On Barbra Streisand's Latest, The Walls Do Talk -- To The President
https://www.npr.org/2018/11/03/662547530/on-barbra-streisands-latest-the-walls-do-talk-to-the-president
Barbra Streisand has two Oscars, eight Grammys and millions of album sales. She could probably read and record the stops along the route of the D train through the Bronx and get a No. 1. But with her latest release, she's done something different: Her new album, Walls, addresses songs including some of her own originals to the president of the United States. Hear her conversation with NPR's Scott Simon at the audio link, and read an edited transcript below.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Scott Simon: Why was it important to you to do this album?
Barbra Streisand: Because I could express my thoughts and feelings at a time when I was feeling sad and heartbroken about what's happening to our country. And I'm so grateful that I have music in my life that gives me the chance to express my feelings through my work.
I gather the song "Don't Lie to Me" is not about a busted love affair.
No. I started off trying to create that so that more people could relate to it in a way lovers who go through this all the time. But it's like that joke: A woman walks in and her husband is in bed with another woman. She gasps, and he says, "Well, who are you going to believe: me or your lying eyes?" I guess it's about lies: The lies that are coming out of this administration are very unpleasing, unsettling. Maybe that means so much to me because I was lied to as a child. I've based my whole career on telling the truth.
Do you have any concern that people who love your singing might not like the message of this album?
That's true, and they're entitled to do that. I made this album to express my heartbreak after this last election. I am for discussion, for agreeing to disagree, but in a civil discourse.
...continued at link
Here is one of the cuts from the recording. Combo of John Lennon's Imagine and Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World. Barbra voice is still so, so beautiful