You Don't Bring Me Flowers

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"You Don't Bring Me Flowers," written by Neil Diamond, is a bittersweet song about two lovers who have drifted apart while they "go through the motions" and heartache of life together. Its haunting lyrics include "It used to be so natural...It used to be...To talk about forever...But used-to-bes don't count anymore..They just lay on the floor...Till we sweep them away."

The 1978 version featured Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand, and remarkably, the verses were well-suited to either a man or woman singing them.

In 1977, Mr. Diamond released an album "I'm Glad You're Here With Me Tonight," which included the track of the tune. "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" was then covered by Barbra Streisand on her album "Songbird." This led Gary Guthrie, then Program Director at WAKY Radio (Louisville) to combine the two in a "virtual" duet.

The popularity of the virtual duet motivated Diamond and Streisand to record the real thing, and it became a very large hit. Their performance of the song during the 1978 Grammy awards show has been a permanent fixture on live music performance highlight reels ever since.