The Way We Were (song)

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"The Way We Were" is the title song to the 1973 movie The Way We Were, starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford. The song was written by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman, scored by Marvin Hamlisch and performed by Streisand. It won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Song and also made AFI's list of top 100 songs from film; it was ranked number eight.

"The Way We Were" topped the Billboard Hot 100 for a week in 1974 and was replaced by "Love's Theme" by Love Unlimited Orchestra. It then returned to number one for two additional weeks.

The soundtrack version of the song appears on "Just For the Record", Streisand's 4-CD box set collection released in 1991.

A bootleg of the recording sessions exists featuring Streisand with composer Marvin Hamlisch in a recording studio as they perform various takes of the song. One possibility was changing the opening line of the song from "Memories, light the corners of my mind." to "Daydreams, light the corners of my mind".

A 1975 version by Gladys Knight & the Pips featured the intro to the song "Try to Remember", and was credited as "The Way We Were/Try to Remember". Released as a single, it reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Donna Summer performed a cover on her 1978 live double album Live and More.

In April 2006, Paris Bennett performed a cover in the style of Gladys Knight & the Pips' 1975 version on American Idol Season 5 while she was in the Top 6.

In 2007, Barry Manilow included the song on his album The Greatest Songs of the Seventies.

In the movie The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear, Priscilla Presley´s character sings this song in the shower, and an assailant out to kill her sings along with her for a long time before she realizes she's not alone.

Preceded by "You're Sixteen" by Ringo Starr	Billboard Hot 100 number one single February 2, 1974	Succeeded by "Love's Theme" by Love Unlimited Orchestra
Preceded by "Love's Theme" by Love Unlimited Orchestra	Billboard Hot 100 number one single February 16 - February 23, 1974	Succeeded by "Seasons in the Sun" by Terry Jacks
Preceded by "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" by Dawn featuring Tony Orlando	Billboard Hot 100 Number one single of the year 1974	Succeeded by "Love Will Keep Us Together" by Captain & Tennille
Preceded by "The Morning After" from The Poseidon Adventure	Academy Award for Best Original Song 1973	Succeeded by "We May Never Love Like This Again" from The Towering Inferno