Album cover of Barbra Streisand new album, due out November 2, 2018.
I’m not going to lie, when I first decided to create a website featuring protest music I never imagined that I would be featuring Barbra Streisand. It’s a combination of her musically not being my cup of tea and the fact that her music isn’t generally considered political.
In today’s divisive political climate even musicians who were once considered apolitical (or at least in their songs), are starting to use their music to provide social commentary. It should be noted that Streisand has supported political causes outside of music and in recent times she has written a number of articles for Huffington Post.
“Don’t Lie To Me” is off Streisand’s new album, Walls, which will be released November 2, 2018. According to Streisand a number of tunes on the album deal with political subjects.
In an interview with Billboard she clearly states the motivation of the new direction with her music: “My last tour finished around the time of the last presidential election, and I needed to make another album. As the year started to unfold, I started to think more about recording an album that reflected what was going on in the country, because that was what was on my mind.”
On her website she added: “These are troubling times, and I felt compelled to add my voice to the dialogue some of us have been having. Many of the fundamental principles of democracy and freedom we’ve always taken for granted – freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of expression – are eroding at an alarming rate. Even basic human decency appears to be melting away faster than the polar ice caps. I wanted to write and sing about some of these things… not only to convey my concerns, but also to state my belief that, if we remain vigilant to the truth, things can eventually turn around.”
“Don’t Lie To Me” is clearly directed at Donald Trump. She directly asks Trump, “How do you sleep when the world is burning?” It is a timely question that she follows with a pointed statement: “Everyone answers to someone.”
It is a question several are asking and it is a statement many are hoping will become true.