Bette Midler

Released: October 10, 2000

Songwriter: Patty Griffin

Producer: Don Was

Diamonds, roses, I need Moses
To cross this sea of lonliness
Part this red river of pain
I don't necessarily buy
Any key to the future or hapiness
But I need a little place in the sun sometimes
Or I think I'll die

And everywhere is somewhere but nowhere is near
Everybody's got somebody with their wine and their beer
But I'm a tragic figure in the corner over here
With an empty apartment and a best friend who is queer. Heh

Every time I see him he smiles
And tells me how well he's walking these miles
But he never ever asks a single thing about me
If I died he'd hear about it eventually
Diamonds, roses, I need Moses
To cross this sea of lonliness
Part this red river of pain. Ohhh

'Cause everywhere is somewhere and nowhere is near
Everybody's got somebody with their wine and their beer
And I'm a tragic figure in the corner over here
With my bills in the mailbox and some checks
That won't clear this year

Everywhere is somewhere and nowhere is near
Everybody's got somebody with their wine and their beer
So I'm just a tragic figure in the corner over here
Who'll sleep it off 'til morning and still not know that we're

We're all just diamonds and roses. I need Moses
To cross this sea of loneliness, part this red river of pain
To cross this sea of loneliness, part this red river of pain
To cross this sea of loneliness, part this red river of pain

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Ly ly ly ly ly ly ly ly ly, ly ly ly, ly ly ly
Ly ly ly, ly ly ly, ly ly ly
Ly ly ly ly ly ly ly ly ly, ly ly ly, ly ly ly
Ly ly ly, ly ly ly, ly ly ly

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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