tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight a conversation with a legendary husband and wife songwriting duo. they're more than 50-year career includes classic works from the theater, film, and television and in history with barbara streisand. she released a tribute album. the first time in her career she devoted an entire project to a single lyricist or do a. we're glad you can join us. conversation with alan and marilyn bergman coming up right now. >> every community has a martin luther king boulevard. it's the cornerstone we all know. it's not just a street or boulevard, but a place where walmart stands together with your community to make every day better. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like

you. thank you. tavis: what a pleasure to welcome alan and marilyn bergman. she was telling me about her granddaughter. she brags about her grandbaby and her daughter. over the course of those as husband and wife, they have teamed up on the most memorable songs of all time including "the ay we were," and "you don't bring me flowers." they have won 16 awards and a

number of others including induction into the songwriters hall of fame. alan and marilyn bergman, i am angered -- honored to have you on this couch. >> we have been here before. tavis: any time i see them in town, i will run across everybody to get to the burdens -- bergmans. you are two wonderful and special people, to say nothing of your man's talent. thank you for finally getting on this couch. let's start with this and do with it first and move on. how did barbara streisand -- barbra stress and become your mews -- streisand become your muse? >> we have had a lot of years together. we were taken to hear her sing

when she was 18. by a composer who wrote "funny girl." from that first night we knew that we have heard a singer that was unlike any other we have ever heard. and we became friends. as a result of that night, shortly afterwards. we have not been out of each other's lives since then. >> were born in the same hospital. tavis: in brooklyn. you were born four years apart and ms. streisand in the same hospital. this was meant to be, obviously. all born in the same hospital. >> it must be something in the water. tavis: when you say you heard a voice the likes of which, the

sound of which you had never heard, you work with great artists and there are many great singers who you admire and love. what was it about that voice as composers that resonated with you? >> first of all, in addition to the wonderful local equipment she had, forgive me, i am a little hoarse. she is a storyteller, actors, a director. -- actress, a director. she always has to put songs in the dramatic context. what is this about, who is singing, what is the relationship? i think that affects the performance, makes the performance. tavis: you two are so modest. what they get handed to them is

such rich a lyrical content, that if they have any kind of song stylings, they can bring to the content, it is going to be magical. so much of it has to do with the wonderful lyrics. >> that is very nice. that's not forget the melody. forget the melody. the great composers we have worked with and we prefer to write to the music. people always ask which comes first? we prefer the music to come first and when you have people like margaret hinglish -- marvin hamlisch, hank mancini, there are, how we feel about it is when the melody is there, it is wonderful their words on the tips of those notes, we have to find them. that is our exploration, our

discovery. tavis: henry mancini becomes hank mancini. one of the greatest, one of the best. >> terrific. tavis: how did, i know the story. how did the two of you made after being born in the hospital four years apart in brooklyn? how did you come together? >> we were writing with the same composer, i was with him in the morning and marilyn was writing with him in the afternoon. he distorted -- he decided to introduce his a.m. writer to his p.m. writer. we enjoyed the process and that was in 1956 and we have been writing together ever since. >> she said before to me in conversations and i suspect others that you suffered a

severe injury that had it not been for that injury, you might not have ever gone into songwriting. >> i was living in a fifth floor walkup in a tenement in the village in new york. it had marble stone steps, worn from years of traffic. it had been reading that day. the top step was wet. and i took a header down those steps and broke both my shoulders. and i was going to college in new york at the time. my parents had moved to l.a. while i was in college and i never wanted to come out there. i was a new yorker. this was beautiful. tavis: beautiful but dumb.

