“Barbra Streisand” is a disco house song by American-Canadian DJ duo Duck Sauce

Duck sauce

Duck sauce is a condiment with a sweet and sour flavor and a translucent orange appearance similar to a thin jelly. Offered at Chinese-American restaurants, it is used as a dip for deep-fried dishes such as duck, chicken, fish, spring rolls, egg rolls, or with rice or noodles. It is often provided...

. It was released on 10 September 2010. The song peaked at number one in Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Switzerland and Austria. It became a top ten hit in Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and the UK.

Background

"Barbra Streisand" is named after the singer of the same name

Barbra Streisand

Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...

, and uses a looped sample from German disco group Boney M.'s 1979 single "Gotta Go Home

El Lute / Gotta Go Home

"El Lute" / "Gotta Go Home" is a double A-side single by German band Boney M. It was the lead single off their fourth album Oceans of Fantasy and was the group's eighth and final number 1 single in the German charts...

", which in turn borrows content from "Hallo Bimmelbahn" (1973) performed by German band Nighttrain, as written by brothers Heinz and Jürgen Huth and Michael Holm. The single’s album artwork is modelled directly after Streisand's own 1980

1980 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1980.-January–March:*January 1**Cliff Richard is appointed an MBE by Elizabeth II.**The Zorros audition drummer Greg Pedley....

 album, Guilty

Guilty (Barbra Streisand album)

Guilty is an album released by Barbra Streisand in 1980. After the success of the Bee Gees in 1977/1978 there was some time to perform songwriting for other artists and Barbra Streisand asked Barry Gibb to write an album for her...

, which features a picture of her and Barry Gibb

Barry Gibb

Barry Alan Crompton Gibb, CBE , is a singer, songwriter and producer. He was born in the Isle of Man to English parents. With his brothers Robin and Maurice, he formed The Bee Gees, one of the most successful pop groups of all time. The trio got their start in Australia, and found their major...

 on the sleeve. For the "Barbra Streisand" cover, Streisand and Gibb's faces are digitally removed and replaced with duck beaks. The song was first played at the 2010 Miami Winter Music Conference

Winter Music Conference

The Winter Music Conference is a weeklong electronic music conference, held every March since the mid-1980s in Miami, Florida, United States. Venues are hosted primarily in Downtown Miami and Miami's South Beach...

.

Music video

The music video is set in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 and features many prominent and affiliated artists making cameo appearance

Cameo appearance

A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...

s, such as Kanye West

Kanye West

Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...

, Pharrell Williams

Pharrell Williams

Pharrell Williams , commonly known simply as Pharrell, is an American rapper, singer, record producer, composer, and fashion designer. Williams and Chad Hugo make up the record production duo The Neptunes, producing hip hop and R&B music...

, Ryan Leslie

Ryan Leslie

Anthony Ryan Leslie, known professionally as Ryan Leslie, is a Grammy nominated American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, rapper, entrepreneur, and singer. Founder of the media company NextSelection Lifestyle Group, Leslie has produced singles for a number of artists in a variety of genres...

, Buckshot

Buckshot (rapper)

Buckshot is an underground rapper, famous as the leader of Hip Hop supergroup Boot Camp Clik, and the group Black Moon. He has released one solo album, two with producer 9th Wonder, four albums with Black Moon and four albums with the Boot Camp Clik.- Biography :Born and raised in Brooklyn...

, Smif-n-Wessun

Smif-N-Wessun

Smif-n-Wessun is a hip hop duo consisting of members Tek and Steele . Smif-n-Wessun comprise two-fifths of the Brownsville, Brooklyn supergroup Boot Camp Clik, with Buckshot, Heltah Skeltah and O.G.C...

, DJ Premier

DJ Premier

Christopher Edward Martin , better known by his stage name DJ Premier , is an American record producer and DJ, and was the instrumental half of the hip hop duo Gang Starr, together with emcee Guru...

, Todd Terry

Todd Terry

Todd N. Terry is an American DJ, producer, and remixer.-Career:Terry's productions extensively used samples blending the sounds of classic disco, the Chicago sound, and elements of hip-hop....

