Bette Midler

Released: September 15, 1998

Songwriter: Dave Frishberg Bob Dorough

Producer: Marc Shaiman

I'm hip
I'm no square
I'm alert, I'm awake, I'm aware
I am always on the scene
Makin' the rounds
Diggin' the sounds
I read People Magazine
'Cause I'm hip

Like, dig!
I'm in step
When it was hip to be hep
I was hep
I don't blow but I'm a fan
Look at me swing
Ring a ding ding
I even call my girlfriend "man"
'Cause I'm hip

Every Satuday night
With my suit buttoned tight and my swedes on
I'm gettin' my kicks
Diggin' arty French flickes with my shades on
I'm too much
I'm a gas
I am anything but middle class
When I hang around the band
Poppin' my thumbs
Diggin' the drums
Squares don't seem to understand
Why I flip
They're not hip
Like I'm hip
I'm hip!

I'm on top of every trend
Look at me go
Vo-dee-o-do
Sammy Davis knew my friend (sobbing)

I'm hip
But not weird
Like you notice I don't wear a beard
Beards were in but now they're out
They had their day
Now their passe
Just ask me if you're in doubt
'Cause I'm hip

Now I'm deep into Zen
Meditation and macrobiotics
And as soon as I can
I intend to get into narcotics
'Cause I'm cool as a cuke
I'm a cat, I'm a card, I'm a kook, kook, kook
I get so much out of life
Really, i do
Skoo ba dee boo
One more time play "Mack the Knife"
Let 'er rip
I may flip
But I'm hip

Bette Midler is a Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, comedienne and actress. Named in honor of Bette Davis, Midler’s career began performing off-broadway until she developed the stage persona The Divine Miss M while singing at the world-famous Continental Baths gay bathhouse. A pre-fame Barry Manilow, the venue’s in-house piano player, produced her Grammy-nominated debut album which scored three US top 40 singles including the Grammy-nominated “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”. Midler took home the Best New Artist Grammy that year, her first of three career wins.

Throughout the 1970s, Midler found further success with music, Broadway, television and film. The Rose, Midler’s 1979 acting debut, earned her both Oscar and Academy Award nominations, and its namesake song won her a Golden Globe and another Grammy – also giving Midler her first success overseas.

The early 1980s proved less successful for Midler with four under-performing singles and a box office flop with the film Jinxed. However, the second half of the decade would prove far more fruitful with a handful of very successful films including Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Ruthless People, Outrageous Fortune and Beaches, the latter featuring a chart-topping cover of “Wind Beneath My Wings” that won Midler her third Grammy and is considered one of the greatest songs in American film history.

more tracks from the album

Bathhouse Betty

From the album

Bathhouse Betty (1998)

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Bette Midler

Bathhouse Betty