“The first time I saw Kris [Kristofferson] performing at the Troubadour club in L.A. I knew he was something special,” remembered Barbra Streisand following Kristofferson’s death in 2024. “Barefoot and strumming his guitar, he seemed like the perfect choice for a script I was developing, which eventually became ‘A Star Is Born.’”
Co-written with Paul Williams and sung as a duet with Kristofferson, the love theme from A Star is Born, “Evergreen,” marked Streisand’s second No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100, following “The Way We Were” in 1974.
“She sat down and played on a guitar, the melody for ‘Evergreen’ that she’d written,” said Williams in 2007 of working on “Evergreen” with Streisand. “It was just such a beautiful melody. I said, ‘There’s your love song. There’s the big love song.’ I asked her for the melody. She put it on tape for me, and I took it home. I actually wrote that as the last thing, which I think bothered her. But all the Kris Kristofferson stuff was the first thing up on the shoot schedule. So I wrote the songs for Kris first.”
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‘Ageless and Evergreen’
While working on “Evergreen” with Streisand, Williams initially wrote the first two lines in the opposite order: Love, fresh as the morning air / Love, soft as an easy chair. “I called Barbra as I was getting on a plane to go on tour with Olivia Newton-John,” said Williams. “I called her and said, ‘You know what, flip those two first lines, because it sings better—Love, soft as an easy chair, love, fresh as the morning air.’”
He continued, “‘Morning’ sang better at that point in the song. And I remember saying to Barbra, ‘They’ll probably laugh us out of the theaters for starting a love song with a line about a chair, but I think it works better that way.’ And I think it was the biggest-selling soundtrack album ever at that time, and of course, the song won the triple crown: the Oscar, the Grammy, and the Golden Globe.”
Love, soft as an easy chair
Love, fresh as the morning air
One love that is shared by two
I have found with you
Like a rose under the April snow
I was always certain love would grow
Love ageless and evergreen
Seldom seen by two
You and I will make each night a first
Every day is a beginning
Spirits rise, and their dance is unrehearsed
They warm and excite us
‘Cause we have the brightest love
Two lives that shine as one
Morning glory and midnight sun
Time we’ve learned to sail above
Time won’t change the meaning of one love
Ageless and ever evergreen
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“Evergreen” earned Streisand her second Academy Award for Best Original Song, making her the first woman to win an Oscar as a composer. “Evergreen” also won a Grammy Award for Song of the Year and a Golden Globe for Best Original Song.
In 2019, Streisand invited Kristofferson up on stage with her to perform the other A Star is Born song she co-wrote, “Lost Inside of You,” during her concert at Hyde Park in London.
“He was as charming as ever, and the audience showered him with applause,” recalled Streisand. “It was a joy seeing him receive the recognition and love he so richly deserved.”
Photo: Film Publicity Archive / United Archives via Getty Images
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