, Chromeo

Chromeo

Chromeo is an electrofunk duo formed in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 2004.-History:Chromeo is composed of P-Thugg on keyboards, synthesizers, and talk box, and Dave 1 on guitar and lead vocals...

, DJ Mehdi

DJ Mehdi

Mehdi Favéris-Essadi , better known by his stage name DJ Mehdi, was a French hip hop and electro producer of mixed French and Tunisian origin.-Biography:...

, So Me

So Me

So Me is a Parisian graphic designer/animator. He is the art director for Ed Banger Records.He has created videos for DJ Mehdi, Kanye West, Kid Cudi, Justice, and MGMT. He won the 2005 MTV European award for his video for Justice called "We Are Your Friends." He is also the main designer for the...

 (who also directed the video), Diplo, Questlove, Ezra Koenig

Ezra Koenig

Ezra Koenig is the lead singer and one of the guitarists of New York-based indie rock band Vampire Weekend.-Background:...

, Santigold, Yelawolf

Yelawolf

Michael Wayne Atha , better known by his stage name YelaWolf, is an American rapper. He is currently signed to Shady Records, Ghet-O-Vision Entertainment and Interscope Records...

, The Roots

The Roots

The Roots is an American hip hop/neo soul band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are famed for beginning with a jazzy, eclectic approach to hip hop which still includes live instrumentals...

 & Fafi and the Fat Jew of Team Facelift

Team Facelift

Team Facelift is an American hip hop group based in New York, which signed with Duck Down Records.The group was founded in 2004 and currently consists of its original three MCs: Machine, the Fat Jew, Alden Fonda, and one producer, Tommy Mas. The three met at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY...

.

Critical reception

Nick Levine of Digital Spy

Digital Spy

Digital Spy is a British entertainment and media news website. According to Alexa Internet traffic statistics, as of February 2011, Digital Spy is the 93rd most popular website in the United Kingdom, with an overall Alexa ranking of 2,088....

 gave the song five out of five stars stating, “[...] ‘Barbra Streisand’ actually kinda suits the track, a sassy, no-messin’ disco-house dazzler which tips its trilby in the direction of Studio 54 circa 1979 – happily enough, just when Babs was enjoying her own dancefloor dalliance with ‘The Main Event’ / ‘Fight’ and ‘No More Tears’. Lack of lyrics notwithstanding, it’s deliriously catchy, endlessly danceable and ultimately so uplifting that it could even cheer you up after watching the denouement of ‘The Way We Were

The Way We Were

The Way We Were is a 1973 American romantic dramatic film co-starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford, directed by Sydney Pollack. The screenplay by Arthur Laurents was based on his college days at Cornell University and his experiences with the House Un-American Activities Committee.A box...

’. Well, almost.” Jason Lipshutz from Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

gave the song a positive review describing it as "one of the weirdest, most intoxicating dance anthems in recent memory,” and wrote: “The most surprising thing about this collaboration [...] is its richness in sound in between the beat-stopping utterances of Streisand’s name. Guitar licks collide with heavy doses of synthesizers as a fist-pumping beat refuses to let up. The busy instrumentation is brilliantly paired with overly simple vocals: An upbeat chorus of ‘oohs’ instantly lodges inside the listener’s brain, and ‘Barbra Streisand’ morphs into an inexplicable command to start dancing.” Michael Cragg of The Guardian

The Guardian

The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

called the song "an insanely catchy slice of disco house."

Chart performance

The song debuted at number 25 in the Netherlands on 16 October 2010. Three weeks later it rose to number one, after having stayed at number two for two weeks. It debuted at number three in the United Kingdom on 17 October 2010, selling 67,000 copies in its first week. It reached number one in the US on Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

s Hot Dance Club Songs chart on the week ending on 18 December 2010.

Cultural references

The song was featured in the Glee

Glee (TV series)

Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...

second season episode entitled "Born This Way

Born This Way (Glee)

"Born This Way" is the eighteenth episode of the second season of the American television series Glee, and the 40th episode overall. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on April 26, 2011. The episode was written by Brad Falchuk and directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, and is a tribute to...

".

The song was used in a 2011 commercial for Vitamin Water.

