The Broadway musical Funny Girl made Barbra Streisand into a
singing star; the movie made her a movie star; and People Who Need People, by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, became her
signature song. The story is full of ironies and bitter sweet truths, and this
song is so poignant just because it is a good example of this. The singer (and
who has ever done it better than Barbra Streisand?) is lonely and supposedly
wishing she was one of those people who need people, as if she isn't one of those people. And yet she so clearly
does need people, or rather one very special person, and yet she isn’t feeling
lucky at all because she is emotionally cut off from them. It’s also a
wonderful match of melody and text, and once Merrill heard the melody Styne had
composed, the song apparently “wrote itself” in half an hour.
What’s important is people connecting with people, says
Barb, who commissioned this square. So I have painted Streisand against her
name up in lights, in the way she does that best. Everyone needs people,
represented by the city skyline, especially singing stars, who even if they
can’t make personal relationships last, still need people to buy tickets to
watch them perform.
From one kind of sublime to another: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, from Bach’s Cantata BWV 147. This
square is also sponsored by Barb, who recalls her husband singing it when they
were in their first choir together.
I have always loved the text that goes with this. It is so mysterious and comforting at the same time;
the melody that runs against the tune always makes me think of both a journey and a safe home. I began by
doodling the letter “J” (for Jesu, Joy – and Johann) in an Old English type
script, and it turned into a kind of tree and I realized that it was as if all
of nature should be involved – hence the
four elements of earth, air, fire and water. The door is an invitation to soar to uncreated light. It was
pointed out that the design was beginning to resemble an illuminated letter
from an old manuscript, so I further embellished with metallic yarn.
May all your music today, and any other day, be sublime! Happy listening.
Susan
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