>> i had to come out here. and you only -- the only friend i had was this song writer. bob russell who wrote "don't get around much anymore," he was a great writer. i visited him in a body cast and i said what am i going to do out here? it is going to be weeks and weeks and physical therapy and all that. i said i cannot drive, i cannot do anything. he said, why don't you write songs? i had been -- i said, i cannot play the piano. i cannot even come my hair or anything. he said, well, write lyrics.

you can talk into a tape machine. he introduced me to this young a.m.-pm rudder -- writer and we wrote a song together that day. i did not know you could write a song in a day. i did not know. the -- we wrote a song that day and peggy lee recorded it that day. it is like taking candy from a baby. i was going to go back to school and become a psychologist. that was stopped in its tracks. tavis: those two broken shoulders have led to all this beauty and we're the beneficiaries in your life. he made the point a moment ago when your standards were lower back in the day, you could write a song in a day. now, all these years later, i

assume your standards are much higher. what is the song writing process righlike right now? tell me what it is now vs 50 years ago. >> it depends on the assignment. how difficult it is. the things that are wanted by the producer or director of a film. for instance, "the windmills of your mind." the scene was the steve mcqueen character was flying a glider and he had masterminded the robbery of a bank. he did not participate but he designed it. he was flying this glider, which he did usually for fun. he was very grim, very anxious. wison,rector, norman jemiso

said, i y.a. to write a song to underline the anxiety the character -- i want you to write a song to underline the anxiety the character was feeling and michel who wrote the music, we listened over and over. >> we saw the film several times. >> we decided to spend the night thinking about which melody would be the right one. the three of a scheme up with the same one. a very broke memory -- melody. like circles. >> that is your theory. the motion of the glider turned us on to these circles and

spirals. i do not think that is true of all. we have this conversation every time we talk about that song. tavis: what do you think? >> it had to do -- i think anxiety was the key word. anxiety to me is circular. to say, ok, i'm going to feel fine, i will not be anxious, i will not think about that anymore and the more you try to do that, the more you get wound i do not know. i cannot explain it. >> when you want to go to sleep and you cannot turn your mind off. tavis: back to agreement. i love it. >> is part of the circular thing -- it is part of this circular thing of the glider. tavis: i accept both. since you were mentioning the

film, how is it and i know i am bouncing around here because your career is a rich. we will bounce around here. how did you get into film composition? it does not mean you will end up into film scoring as composers. >> no. as -- when we started out we were not interested in writing records. we were more interested in writing for the dramatic context. that is what we want to do. tavis: why? >> the literature of popular music, the most important and interesting songs were written by people who did write in a dramatic context. like the gershwins. oscar hammerstein, johnny mercer. i was lucky enough to have johnny mercer as a mentor. he stood over my shoulder and listened to what i was doing. that is where we learned and

those are the great songs for us. that is why we wanted to emulate. >> i have to back a minute. you said that i said our standards were lower. it was not that we could write that song in a day. we knew much less about the craft, you know, so we were less, i was going to say responsive -- responsible. our standards were always very high because we listened. we grew up listening to the greatest songwriters. tavis: you cannot do what you have done as well as you have done without obviously a wonderful imagination, but words are so terribly important. what makes it work is to write words and put that in the right

place, oversimplified, obviously. how did each of you develop such a love of words? >> and language. my father and i when when i was 5, 6, around in there. my father taught me a game called anagram. we played anagrams two or three times a week until i was 11 or 12. and then he says, you are getting too good for me. and you cannot be a writer without being a reader. and we read. tavis: you read incessantly, both of you. what kind of stuff do you read? magazines, books? >> everything. >> maryland read magazines. and newspapers much more than i do. -- marilyn reads magazines.

>> it is true about reading. anagrams is about wordplay but reading is really about falling in love with words and storytelling. i think that pre-television when we were children, i do not think that can be underestimated. the way that one would spend an afternoon or evening was to read a book, and i think what alan says, it cannot be a writer without being a reader. it is true, very true. tavis: one could argue that, i will for the sake of debate to your point. one could argue that the grand tradition that you will have continued to advance is on life support, if you have to be a reader because who was reading these days like you all did back

in the day, number one and to the point made countless times already in this conversation, whatever happened to melody? what is the future of the american songbook? >> i do not know. i am not terribly optimistic. i think we have become such a visual society. again, i go back to television. i love television. i am an inveterate watcher myself but not at the expense of not reading. i think there is certain kinds of experience, learning experience, that one has officially by reading at your own speed and going back and re- reading a passage that intrigues you that you cannot have either in film or any visual. it is someone else's page and it is going by you.

