Inspiration can come from the most unexpected places, as one songwriter discovered after hearing about an interview where Barbra Streisand and James Brolin discussed their romance, and eventually wrote a song that would become a number-one hit.
Songwriter Diane Warren learned of Streisand and Brolin’s interview with Barbara Walters and discovered a sweet detail. In the segment, Streisand recalled that the couple was lying in bed when Brolin said he didn’t want to sleep because he would miss her.
The statement struck a chord with Warren. In an interview for Shortlist, she shared the moment she realized the remark was more than just an exchange between lovers.
“Someone told me there was an interview with Barbra Streisand and her husband, and he had said how he doesn’t like to go to sleep, you know, because he misses her, and I was like, ‘Wow, that’s a cool idea for a song if I can figure that out,'” Warren began.
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She continued, “That’s where I got the title from. And I kept it in the back of my head. When [the movie] Armageddon came round, I thought, ‘You know, I’m gonna write this song because it could be about the end of the world – it could fit that storyline, or it could fit this love story.'”
Streisand recounted the exchange with Brolin in her memoir My Name Is Barbra. She felt that her husband’s words were a “beautiful, poetic thing to say. And it captured a moment of complete bliss… physical, emotional, spiritual.”
‘I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’ was Aerosmith’s first No. 1 hit
Diane Warren’s inspiration became a number-one hit for Aerosmith. It marked the band’s first chart-topping single since their formation in 1970.
The song went on to score an Oscar nomination in 1999 for Best Original Song, after being included in the Armageddon film score. Other nominees were “When You Believe” from The Prince of Egypt [Winner], “The Prayer” from Quest for Camelot, “A Soft Place to Fall” from The Horse Whisperer, and “That’ll Do” from Babe: Pig in the City.
Warren believes Aerosmith’s lead singer, Steven Tyler, gave the song a unique perspective. She admitted that if a woman had sung I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing, it would have been interpreted in a very different way.
“When Steven sang it, it became a different thing. When I wrote it, I thought it would end up being for Celine Dion or somebody like that. It was so much cooler to hear someone like Steven Tyler, this gruff, macho rock star, this amazing tough guy, for him to say that lyric, it just brought a whole other dimension to it. I don’t think it would have been the same hit, or the same standard if it wasn’t for someone like Steven Tyler doing that song.”
“I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” took the number one spot the day it debuted on the Billboard charts on September 5, 1998. It remained at the top of the charts for 4 weeks.
This story was originally reported by Parade on Oct 25, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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