We've got tonight

    I'm sure that I've mentioned my unhealthy fixation on Casey Kasem's American Top 40 reruns from the '70s and '80s. The broadcast from the weekend before last (that is, the '80s one) featured a lulu: a duet between Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton remaking Bob Seger's "We've Got Tonight." I somehow missed this one the first time, but it was quite a thing to hear. It was perhaps the best singing performance either of them ever had. But (Who didn't see that coming?) unsurprisingly, it was criminally overproduced, pretty much wrecking all they had brought to the table. And at the end, they did a harmony vocal, changing the final lyric from "Why don't you stay?" to "Why don't we stay?" all but demolishing any emotional impact Seger's song had.
    But that's not why I'm talking about it. I thought it would be really great to have it be a duet between two New Yorkers, Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand, say, and instead have them do "Why don't YOU stay?" "No, why don't YOU stay?" "I'm not gonna stay! You stay!" I can just hear Barbra: "My big comeback single is turning into a Neil Simon play!"
    Of course, this works equally well with their actual duet: "YOU don't bring me flowers." "No, YOU don't bring me flowers!" If I'm ripping off an old SNL skit (which is possible since the show's been on since 1975 and the song came out in '78), just don't tell me.