A year after her black and white special introduced her to a national audience, Barbra Streisand returned to the small screen in a colour special entitled, appropriately enough, Colour Me Barbra.

Oops! 

That might be what it was called when it made its way to the UK and environs, but here it dropped the U, just as Barbra dropped an A from her name, and was simply Color Me Barbra.

The show was taped partly in the Philadelphia Museum of Art during the weekend when it was closed, so Barbra could romp around with the paintings and pretend to imagine herself in them.

At one point she’s dressed as Marie Antoinette and has one minute to sing Chopin’s Minute Waltz. If you can’t catch the lyrics, which go by very quickly, I included them at the end of this post right after the video.

I managed to see this special when it was originally shown, as I had been introduced to Barbra by my aunt Joan who gave me one of her albums as a Christmas present. Barbra was another thing that Joan and I bonded over.

Later in the show she is in a carnival setting singing to a bunch of animals including an anteater.

There are several versions of the special available on YouTube, some as playlists, but here is the uninterrupted version. It’s prefaced with an introduction by La Streisand herself.

The Minute Waltz

I’ve got a minute, just a little minute
I have only got a minute, just a minute
I have only got a minute
That is all the time I have to sing this tiny little minute waltz

It isn’t easy but I’ll try it then
I’ve got to say goodbye, but first, I’ll take a minute
And put in it every note that Chopin wrote
That less I sing a little minute waltz

And hope I can sing with no faults
I know it’s difficult
I’ll give it every last breath that I’ve got within my body
Hope that my performance won’t be very shoddy

Singing every moment won’t do wonders for my throat
I probably will end up hoarse
Of course I will, I’ve got it down a wager
That I made, I will want
It’s not the money, but the satisfaction that I get from winning money
On this silly kind of bet.

Though this kind of solo wasn’t his intention
Chopin isn’t here to make an intervention
So with your permission and no intermission
I will sing each note that that composer wrote
As you can hear my trilling isn’t very thrilling
But no one can say I wasn’t very willing
To attempt a thing that’s not been done
And just for fun to sing the minute waltz 

As I sing, the seconds fly
All too soon the minute waltzes by
And now I ask you, where am I?
Halfway through the tune and I’m falling far behind

I have less than 30 seconds, less than 30 seconds
Less than 30, less than half a minute
I have less than 30 seconds
I have less than half a minute to complete this little minute waltz
But every note that’s in the score I buy
The sands of time I know are pouring, let

Win my bet and honor with the money
Down to some big store and there, I’ll buy a honey
Of a trophy for myself to put upon the shelf
To show the world I’ve won.

Oh, the second hand is rushing ’round the dial
And though I’d like to end this torture with a smile
And lest someone knows how to stop the clock
You’re gonna see me cry before I’ve said goodbye

Eight more measures to complete the song
But I’m afraid my little lungs will burst before too long
If only I can last this day
I won’t have failed to sing the little minute waltz

Words by Charles Gerhardt to a tune originally by Frederic Chopin but modified for singing