Bette Midler

Released: November 17, 1977

Songwriter: J.C. Johnson

Producer: Brooks Arthur

Woke up this mornin'
With an awful achin' head
Woke up this mornin'
With an awful achin' head
My new man left me
I'm just a bloom in an empty bed

Now, when my bed gets empty
I get to feelin' kind of mean and blue
When my bed gets empty
Get to feelin' awful mean and blue
The springs are gettin' rusty
Sleepin' single like I do

I bought me a coffee grinder
The best one I could find
You know that I bought me a brand new coffee grinder
The best one I could find
So he could grind my coffee
Babe, I got a brand new grind
You gotta try, girl, you gotta try

He was a deep sea diver
With a stroke that could not go wrong
Deep, deep sea, deep sea diver
With a stroke that just could not go wrong
He could touch the bottom
And his wind held out so long

Oh, he boiled my cabbage
And he made it awful hot, mmmm
He boiled it, I got to tell you
That he made it, made it awful hot
But when he slipped the bacon in
He overflowed the pot!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
What a sweet man he was
I went and told my girlfriend Lou
Remember that old rag of a girl named Lou?
Real sweet man
I went and told my girlfriend Lou
That way that girl is, baby
She must have had a piece of it, too

And now when you get good lovin'
Don't you, don't you spread the news
Don't you spread the news
When you get it and it's good, good, good
You really ought not to
You ought not to spread the news
Because those gals will doublecross you and leave you
Those gals will doublecross you, and they do
Those gals will doublecross you
And leave you, leave you, leave you
Leave you with the empty bed blues!
Zah!

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

Broken Blossom

From the album

Broken Blossom (1977)

Bette Midler popular songs

Empty Bed BluesBette Midler

Bette Midler

Broken Blossom