Released: November 7, 1980

Songwriter: Tom Waits

Producer: Dennis Kirk

Well I'm leaving my family
I'm leaving all my friends
My body's at home, but my heart's in the wind
And the clouds are like headlines
Upon a new frontpage sky
My tears are saltwater, the moon's full and high

And I know Joe Conrad
Would be proud of me
Many before me been called by the sea
To be up in the crow's nest
Singing my saying
Shiver me timbers, let's all sail away

And the fog's lifting, the sand's shifting
I'm drifting on out
Ol' Captain Ahab got nothing on me
Swallow me; don't follow me
I'm travelling alone
The water's my daughter
I skip like a stone

And the fog's lifting, the sand's shifting
I'm drifting on out
Ol' Captain Ahab got nothing on me
Oh! Swallow me; don't follow me
I'm travelling alone
The water, she is my daughter
I skip like a stone

Won't you please call my family?
Tell 'em not to cry
My goodbyes are written by the moon in the sky
Say, nobody knows me
I got no reason to stay
Shiver me timbers
I'm sailing
Away

La la la la la la
La la la la
La la la la la la la
La la-ah la

Bette Midler

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.