Aerosmith's 1998 hit, "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing," is a power ballad that expresses the fear of losing a loved one. You may not know that the song was inspired by a romantic moment between Barbra Streisand and her husband, actor James Brolin.
Streisand reveals the story behind the song in her just published memoir, ‘My Name Is Barbra.’ She writes that one night in bed Brolin said, "I don't want to fall asleep." When she asked why, he said, "'cause I'll miss you."
Streisand was touched by his words and said, "What a beautiful, poetic thing to say. And it captured a moment of complete bliss… physical, emotional, spiritual."
She shared the story with Barbara Walters on ABC in 1997 and Diane Warren, who wrote the song, was watching. Warren said, "I wrote down the title. I didn’t write the song [then], but I just thought, ‘I don’t want to miss a thing.’ That’s just a cool title, you know."
Warren later used the title to write a song for the Armageddon soundtrack, a movie about the end of the world. She said, "It was about the end of the world, and what would you say to somebody if you didn't have that much time left? I wanted that urgency, and so I wrote the song, never knowing Aerosmith was going to do it. That was amazing."
Streisand was also amazed by the song and wrote, "It was so gratifying to see so many people responding to Jim's words... Well, no wonder… so did I!"
The song became Aerosmith's only #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also a Top 10 hit in 28 other countries.
[Source: Classic Hits Today]