I first heard Barbra Streisand sing “People” 20 years ago. It lifted me up.
“People who need people,” she sang then, “are the luckiest people in the world.”
Recently, I watched Streisand’s Christmas special on Netflix. She sang “People,” and I was brought to tears, just as I’d been so many years ago. Her voice and that song – from the 1964 Broadway musical “Funny Girl” – reignited why I learned to love her in the first place.
She then sang a number from the musical “The Sound of Music,” usually associated with another vocalist, Julie Andrews. From that number’s famous lyrics:
“Climb every mountain, ford every stream, until you find your dream.”
I felt so uplifted that I stayed awake all night.
I believe God meant for us to need people, which means reaching out, baring our souls and enabling kindred spirits to pick up on our words and our thoughts, to give one another the courage to share, to become whole as I believe God meant for us.
Because “people who need people are the luckiest people in the world.”
I love that song–have always loved it since I first heard it in the 1960s.
What a tender reflection. Your words capture how music can reopen old doors of feeling and remind us how deeply we’re shaped by connection. The way you link Streisand’s voice to the simple truth that we need one another feels both timeless and profoundly moving. Thank you, Sarah, for your beautiful and uplifting piece.