Barbra Streisand and Willie Nelson Duet for ‘I’d Want It to Be You’

Check out this friendly new icon collaboration.

Barbra Streisand and Willie Nelson Duet for ‘I’d Want It to Be You’
Barbra Streisand, Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for BSB; Willie Nelson, Photo by Gary Miller/Getty Images for Shock Ink

Two of America’s most iconic vocalists team up for a heartwarming new duet, with Willie Nelson and Barbra Streisand delivering the hand-in-hand ballad, “I’d Want It to Be You.”

A tender tribute to friendships that lasts through years and years, the track is full of gracious positivity, and a sense of love that goes beyond the romantic. With Nelson’s craggy voice at it’s most gentle, and Streisand’s acclaimed songbird vocal still light and nimble, the pair sing of a connection that feels like a gift for both people. They may not be lovers, but they’re still extremely important in each other’s lives. And that’s a nuanced relationship that is almost never portrayed anymore.

“Sometimes if you’re lucky / You’ll find that certain someone / You can always count on to be true / If I had the choice of only one friend in this world / You know that I’d want to be you,” the stars sing.

Streisand first recorded the duet with another country star – Blake Shelton – releasing “I’d Want It to Be You” as part of her 2014 duets album, Partners. But it now marks the first single of her upcoming Release Me 2, and with that project she’s revisiting some songs that have stuck in her mind. The album arrives August 6, and is the companion to the first Release Me, which arrived in 2012.

“For me, the studio is a combination musical playground and laboratory… a private sanctuary, where the possibility of catching lightning in a bottle always exists,” says Streisand in the album’s notes, according to People. “Whenever that kind of magic happens, it’s extremely satisfying. Sometimes though, when the arrangement doesn’t quite gel or the song no longer fits the tone of the album it was meant for, the tapes go into the vault for safekeeping.

“Working on this 2nd volume of Release Me has been a lovely walk down memory lane,” she adds. “A chance to revisit, and in some cases, add a finishing instrumental touch to songs that still resonate for me in meaningful ways.”