A Madonna, Barbra Streisand and Bette Midler collaboration was scrapped in 1993
The trio were due to record a cover of 'Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better', from the Irving Berlin musical Annie Get Your Gun
By Gary Grimes
Pop diva admirers everywhere are bereft as details of an abandoned plan for Madonna, Barbra Streisand and Bette Midler to record a song together have surfaced.
Jay Lander, Streisand’s longtime A&R man, gave an interview with Barbra Archives, a YouTube fan account dedicated to the legendary singer and actress, in which he reveals the three icons were due to collaborate in 1993 but the plan fell through at the final moment.
That year, Streisand and Lander were working on the diva’s 26th studio album (yes, you read that right) entitled Back To Broadway which saw the performer recording classic numbers from Broadway musicals. One of the suggested songs to cover was ‘Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better’, from the Irving Berlin musical Annie Get Your Gun, and it was suggested that they get Madonna and Bette Midler on the track.
The cover was due to be produced by legendary producer David Foster, responsible for such hits as ‘I Have Nothing’ and ‘I Will Always Love You’ by Whitney Houston, and ‘Un-break My Heart’ by Toni Braxton.
“David Foster created a demo and we said, ‘Well, who could we do this with?’” Lander told Matt Howe, host of Barbra Archives. “And we chose Madonna and … Bette. So it was gonna be the three of them.”
Foster’s vision included a skit at the end of the track that would hear Madonna and Midler bitching about Streisand in a public bathroom, saying: “‘God, she’s such a bitch! And she’s so controlling. And this and that and the other thing, and blah, blah, blah, blah.’ And then we hear another stall open and, ‘Ladies, I’m in here!’ And that’s how the song was gonna end.”
“That’s one of those ‘fish that got away’ stories.”
The track was also due to incorporate all three of the singers’ signature styles. Lander revealed Foster had crafted “this brilliant arrangement which starts off very much like how we all know the song. But then when it came time to do Madonna’s section … he went into a Madonna disco beat. And when it was Bette’s turn … he went into kind of, like, a ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’ motif. So it touched upon their sounds. Really clever.”
However, plans came tumbling down with the ‘Material Girl’ had to drop out at the last minute. “And then Madonna, at the 11th and a half hour couldn’t do it for some reason,” Lander said. “So that’s one of those ‘fish that got away’ stories.”
You can listen to the interview in full here.