>> also, the young writers today, they do not have an opportunity to hear. >> you mean songwriters. >> songwriters. they do not have an opportunity to hear and learn what we learned from those great writers. composers and lyricists that we were talking about. you cannot black or learn what you cannot hear -- like or learn what you cannot hear. it is difficult to hear the great things from the great american songbook. >> think of what we grew up on. the theater in those days. we mentioned to you -- this to you once when we were waiting for quincy jones. tavis: you always wait for quincy. >> we had to kill time.

we grew up poor in brooklyn, but we were old enough to go on the subway. we would sneak into theater, particularly musical theater in the second act. it was a craft, really. you would find out when intermission was in every show, exactly where that was in every show and no matter what the weather, it could be freezing out, you would take off your jacket or coat and you would stand with it over your arm and look like you just came out of the theater and mix in with the crowd. this was a sold-out show with standing room. it was a cinch. you just stand in the back. it became a trek to figure out where the empty seats might be. anyway.

even though we could not afford to see the whole show, is the kind of poetic justice that it was often we would walk out of shows -- people would walk out of shows. tavis: that is funny. if you live long enough, it balances out. >> that is true. and you get the valued time so much. we grew up on great musical theater. and on great film. we were talking earlier out there about fred astaire and about the great songs that would never have been written if not for fred astaire. and gene kelly and all those great -- judy garland. there was a great tradition of musical theater and musicals them -- film.

we were students at that time. tavis: when you finish a piece of work, what allows you to sit back and say, "that's good." what is that barometer, what is that standard when you wrote something and you know this is a good song. >> it sounds good in the morning. tavis: it sounds good the next morning. then it is good. i like that. >> we're always looking for an original way to say i love you. that is a big challenge for us. tavis: i am glad you said that. i am not a songwriter, thank god. i would love to be. that would be a huge -- that is a tall order. love on the one hand is an inexhaustible subject matter. on the other hand, one would think that everything about love has already been said so as a

songwriter, how do you find a new way to say it? that is the job. if that were my assignment every day when i woke up, i would be scared. i would be too intimidated to start my day. i come to work every day, i know i am talking to a different guest on a different subject matter. even if they have been here five times. different project in a different book, a different movie. there is a much stuff to grind into. but you guys, you have it tough. >> you do your homework and song writers can do their homework, to in reading and listening and observing. all that goes into what you try and tell, the story that you are trying to tell. and when we have a movie, a film to write for, is a very specific master to serve. you have a script, you have

relationships, you have context in which to write. i think some of them -- the songs where most proud of, that we have been proud of would never have been written without the film for which there were written. "the way we were" would not have been written not only without that film but without that title. that was the only time we have gotten it title handled -- a title handed to us. look at the relationship in that picture and the role for the song was, the part that the sun had to play. and if you have -- a good director can tell you what the function of the song is. way ahead. like sidney pollack. tavis: my time is up and because i've been working for years to

get my friends on this couch, i will keep them for another show. this was not planned but i will hold them captive for another night and i will put them on the spot. they have a whole day to figure out this until we see you tomorrow night. which is when you talked about finding a new way to say love. i am curious from both of you on this program tomorrow night as to the lyric or a couple sample of lyrics that you have written that you think best describes love, the condition of love. you do not have to answer now. >> we can give you an answer now. tavis: hold q -- hold it. i want to continue our conversation tomorrow night. two of the greatest composers of our time, talk about the american songbook, they are in their over and over again. they are alan and marilyn bergman. we will see you back here tomorrow night for our conversation with the bergmans.

keep the faith. thanks for watching. ♪ >> join the thousands of americans who are protesting. beautiful might be and yet -- ♪ >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with alan and marilyn bergman. that is next time.

we will see you then. >> every community has a martin luther king boulevard. it's the cornerstone we all know. it's not just a street or boulevard, but a place where walmart stands together with your community to make every day better. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more. >> be more.