Composer Jule Styne and lyricist Bob Merrill wrote this for the 1964 Broadway musical Funny Girl, starring Barbra Streisand as real-life entertainer Fanny Brice. While some sources claim "People" was a cast-off from the 1962 animated version of A Christmas Carol (starring the nearsighted Mister Magoo), Styne biographer Theodore Taylor disputed the theory.
The songwriting duo met in Palm Beach, Florida, to hash out songs for Funny Girl. They realized they needed a tender song to reflect the complicated romance between Brice and her gambler/con artist boyfriend Nick Arnstein. Taylor described the scene in his 1979 book Jule: The Story of Composer Jule Styne: "Jule turned to his collaborator Bob Merrill, 'You told me the other night to work on [the lyric] 'a very special person.' I think I've got a helluva melody for it.'
'Great,' Merrill yelled. 'But now it's not gonna be just a 'special person.' Listen.'
Then he ad-libbed, while Jule played the melody again: 'People, people who need people, are the luckiest people in the world.'"
Styne and Merrill knew they had something special when they finished the song, which took just 30 minutes to write – if only they could convince the producers, who cut the tune from early tryouts. Merrill fought to keep the song in the musical, which seemed to be a losing battle until Streisand was permitted to sing it one night and it brought the house down.
This was Streisand's breakthrough hit and marked several firsts in her career. Not only was it her first single to land in the Top 10, it was her first one to even break the Top 40. It was also her first chart-topper on the Adult Contemporary tally. That same year, she re-recorded it for her first #1 album, People.
For their work on Funny Girl, Styne and Merrill won the Grammy Award for Best Score From an Original Cast Show Album. They were also nominated for a Tony Award as Best Composer and Lyricist in 1964 (Jerry Herman won for Hello, Dolly!).
Streisand's
People album earned her a Grammy win in 1965 for Best Vocal Performance, Female. Its title track was nominated for Record of the Year but lost to "
The Girl From Ipanema" by Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto.
Streisand reprised the role of Fanny Brice for the 1968 film adaptation of Funny Girl. "People" was included on the soundtrack, but it wasn't released as a single. The album was a big hit, peaking at #12 on the albums chart and eventually selling over a million copies in the US. Streisand also won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance, an honor she shared with Katharine Hepburn for The Lion In Winter.
Streisand also recorded this as a duet with Stevie Wonder for her 2014 duets album, Partners. The album, which didn't yield any singles, went to #1, making Streisand the only artist to have a #1 album in each decade since the '60s.
This was featured on several of Streisand's live albums, including her first live release, A Happening in Central Park (1967). It also shows up on many of her compilation albums, such as Barbra Streisand's Greatest Hits (1970) and The Essential Barbra Streisand (2002).
This was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.
Several artists covered this, including Andy Williams, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Vic Damone and Nat King Cole. The Tymes hit #39 (UK #16) with their rendition in 1968.
This was referenced in a few TV shows. On the 1988 "Piano Movers" episode of the sitcom Perfect Strangers, Lydia (Belita Moreno) sings part of the song. It's also referenced on Twin Peaks, in the 1991 episode "Variations on Relations," when Gordon Cole (David Lynch) claims love makes "people who need people the luckiest people in the world." Fran Drescher also recited part of the lyrics on the 1999 "Maggie's Wedding" episode of The Nanny.
The Supremes often performed this song, with Diana Ross and Florence Ballard each taking a verse. By 1966, it was Ballard's only lead vocal opportunity in their shows. When the song was pulled from their setlist that summer, it was clear that Ballard and Mary Wilson had become Ross' backup singers. The following year, the group was billed as Diana Ross & The Supremes.
According to the
Barbra Archives, the 1963 recording session featured Peter Matz conducting an orchestra of 30 musicians, one of which was a French horn player who played the wrong note on the first take. To Matz's dismay, that version was chosen for release because it had Streisand's best vocal.
"People" was used in these movies:
Playing With Fire (2019)
The Quietude (2018)
College Road Trip (2008)
Good Will Hunting (1997)
In & Out (1997)
The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989)
Jane Bond (1975)
And these TV shows:
Glee - "New New York" (2014)
The Simpsons - "The Homer They Fall" (1996)
In Living Color - "Black People Show" (1993)
Keeping Up Appearances - "Singing For Emmet" (1991)
The Odd Couple - "Vocal Girl Makes Good" (1974)
The Bob Newhart Show - "Some Of My Best Friends Are…" (1976)
Streisand took a different approach for the album version of the song versus the hit version from the musical.
"The Broadway cast recording is how I sang it in the show, with a lovely introductory verse and big horn fanfare at the end," she noted in a 2019 Library of Congress interview. "The 'People' album version, which became a single, has a softer, more reflective ending."
The cover of the People album, which features Streisand watching the sunrise on a beach, won a Grammy Award for Best Album Cover in 1965. The image was borrowed from a magazine article Streisand did in 1963 while she was performing in Chicago, and the photographer, Don Bronstein, took a series of photos of the singer along the shore. The one that ended up on the album was Streisand's idea.
"I asked him if he could take one from the back, while I was looking out at the sea and the beautiful sunrise…taking in the wonder of nature! He caught an honest moment, which is what I always strive for in my work," she told the Library of Congress.
When Columbia was preparing her album a couple years later, the record label wanted a nice clear shot of her face for the cover. But Streisand thought the beach photo with her back to the camera would be better. "It had a certain mystery and an understated way of capturing the mood," she explained.
The label's executives disagreed, but Streisand had a creative control clause in her contract that gave her the last word - and the last laugh. She said: "I must admit it was a sweet victory when Columbia's art department won the Grammy for Best Album Cover!"
