"I Won't Be the One to Let Go" is a song recorded by American singers

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 ...

and

Barry Manilow Barry Manilow (born Barry Alan Pincus; June 17, 1943) is an American singer and songwriter with a career that spans seven decades. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", " Somewhere Down the Road", " Mandy", "I Write the Songs", " Can ...

for the former's sixth

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

, ''

Duets A duet is a musical composition or piece for two performers. Duets or The Duets may also refer to: Films and television * ''Duets'' (film), a 2000 film, starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Giamatti and Huey Lewis * "Duets" (''Glee''), a 2010 episod ...

'' (2002). It was released as the album's only single on November 4, 2002, 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 ...

. The track was written and produced by

Richard Marx Richard Noel Marx (born September 16, 1963) is an American adult contemporary music, adult contemporary and pop rock singer-songwriter. He has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Marx's Richard Marx (album), self-titled debut album went tri ...

with additional songwriting coming from Manilow and additional production handled by

Walter Afanasieff Walter Afanasieff (born Vladimir Nikitich Afanasyev; February 10, 1958), formerly nicknamed Baby Love in the 1980s, is an American record producer and songwriter of Russian-Chinese descent. He was a collaborator with Mariah Carey on her first ...

. Initially an

airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

and

streaming Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...

-only single in the United States, a promotional

CD single A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any si ...

of "I Won't Be the One to Let Go" was released and includes the radio edit and album version of the song. An adult contemporary pop

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

, the single contains lyrics discussing mutual love in a relationship and dismissing fears of abandonment. The song divided

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

, with some calling it sweet and "feel-good", but others describing it as mediocre and unmemorable. In 2014, Streisand featured "I Won't Be the One to Let Go" as a bonus track on the deluxe edition of her 34th studio album, '' Partners''.

Background and release

"I Won't Be the One to Let Go" is taken from Barbra Streisand's

'' (2002), a collection of 19 duets spanning from her career. Her duet with

is one of the record's two new tracks, the other being "All I Know of Love" with

Josh Groban Joshua Winslow Groban (born February 27, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. His first four solo albums have been certified multi-platinum, and he was charted in 2007 as the number-one best selling artist in the United States, wi ...

. "I Won't Be the One to Let Go" was written and produced by

with additional songwriting coming from Manilow and additional production handled by

. It serves as Streisand's first single release since 1999's " If You Ever Leave Me", which was a duet with

Vince Gill Vincent Grant Gill (born April 12, 1957) is an American country music singer, songwriter and musician. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman of the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s and as a solo artist b ...

and is also featured as one of the nineteen songs on the parent album. The single was first available for digital streaming on

AOL Music AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo! Inc. ...

on November 4, 2002, as an exclusive privilege to website members. Although the track was not released commercially, "I Won't Be the One to Let Go" was distributed as a promotional

on January 6, 2003. With the release handled by Columbia Records, the CD was sent exclusively to United States radio stations and includes the "Radio Version Edit" and "Radio Version" releases of the song. In 2014, Streisand featured her duet as a bonus track on the deluxe edition of her 34th studio album, '' Partners''.

Recording and composition

With a duration of four minutes and 41 seconds, "I Won't Be the One to Let Go" is an adult contemporary pop

, which, according to William Ruhlmann from ''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

'', is similar to the entirety of the songs featured on ''Duets''. In an interview for ''Barry Gram'' magazine, Manilow expressed pleasure in having one of his songs sung by Streisand and called her voice "amazing". He elaborated:

I've just recorded it with the brilliant Barbra Streisand ... we sound like we like each other and mean what we're singing because we worked on it together, in the same room, for days and days before we went into the studio. I think that there's an obvious connection between the two of us (we actually come from the same neighborhood in
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
) and I think you will be able to feel that when you hear the song. It's a wonderful duet and I'm very proud of the song.

Lyrically, Streisand and Manilow talk about mutual love in a relationship and, at times, they dismiss fears that they have, such as abandonment. During the second verse, they alternate: "Who knows what awaits us 'round the bend / Count on me, faithfully / Though everything we have could never end / It could never end." In the chorus, they sing: "This I swear, this I swear / I won't be the one to let go, to let go..."

Critical reception

A staff member at ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' acknowledged both "I Won't Be the One to Let Go" and album track "All I Know of Love" as the "two fine new efforts" on ''Duets'', calling the former single a "sweet" collaboration.

BBC Music BBC Music is responsible for the music played across the BBC. The current director of music is Bob Shennan, who is also the controller of BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6 Music, and the BBC Asian Network. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio o ...

's Morag Reavley enjoyed the single, calling it a "soaring, feel-good" track. However, William Ruhlmann from AllMusic was more critical of the song, describing it as just "mediocre". Tom Santopietro, author of ''The Importance of Being Barbra: The Brilliant, Tumultuous Career of Barbra Streisand'', called "I Won't Be the One to Let Go" a "paltry ..new song" and ultimately found it to be unmemorable.

Track listing

Release history

References

Citations

Bibliography

* {{Good article 2000s ballads 2002 singles 2002 songs Pop ballads Barbra Streisand songs Barry Manilow songs Columbia Records singles Songs written by Barry Manilow Songs written by Richard Marx Male–female vocal duets