People (1964 song)

"People"

Single by Barbra Streisand
from the album Funny Girl: Original Broadway Cast Recording and People
Released	January 1964
Recorded	20 December 1963
Length	3:39
Label	Columbia 4-42965
Writer(s)	Bob Merrill (lyricist)

"People" is a song composed by Jule Styne with lyrics by Bob Merrill for the 1964 Broadway musical Funny Girl starring Barbra Streisand, who introduced the song. In 1998, Streisand's version was inducted in Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2004, Streisand's version on the soundtrack of Funny Girl finished at #13 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema. It has been covered by Billy Eckstine, Dionne Warwick, Steve Lawrence, Jack Jones, Aretha Franklin, Nat King Cole, Wes Montgomery, Gabor Szabo, Perry Como, The Supremes and others, but is considered Streisand's signature song. The song asserts that "people who need people" — that is, people who love others and are not emotionally cut off from them — are the "luckiest people in the world". It was released as a single with "I Am Woman", a solo version of "You Are Woman, I Am Man", also from Funny Girl.

Andy Williams released a version of the song on his 1964 album, The Great Songs from "My Fair Lady" and Other Broadway Hits. Ella Fitzgerald recorded the song live on her CBS release Ella Fitzgerald at the Newport Jazz Festival: Live at Carnegie Hall. The Tymes had a top 40 hit with the song in 1968.Vic Damone recorded a version on his 1982 album Over the Rainbow. Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) performed the song in the 2014 Glee episode "New New York".