Columbia Records recording artist Bob Dylan recently gave more than 6,000 personal items to Tulsa, Okla., where it will be cataloged, digitized and displayed as the Bob Dylan Archive.
One of the items is a handwritten note from Barbra Streisand postmarked November 1978. Barbra thanks Dylan for sending flowers and wrote, “It would be wonderful to make a record with you — especially since I only record with Jewish guys who live in Malibu on CBS.” (Barbra was referencing her duet with Neil Diamond on “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers”)
Streisand, after reading about the letter in Dylan's archives, contacted The New York Times to offer some backstory.
“I read the recent story in The New York Times about Bob Dylan’s archive, and I was so touched to find out he had saved a note from me.
It prompted me to go back into my own archive and retrieve a letter I had saved from him.
As I remember it, first he sent me flowers and a lovely note, asking me if I would like to sing with him. In return, I sent him the note that’s in his archive, thanking him for the flowers and the invitation. But for whatever reason, it never happened at the time.
Years later … when Yentl was about to come out [in 1983] … he sent me his latest album, along with the letter I still have. In it, he writes, “There are some songs on this album which I’m sure you would love to do.”
He adds, “I’m looking forward to seeing your movie. Maybe you can direct me in one of mine.” And then he goes on to say something that still means so much to me: “You are my favorite star. Your self-determination, wit and temperament and sense of justice have always appealed to me.”
I thought scholars, and fans, might like to know the story behind my note. And I plan to send a copy of his letter to Bob, so it can be included in his archive, as well as mine.”