What About Today? (1969)

The title track and “The Morning After” were tunes by Richard Maltby and David Shire. Streisand had already recorded several of their songs, including “Autumn,” “No More Songs For Me,” and “Starting Here, Starting Now.” In 2020, composer David Shire explained the inspiration for “The Morning After” — “The 1968 Detroit riots now seem to be a prophetic forerunner in microcosm of the worldwide protests we are witnessing in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd,” said Shire. “In 1968, I watched in disbelief as flames enveloped a large part of Detroit, and 'The Morning After' was my songwriter’s response.”

“Ask Yourself Why” was written by Michele Legrand (with lyrics by the Bergmans) for a 1969 Italian-French film, La Piscine (The Swimming Pool ), directed by Jacques Deray. It was the first complete song of the Bergmans that Streisand recorded (not counting a snippet from “That Face” in a 1966 medley).

Singer Patti Austin, also a friend of the Bergmans, had insight to this song. “It’s a very Jewish thing,” she said. “I grew up in New York, and it’s part of Jewish culture and Middle Eastern culture and Southern culture to say ‘Up yours!’ in a very romantic and flowery way. Telling somebody off in such an elegant fashion is an art form, and it’s Alan’s and Marilyn’s forte. ‘Ask Yourself Why’ talks about things that are really evil: playgrounds becoming parking lots and people getting away with murder – yet it’s woven like a beautiful tapestry, like they do so much with Michel’s music because of his French thing, which is so very complicated and rich.”

Streisand covered three songs by the Beatles (Lennon/McCartney)— “Honey Pie,” “With A Little Help From My Friends,” and “Goodnight.”

“The funny thing is,” Streisand reflected, “when I was putting together the songs for my recent concert in 2016, I heard the Beatles song ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’ from What About Today? and I almost didn’t recall recording it. The arrangement was really out there! You know, kind-of really adventurous. So, some things grow better with age.”

“Alfie,” of course, was the theme song from the 1966 Michael Caine British film of the same name. “They asked me to sing ‘Alfie,’” Barbra stated, “and I didn’t sing it. I loved it, but they made the mistake of giving me the record of a girl singing it in London.” Singer Cilla Black recorded the Bacharach/David tune and it was released as a single March 25, 1966 in the U.K. But the film’s producers wanted an American recording artist to cover the song. “I told them to release that one, I thought she was terrific,” Streisand continued. Then she explained, “I would feel bad about it if I recorded it in the United States. You know, it was just on my conscience. I just felt so bad about it, like I was taking something away from her, so I didn’t do it.”

“Punky's Dilemma” was written by Paul Simon for Mike Nichols’ film The Graduate but was unused. It ended up on the Simon & Garfunkel album Bookends. Streisand's recording was released by Columbia as the backside of the single “Frank Mills” (#4-44775) in February 1969. Barbra also used to sing “Punky's Dilemma” in her act at the International Hotel in Las Vegas.

“That's A Fine Kind O’ Freedom”—with lyrics by Martin Charnin—was written by Streisand's favorite composer, Harold Arlen. Barbra sang the song live in 1965 at a Broadway benefit ( Broadway Answers Selma ). The song also appeared—sung by Arlen himself—on the 1966 album Harold Sings Arlen (With Friend).

• Little Tin Soldier / Honey Pie (# 4-44921)