Vive La Streisand!

Quilty pleasure number one for this homo:

La Streisand when she's good. And when she's good as in this clip from YouTube ... it just doesn't get any better.

Wait for her to hold that last note.

This is a gay boy's wet dream (figuratively of course).

Why do gay men like Barbara Streisand so much? I don't get it.

"Barbra" (she removed one 'a' early-on)

Talent.

I believe many of us hear and sense differently than heterosexual males.

If you watched that video and don't get the talent (the once in a lifetime kind) that's inherent in that woman's singing voice there is no possible way I can explain it to you.

"Why do so many hetero men like sports?" Would be a question I could answer conversely but the answer would undoubtedly be unsatisfactory to sports aficionados and competitors in general alike.

I often wonder the same thing myself. Niether obsession really makes sense to me. Though I can understand a large segment of the population loving the work of some creative person I don't care for. Dave Matthew's Band, for instance. I just think it's a little odd that sexual preference should have anything to do with musical preference. Yet I know very few straight men who enjoy Streisand, Madonna, Hanson, Cher or Britney Spears.

Good music to me is a part of the life experience NIC. I don't see my love for Bach and Vivaldi and Débussy and Rachmaninoff as "obsessions". They're loves. They make the day more beautiful and the heart more full.

Let me give a shot at the gay man's perspective on the "La Streisand" phenomena generally as I've experienced it and as others like me have explained it to me themselves:


Here:

There's the talent of which I spoke. To my musician's ear there's clarity of pitch and control of her instrument (her voice). There's her odd ugly/beauty living simultaneously in her person. That appeals to my overt sense of the aesthetic.

Then to the greater gay male population women like Streisand, Garland, Crawford, represent a piece of them. In them we see women (who were and are a minority) struggling against the odds and winning and succeeding with sheer force of will and drive (and one damned healthy dose of inborn talent).

That's something many of us can relate to very personally. So people like Barbra Streisand become icons of triumph to us.

In essence? In her I see a piece of myself in a sense.


Can I just like her please?

You don't have to.
__________________

If it helps you understand at all I don't in the least care for anyone in that list you mention save Miss Streisand.

I know many homosexuals do. I'm not among them.

But in my last I've explained why, I believe my 'particular sector of the sexual population' finds certain female entertainers so appealing. Others will correct me if I'm off the mark.

Can it be that it was all so simple then?

The Way We Were is my favorite song of hers.

You're more than welcome to. Though I'm still curious. Is there something about the gay experience that lends itself toward identifying with Streisand's music? I mean, how is it about overcoming adversity? and can't you find similar vibes in... say... Garth Brooks? You say you see a piece of yourself in her.. which is totally relatable. This is part of why I love Trent Reznor's work so much. But again, SO many gay men are huge Streisand fans (granted, not all of them) that it has become a cliché so there has to be some kind of deeper explanation.

I agree Lex... the same fellow "Bluebird" who put that YouTube tape together has several others on that same site which warrant a look-see. That guy or girl has a formidable talent at remixing and editing imagery.

Shelby? Good man.

I knew her politics would come up but good man. I love your crazy ass.

..and while I'm in a Barbra frame of mind here are some hard-to-find shots from younger days. She sure "cleans up good".

Barbra on a clear day

Barbra lets her hair down

< not a fan of her looks, either. I wasn't going to bring it up, though.

Here's a "shot""

Garth Brooks is a male overweight country singer. Gay men don't generally see anything in that appealing.

Liking Streisand's only become 'cliché' because many heterosexuals seem to love to harp on it.

I like Streisand's music singly well for these reasons (some of which I've stated already)

1) Beauty of pitch and tone.

2) Daring to hit a note (and hitting it) that no other singer would dare attempt.

3) Her voice becomes an instrument rather than remain simply a singing voice often...

4) CONTROL of that instrument.

Beyond that I can tell you that much of her music I dislike (70s and 80s pop stuff).

I only really pay attention when she returns to her Broadway or more conventional roots and sings as here in this video.

But since you ask please do me this favor:

If you'd just do me the favor of listening to it in its entirety (assuming you have good speakers) and just drop all the notions preconceived or otherwise of what you previously thought of her and close your eyes to the video. JUST LISTEN. Listen to how her voice wraps itself physically around the orchestration and actually seduces the music to become one with her voice. Don't let anything else into your brain but the voice.


Streisand is unique in this in that she "intellectualizes" the music. With that ability, a keen mind, an superb natural ability she becomes "sans pareil" (without parallel) to anyone who loves a beautiful female voice.

Please, since you've asked, do this for me and tell me if you can see in the least what I mean.

I'm very interested in your "take" on this since I think you and I may simply have landed by accident on a very pivotal differences in our genetic make up as respectively hetero and homosexual men.

Again NIC - I firmly believe some gay men simply hear and sense differently than straight ones. Not better.. just differently.

(by the way I don't like Dave Matthews either but then I don't like much of anything that would come under the category of "pop" music)

Barbra sings like a bird.

and she's hot as a firercracker.

.......... well that was a study in wasted energy.