Recorded 2010 | Genre Nu-disco
house | |
Released September 10, 2010 (2010-09-10) Format 12"
CD
CD-R
digital download Length 5:00 (original mix)
4:25 (album version) Label All Around the World
Fool's Gold
Spinnin' | ||
"Barbra Streisand" is a song by American-Canadian DJ duo Duck Sauce. It was released on September 10, 2010. The song topped the charts in Austria, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland and peaked within the top ten of the charts in Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Republic of Ireland, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. On November 30, 2011, the song received a nomination at the 54th Grammy Awards for Best Dance Recording. It was also featured on Just Dance 3 for the Nintendo Wii and the Xbox Kinect.
Contents
Background
The song, named after the American singer Barbra Streisand, extensively uses a sample from German disco group Boney M.'s 1979 international hit single "Gotta Go Home", which in turn borrows content from the 1973 German song "Hallo Bimmelbahn" by the band Nighttrain (the brothers Heinz and Jürgen Huth and Michael Holm; the hookline was written only by Heinz Huth). The sample of "Gotta Go Home" was replayed by Mark Summers at SCORCCiO Sample Replays.
The single’s album artwork is modelled directly after Streisand's own 1980 album, Guilty, which features a picture of her and Barry Gibb on the sleeve. For the "Barbra Streisand" cover, Streisand and Gibb's faces are digitally removed and replaced with duck beaks.
Music video
The music video is set in New York City and it features many prominent and affiliated artists making cameo appearances, such as Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, André 3000, Ryan Leslie, Buckshot, Smif-n-Wessun, DJ Premier, Todd Terry, Chromeo, DJ Mehdi, So Me (who also directed the video), Diplo, Questlove, Ezra Koenig, Santigold, Yelawolf, The Roots and Fafi and the Fat Jew of Team Facelift.
Critical reception
Nick Levine of Digital Spy gave the song five out of five stars stating, "... 'Barbra Streisand' actually kinda suits the track, a sassy, no-messin' disco-house dazzler which tips its trilby in the direction of Studio 54 circa 1979 – happily enough, just when Babs was enjoying her own dancefloor dalliance with 'The Main Event' / 'Fight' and 'No More Tears'. Lack of lyrics notwithstanding, it's deliriously catchy, endlessly danceable and ultimately so uplifting that it could even cheer you up after watching the denouement of 'The Way We Were'."
Jason Lipshutz from Billboard gave the song a positive review describing it as "one of the weirdest, most intoxicating dance anthems in recent memory," and wrote: "The most surprising thing about this collaboration ... is its richness in sound in between the beat-stopping utterances of Streisand's name. Guitar licks collide with heavy doses of synthesizers as a fist-pumping beat refuses to let up. The busy instrumentation is brilliantly paired with overly simple vocals: An upbeat chorus of 'oohs' instantly lodges inside the listener's brain, and 'Barbra Streisand' morphs into an inexplicable command to start dancing." Michael Cragg of The Guardian called the song "an insanely catchy slice of disco house."
Chart performance
The song peaked at number eighty-nine on the Billboard Hot 100, and number one in the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart on the week ending on December 18, 2010.
In the United Kingdom, the song debuted and peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart on October 17, 2010 ― for the week ending date October 23, 2010 ― selling 67,000 copies in its first week. It also topped the UK Dance Chart.
In the Netherlands, the song debuted at number twenty five on the Dutch Top 40. It rose up to number two, staying there for several weeks. It broke the record for the most time spent in the second position, without ever reaching the first place.
Track listing
- "Barbra Streisand" (Radio Edit) − 2:43
- "Barbra Streisand" (UK Radio Edit) − 3:14
- "Barbra Streisand" (Original Mix) − 5:00
- "Barbra Streisand" (Afrojack Meaty Mix) − 5:07
- "Barbra Streisand" (Afrojack Ducky Mix) − 5:08