tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight, a conversation with legendary husband and wife songwriting duo. they're more than 50-year career includes a theater, film, and television. last year, she released a tribute album honoring the work of the bourbons, her first time she has devoted an entire project to a single lyricist or below. 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 howl and marilyn bergman, she was talking about her granddaughter. riding about her grandbaby that i adore. over the course of their career, 53 of their years as husband and wife, they have teamed up on some of the most memorable songs of all time including classics from barbara streisand like the way we were and you don't bring me flowers, earning 69 hawker

nominations, and a slew of other words including an induction into the songwriters hall of fame. i am honored after all these years to finally have you on this couch. >> we were on the couch of years, but somewhere else. >> everytime i see them anywhere in town, i would run across everybody, run across everybody, i'll always interested to learn more and listen more and love more. you are wonderful and special people. thank you for finally getting on this couch. let's deal with it first in a move on, how did barbara streisand become your views -- muse? how did that happen? >> we have a history together.

we knew when to hear her saying when she was 18 years old. a composer that groot funny girl for her later, and i think from that very first night, we heard her singing and unlike any other. we became friends as a result of that night shortly after. we have never really been out of each other's lives. >> we were born in the same hospital in brooklyn. >> have you guys were born four years apart in that hospital. she was born in that same hospital. this was meant to be. >> it must be something in the

water. >> when you say that you heard a voice, the son of which you have never heard before, there are many great singers the u.s. admirer and love. what is it about that voice that has resonated with you? >> in addition to the wonderful vocal equipment that she havd -- forgive me, i'm a little hoarse. ane's a storyteller, actress, a director. she always with songs and dramatic context for herself. what is this about? what is the relationship? i think that affect the whole performance. tavis: the two of you are so modest because part of what ms.

streisand and others that have been honored this in your music, they get handed such a rich lyrical content that if they have a kind of songs filing that they can bring to that continent, it is going to be magical. >> that is very nice, but let's not forget the melody. the great composers we have worked with. we prefer to write to the music. people as which comes first and we prefer the music to come first. when you work with john williams and dave grissom and johnny mandel, hank mancini. how we feel about it, when the melody is there, it is wonderful that there are words on the tips

of those notes had we have to find them. that is our exploration and discovery. tavis: henry mancini became hank mancini. one of the best. >> terrific. tavis: how did -- i of the story, but for those who don't, how did the two of the meet after being born in the hospital four years apart? >> we were riding with the same composer. i was writing in the morning and in the afternoon. they decided to introduce the lyric and we wrote a song that day. a terrible song. but we enjoy the process. it was 1956 and we have been

writing together ever since. tavis: hughes said that you suffered a severe injury. >> i was living in a fifth for building in new york. headstones that were worn from years of traffic. it had been raining that they have the staff -- high took a header broke both my shoulders. house going to college in new york at the time, and my parents -- it was new york, beautiful. tavis: beautiful, but dumb.

>> i had come out here. from my mother. and the only friend i have here , it was a successful songwriter. [inaudible] i said, what do i have to do out here? it will be weeks and weeks. i said, i can drive, i can't do anything. why don't you write songs? i thought, i can't play the piano. i can't even come by here or anything.

he said, write lyrics. and he introduced me her to this young man. and we wrote a song together that day. the status was so much slower. >> we recorded about a week later, and we had plans to publish. i was going to go back to school. >> those broken the shoulders led to all this beauty and the gift that we are the beneficiaries of. you made the point a moment ago that when your standards were

lower back in the day, you could write a song in a day. all these years later, he standards are much higher. what is the song writing process like now? tell me what it is like him now vs 50 years ago. >> it depends on the assignment and how difficult is, the things he wanted by the producer or the director of a film. for instance, the windmills of your mind, the director wanted us -- how it was the steve mcqueen character fly the glider and he had just masterminded the robbery of a bank. he did not participate, but he designed this and he was flying this glider, which he did, usually, for fun. and he was very anxious.

and the director, a wonderful director that the study used songs, said to us, i want to write a song to underline how the anxiety that the character was feeling. you don't write that in the day, you think about it, and michele who wrote the music wrote a melodies have for that spot in the picture. listen to over and over. the >> and we saw the film several times. >> holly all decided to spend the night thinking about which melody would be the right one, and the three of the skin of with the same one, which shows the same one, a very ever of melody. that kind. >> he always thinks that the motion of the glider turns us on

to this. i don't think that is true at all. we have this conversation every time. tavis: what do you think? >> i think the circles that to do with anxiety, the key word there. anxiety, for me ha, ha to say, i am going to feel fine. i am not going to think about them anymore. the more you think about them, the more you get wound up. i can't explain it. >> when you want to go to sleep. tavis: i love it. >> it is part of the circular thing. tavis: i think both are plausible.

