The Main Event / Fight

This is another song by Streisand which is the title track to a film she starred in. This particular film is a comedy about a businesswoman (Streisand) who becomes manager of a boxer (Ryan O'Neal). The movie met to critical derision, but the song, which is one of Streisand's more lively tunes, went over well with her fans.

Written by Paul Jabara (Donna Summer's "Last Dance") and Bruce Roberts (Bette Midler's "You're Movin' Out Today"), this uptempo dance tune finds Streisand enthusiastically anticipating "the main event," which isn't a boxing match, but a lovemaking session with her man. Jabara had been a huge fan of Streisand's since he was a teenager and was itching to write a song for her, so when he learned the singer's boyfriend and producer of the movie, Jon Peters, was looking for a theme song, he and Roberts wrote one. But Streisand hated it. Instead, she tasked Alan and Marilyn Bergman, the iconic songwriting duo behind "The Way We Were," and composer David Shire to write a ballad. Peters wasn't convinced. He thought they needed an upbeat theme song to match the comedic tone of the movie and convinced Streisand to give the disco demo another listen. In the meantime, Jabara's "Last Dance" from the movie Thank God It's Friday won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, which probably helped his chances for another crack at The Main Event.

Jabara fleshed out the tune at Streisand's house. He wasn't able to screen the film, but he read part of the script for inspiration. He's quoted in the Barbra Archives: "My image for the title - The Main Event - was that it was the Main Thing - a celebration. I wasn't thinking of the fighting part. I started with the words 'Extra! Extra!' I heard her voice enunciating those two words, and I felt they would draw immediate attention to her." Once he had the intro, he brought in Bruce Roberts to help him finish it.