too tired. I think the true reason was that she didn't like the idea that Barbra Streisand had already recorded it before the show opened, and people might make comparisons.”



“You Wanna Bet” is actually the same tune as the title song from the musical (Dorothy Fields rewrote the lyric and the character Oscar sang it to Charity in the show). For years, “You Wanna Bet” was only available on 7-inch vinyl because Streisand never put it on an album. She finally released a digital version of it on her 1991 compilation album, Just For the Record.