since you went there, mentioning the film, i know i am bowed and around here because your career is so rich. how did you get into film composition? starting out as lyricist's doesn't mean you're going to end up with a film score. >> when we started out, we were not interested in writing records, we were interested in writing for dramatic context. because the literature of popular music, her the most important and interesting songs were written by people that did right to hit a dramatic context. like to the gershwin songs. johnny mercer. though the people that you study. i was lucky enough to have johnnie as a mentor for a few years. he looked over my shoulder and

listened. that is where we learned, and those were the great songs for us. that is what we wanted to emulate. >> you said that i set our standards were lowered. it was and that which could drive us on, this is that we knew much less about the craft. we were less responsible is not the word that i mean. how will find the word. our standards were always very high because we listened. we grew up listening to the greatest songwriters. tavis: you can't do what you have done as well as you have done without a wonderful imagination. but words are so terribly

important. putting that word in the right place, who oversimplified, obviously. but how did you develop such a love of words? that language? >> my father and i went, when i was 546, my father taught me a game called anagrams. we played two or three times a week until i was about a letter 12. -- 11 or 12, then he said, you were getting too good for me. you can't be a writer without being a reader. tavis: what kind of stuff do you read? magazines? bucks? >> she reads magazines and newspapers much more than i do.

i read books. >> hit is true about reading, i think. anagrams is about wordplay, but reading is falling in love with words. i think before television, when we were children, a of thinking can be underestimated the way that one would spend an afternoon or evening, to read the books. and you can't be a writer with of being a reader. it is true. >> one could argue, for the sake of debate, to your point, that the grand tradition that you will continue to events is on life support if you have to be a

reader, because we don't read these days like you did back in the day. and the point you made, what happened to melody? what is the future of the american song? >> i don't know. i am terribly optimistic, but i think we have become such a visual society, i go back to television, and of television. but not at the expense of not reading. i think there is a different kind of experience that one has visually who then reading of your own speed and going back and reading a passage that intrigues you.

you can't have that, it is somebody else's pace, and it is going by you. >> and also young riders to they don't have enough experience. songwriters. they don't have the opportunity to hear and learn what we have learned from the great writers and composers, lyricists we were talking about. you can't learn what you can't hear. and it is very difficult to sing the great american songs. >> think about the theater, when i think we mentioned it once when we were waiting for quincy jones won by and he didn't show up. tavis: you always wait for quincy jones. anyway? you're saying?

>> hoyer remember that. anyway, we grew up poor in brooklyn. and when we were old enough to go and do that, we would sneak into the theater, particularly musical theater in the second act towards the final period it was a craft, really. we knew exactly when the act brakes were in every show, and no matter what the weather, it could be freezing out, you take off your jacket and coached into a stand with it over your arm and hand look like he just came of the theater and mix with the crowd. it was a sold-out show, standing room. otherwise, it became living what

it might be. even though we couldn't afford to see the whole show, and there was some kind of poetic justice here, because often now we walked out of shows. tavis: that is funny. if you live long enough, it balances out. ahead >> in the value time so much. >> we grew up on great musical theater. and done great films. we were talking earlier about their about half fred astaire. had about the great songs that never would of been written if not for fred astaire. and gene kelly, all of those.

there was a great tradition of musical theater and we were students at that point. >> when you finish a piece of work, what allows you to sit back and say, that is good? what is the barometer? what is the standard when you have written something and you know, this is a good. >> if it sounds good in the morning? tavis: the next morning? i like that. >> have we are always looking for an original way to say i love you. that is a big challenge tavis:. i am glad you said the, because i am not a songwriter, but that would be a tall order. love is an inexhaustible subject

matter, and on the other hand, you'd think that everything about love has already been said, how you find a new way to say it? >> that is the challenge. if that were my assignment every morning, i would be scared. when i come to work every day, i know i'm talking to a different guests, even if they of been here five times, the different project, a different vote, a different movie. >> you do your homework, and songwriters can do their homework, too? reading, listening, observing. all of that goes into what you try to tell. and when we have a movie for film, it is a very specific.

u.s. thrifts, relationships, a context in which to write. i think that some of the songs that were the most proud of the live in part of didn't have those, and they were written. the way we were would never have been written. the was the only time. we always got titles handed to us for, but it was one thing. what did the relationship, what the rules were. the part of the song, and if you have a good director, they can really tell you what the function of the song is. you're way ahead. tavis: my time is up for

tonight, and because of the working for years to get my friends on this couch, trying to find the right day and right time, i'm going to keep them for another show. this was not planned, but i will hold them captive for another night. they have a whole day to figure this out. he talked about finding a new way the sale of, when i am curious, tomorrow, a couple of samples of lyrics that you have written that you think best describes the condition of love. you don't have to answer now, how what the audience to tune in tomorrow night. i thought that they weren't any way, but i want to continue our conversation tomorrow night with two of the great lyricists and composers of our time, of the about the american film, they are in their over and over again. we will see you back here tomorrow night for parts to of

our conversation. things for watching and keep the faith. ♪ hot >> and the thousands of americans, protesting the manufacturer. ♪ >> 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 >> every community has a martin luther king boulevard.

all the cornerstone we 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. thank you.