Barbra Streisand

Emotion

Columbia 39480 (CD) Original Release: October 1984

My "Emotion" by Peter Bliss

I had the greatest thrill of having Barbra Streisand sing and record my song "Emotion" in 1984. I had previously released a solo album on United Artists Records and was writing songs primarily for myself. I can't remember if there was any particular thing that made me write this song. It really isn't a love song, but more about the need to feel alive. I was lucky to work with another music great, producer Richard Perry, helping to fashion the record from my original demo. I worked with Barbra on her very first vocal session of the song before The Pointer Sisters and all the synths were added. What an amazing voice!

In May-June 1984 I was working with Rondor Music as a songwriter and had written a song called "Emotion," which Rondor immediately brought to Richard Perry. He loved the song and placed it with Burton Cummings (formerly of The Guess Who) whom he was about to begin recording. Two weeks later, Barbra called Richard to ask if he would produce some music for her new album. He agreed, submitting my "Emotion" demo tape and four others. She chose "Emotion," and they were very excited, because it was one of the few uptempo songs they had for her album. I produced the demo in my home studio, singing and playing all the instruments, except for the signature horn figure, which my good friend and talented synthesist, Irwin Fisch, performed.

Within two weeks, I flew to Studio 55 in LA. Richard believed in the magic of my original demo and attempted to recreate the tracks as closely as possible and built from there. This was a key to his successful work on The Pointer Sisters records. Again, with Richard, as on the demo, I played guitar, including a similar solo, and programmed the prominent drum machine. Only three days into our recording sessions during the last week of June, Barbra arrived to sing. The track I did in the studio for Barbra was three keys higher than the demo, and I sang the guide vocal for her. She had a little difficulty finding the phrasing of the song in her first four run-throughs. She took me aside in the control room and asked me to be honest with her regarding her performance. Barbra commented on how great she thought my voice was (something I wish I had on tape) and listened carefully to my instructions. Finally, she thanked me for the song itself and my honesty, then proceeded to sing it better than ever. Because it felt right to Barbra and me, I didn't mind Barbra changing my line, "Sometimes I need to turn the beat around" to "Sometimes I need to turn it all around." "Emotion" was more R&B than dance on my demo, and only upon leaving LA during the initial sessions did it begin to take on its synth dance arrangement. Once the song grew with instrumental overdubs and The Pointer Sisters' background vocals, Barbra later returned to the studio to record additional vocals.

In August my manager told me that "Emotion" didn't just make the album but would also be Barbra's album title - icing on the cake. The album was released a few months later, with "Emotion" planned as the second single in early 1985 after "Left In The Dark" had its run. When that single faltered, however, in November Columbia released "Make No Mistake, He's Mine" as the second single, because Barbra was still in England working on the "Emotion" music video.