"Comin' In and Out of Your Life" is a 1981 single released by

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers List ...

on her album ''

Memories Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...

''.

Production

Milwaukeen Richard Parker worked with Bobby Whiteside to create

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually t ...

s for a while, and then decided to use their musical hook skills to collaborate on a pop hit. Parker explained "we went into the studio and recorded a very complete demo with string arrangement and everything. some established artists were interested but we felt the song was just too strong to let go". Whiteside managed Parker's singing career and thought the song was the "perfect vehicle to land Richard a contract with a major record label". Whiteside sent the tape to an L.A. partner Jay Landers, who then sent it to Charles Koppelman. Landers explained "I knew treisanda little bit. We met through Charles Koppelman, who...was her Executive Producer at the time. I was an independent music publisher, and Charles asked me to find some material for a compilation he was working on with her, which became ''

''. (I think it was called “Love Songs” in the UK.) So I brought her “Comin’ In And Out Of Your Life,” which was a song I’d come across a few months earlier. Parker said "Koppelman was so knocked out by it that he sent a limousine for Jon Peters. Ten days later Barbra recorded our song in London. It all happened so fast". Parker later explained "having Barbra Streisand do the song automatically legitimized our standing as songwriters".

Release

The song was released in mid-November by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

, and as of December 4, 1981, had already become a Top 30 single. It was included on her

greatest hits album A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

''Memories''.

Critical reception

The song was voted the favorite adult contemporary song in the Wilmington area according to surveys by WMFD radio on January 1, 1982. On November 27, 1981, the song was 10th in the same list. Streisand considers this distinction amongst her very greatest achievements.

Chart performance

References

{{authority control 1981 singles 1981 songs Barbra Streisand songs