Bette Midler

Released: November 16, 1973

Songwriter: Doris Tauber Johnny Mercer

Producer: Arif Mardin Barry Manilow

Drinkin' again
Thinking of when you loved me
Having a few
Wishing that you were here

Making the rounds
Buying a round for total strangers
Just being a fool
'cause I keep hoping, hoping, hoping you'll appear

Sure I can borrow a smoke
I can sit here all night and tell these jokers some jokes
But who wants to laugh, who's gonna laugh
At a broken heart?
Oh, my heart is aching, I swear it's breaking

And I'm drinking again
Thinking of when you loved me
And I'm tryin' to get home
With nothing, nothing but a memory

Yes, I'm dying to get home
Dying to get home
And I got nothin' but a bottle of beer
And just my memory

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.

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Bette Midler

From the album

Bette Midler (1973)

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Drinking AgainBette Midler

Bette Midler

Bette Midler