The song was featured in an end of season video on Match of the Day

Match of the Day

Match of the Day is the BBC's main football television programme. Typically, it is shown on BBC One on Saturday evenings during the English football season, showing highlights of the day's matches in English football's top division, the Premier League...

.

The song is featured in the video game Just Dance 3.

Track listing

• UK CD single

1. "Barbra Streisand" (UK Radio Edit) – 2:20
2. "Barbra Streisand" (Extended Mix) – 4:54
3. "Barbra Streisand" (Afrojack Ducky Mix) – 5:09
4. "Barbra Streisand" (Afrojack Meaty Mix) – 5:08

• UK Digital download

1. "Barbra Streisand" (UK Radio Edit) – 2:20
2. "Barbra Streisand" (Original Mix) – 5:00
3. "Barbra Streisand" (Afrojack Ducky Mix) – 5:09
4. "Barbra Streisand" (Afrojack Meaty Mix) – 5:08
5. "You're Nasty" (Vocal Mix) – 5:03

• German CD single

1. "Barbra Streisand" (Radio Edit) – 3:14
2. "Barbra Streisand" (Original Mix) – 4:54

• US Digital download

1. "Barbra Streisand" – 5:00

• Australian Digital download / Dutch Digital download

1. "Barbra Streisand" (Radio Edit) – 3:14
2. "Barbra Streisand" – 5:00

Charts

> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

Chart (2010–11)	Peak position
European Hot 100 Singles	2
German Airplay Chart	10
Poland (ZPAV Polish Music Charts The Polish Music Charts are two official album charts and seven singles charts in Poland, provided by ZPAV, the Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry . The first, the Top 100, is a monthly chart based on data received from the album companies... )	1
Poland (Dance Top 50 Polish Music Charts The Polish Music Charts are two official album charts and seven singles charts in Poland, provided by ZPAV, the Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry . The first, the Top 100, is a monthly chart based on data received from the album companies... )	6
Romania (UPFR Romanian Top 100 The Romanian Top 100 is the national airplay-based singles chart of Romania. It is weekly and it started running in 1996. It is recognized as an official chart by the European division of Billboard, Music & Media.... )	8
US Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...	89

Year-end charts

Chart (2010)	Position
Australian Singles Chart	57
Dutch Singles Chart	15
European Hot 100 Singles	91
German Singles Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...	27
Italian Singles Chart	91

Certifications

Country	Certifications
Australia Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...	Platinum
Belgium	Platinum
Denmark	Gold
Finland	Gold
Germany Bundesverband Musikindustrie The Bundesverband Musikindustrie or simply BVMI represents the music industry in Germany. The association represents the interests of nearly 350 labels and music industry related enterprises....	Platinum
Italy	Platinum
Sweden Swedish Recording Industry Association Grammofonleverantörernas förening , or the Swedish Recording Industry Association in English, is an organization representing the music recording industry of Sweden...	Gold

Chart procession and succession

Release history

Region	Date	Format	Label
Belgium	10 September 2010	Digital download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...	ARS Entertainment Universal Music Group Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...
Luxembourg
Australia	24 September 2010		etcetc
United Kingdom	10 October 2010		3 Beat 3 Beat Records 3 Beat Records is a British record shop and independent record label which was founded by Jon Barlow in 1989.-History:3 Beat Records was founded as a dance music record shop in 1989 by Jon Barlow, Dave Nicholl, Phil Southall and later joined by Phil Beddard and Hywell Williams who were students at... , All Around the World
	17 October 2010	CD single CD single A CD single is a music single in the form of a standard size Compact Disc, not to be confused with the 3-inch CD single, which uses a smaller form factor. The format was introduced in the mid-1980s, but did not gain its place in the market until the early 1990s...
United States	12 October 2010	Digital download	Downtown Records Downtown Records Downtown Records is a record label owned and operated by Downtown Music LLC. Music on the Downtown label is distributed by Universal Music's Fontana Distribution and, for certain releases, as a joint venture with Atlantic Records and also for select releases, by Alternative Distribution Alliance...
Denmark	22 October 2010		disco:wax
Germany	29 October 2010	CD single, digital download	Embassy of Music