Bob Dylan finally set to duet with Barbra Streisand – fifty years after writing song for her

Barbra Streisand’s upcoming album, Partners: Volume Two, will feature a collaboration with veteran songwriter Bob Dylan, fifty years after he wrote a song for her.

The performer behind Rough and Rowdy Ways remains on tour until September of this year but found time in his schedule to record a duet with Streisand. His appearance on the album comes alongside duets between Streisand and other guests, including Hozier and Paul McCartney. Dylan’s inclusion marks the first overlap in the recording studio between Streisand and the Mr. Tambourine Man songwriter. It is not the first time one artist had wanted to work with the other, though, as fans share a song written by Dylan which was intended to be a duet with Streisand.

Though the performance from the two never came to be, Dylan featured the song on his 1969 album, Nashville Skyline. Fans were thrilled to see Dylan would finally be working with fellow legend Streisand, with one user taking to the r/BobDylan forum and sharing the news. They wrote: “Bob Dylan is going to sing a duet with Barbra Streisand on her new album.

“Do you all think we’re finally getting the duet version of Lay Lady Lay? Or are they going to do something from the Great American Songbook?” Though hopes of hearing Lay Lady Lay performed by the duo fifty years on from Dylan writing the track for Streisand appeared on the forum, it appears the pair has opted for a cover instead.

The song the pair will cover is pop standard The Very Thought of You, written by Ray Noble. The Very Thought of You reached its highest chart position thanks to Rick Nelson’s rock and roll version, which topped the Billboard chart at Number 26. Fans are thrilled at the collaboration set to take place, with many praising the pair for getting into the studio together.

One user wrote: “I’ll take it! Any new Dylan is pleasant news to me!” Another added: “They both were performing in Greenwich Village around the same time in the early 60s. Wonder if Dylan has known her since then?” A third joked: “Nothing like the raw wobbliness of octogenarian voices in duet.”

Dylan confirmed he had written Lay Lady Lay for Streisand in an interview from 1971. Dylan’s friend, Tony Glover, had asked: “You said Father of Night was written for a play, and Lay Lady Lay was done for Midnight Cowboy.” Dylan replied: “Actually it was written for Barbra Streisand.”

Streisand confirmed she had been sent a bouquet of flowers by Dylan around the time he was recording Nashville Skyline, with a request for her to come into the studio. She told CNN back in 2020: “I’m very flattered to find out that Bob Dylan wrote Lay Lady Lay for me.

“What I remember is getting flowers from him with a handwritten note asking me to sing a duet with him, but I just couldn’t imagine it then. Guess what, Bob, I can imagine doing it now!”