The Way We Were is the title song to the 1973 movie The Way We Were, starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford. The song was written by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman, scored by Marvin Hamlisch and performed by Streisand. It won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Song and also made AFI's list of Top 100 Songs from Film; it was ranked number eight.
The Way We Were topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for one week in 1974 and was replaced by Love's Theme by The Love Unlimited Orchestra. It then returned to number one for two additional weeks. The song also spent two weeks atop the easy listening chart, Streisand's second single to reach the top of this chart (following 1964's People).
The 45 version of the song is a different vocal take than the version which appeared on the original movie soundtrack and subsequent greatest hits compilations. Both versions use the same music track. The difference in the vocals can most easily be heard on the line "Smiles we gave to one another" at approximately 1:15 into the song. The true 45 RPM single version has never appeared on CD. The soundtrack version of the song, a completely different take with alternate music track, appears on Just For the Record, Streisand's 4-CD box set collection released in 1991.
A bootleg of the recording sessions exists, featuring Streisand with composer Marvin Hamlisch in a recording studio as they perform various takes of the song. One segment reveals Streisand changing the first word of the song from "Daydreams" to "Memories."
Streisand's version was listed at #90 on Billboard's Greatest Songs of All Time.
Watch a video of film clips from The Way We Were, accompanied by Barbra Streisand's recording.
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