Aug 2, 20222 min read

You Don't Bring Me Flowers - Neil Diamond/Barbra Streisand (1978) 8/3/22

Lots of links to the SAME song today--all of them worthy!

The year: 1957. The place: Erasmus High School in Brooklyn, New York. More specifically, the choir room at Erasmus.

Looking over the members of the Choral Club that year, two names pop out: a baritone named Neil Diamond and a soprano named Barbra Streisand. They weren't CLOSE friends, but they were certainly more than just acquaintances.

Twenty years later, legendary TV producer Norman Lear (the man behind, "All in the Family," "The Jeffersons," "One Day at a Time" and several other classic sitcoms) created a soap opera spoof called "All That Glitters," and commissioned Neil and the talented husband and wife songwriting team of Marilyn and Alan Bergman to write the theme song.

They came up with a "Great Song" that Norman ultimately rejected. The show itself only ran a few months--one of his rare failures.

Neil, Marilyn and Alan then expanded the song by adding some extra verses, and Neil recorded "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" as a track for his album "Glad You're Here with Me Tonight."

In 1978, his old classmate Barbra covered the song for her album. "Songbird," and that's where the story ended.

Or so everyone thought...until...

Gary Guthrie, Program Director at WAKY in Louisville, Kentucky was going through a divorce, and as a parting shot to his soon-to-be-ex wife, he took parts of both songs, spliced them together, and started playing it on the air.

Well, this caught the attention of disc jockeys all over the US, who started splicing together THEIR OWN hybrid versions--some of which were terrible, but others--especially the versions from WGN in Chicago and WJR in Detroit--became quite popular.

FINALLY, Columbia Records realized they could make some money off the whole thing, so they paid Gary a few grand for the idea, and then called Neil and Barbra into the studio to record an "official" version.

The two old classmates turned it into a "Great Song" of 1978 by simply playing off each other in a way that couldn't be captured by combining the album cuts. Subtle differences, yes...but extremely effective.

The "official" version Topped the Top 40 in the US and Canada. It also reached #1 on the Canadian Adult Contemporary Chart...and # 3 on Billboard's matching chart. (Plus, it made the Top 20 in 8 other countries.) Overall, it sold more than 2 million copies.

Note: At this point, Gary sued Columbia for more money, and a settlement was reached. In addition to cash, he received an honorary gold record. WGN and WJR also received honorary gold records.

Note #2: The only time Neil & Barbra ever sang it together live was on the Grammy Awards telecast of 1980. Check it out below--it's outstanding!

"You Don't Bring Me Flowers:" it's not only is a "Great Song of the '70s," it comes a with great story!