Bette Midler

Songwriter: Bette Midler

Producer: Bette Midler Bob Kaminsky Jerry Blatt

Oh, human history is a sordid affair
Often I say to myself, "Oh this is horrible
Man's inhumanity to man. It's just awful, it's..."
Oh, why bother?
Why bother, why bother, why bother?

I try to be rosy
I try to be upbeat
Life is real, life is earnest
Sing Polly Wolly doodle all day
I try to look on the bright side of things and yet
When confronted with the truth
I have to say
Why bother?

Maybe I'll get a lift
Why bother?
Maybe I'll get a job
Why bother?
Maybe I'll get a new car
Why bother?
Maybe I'll empty an ashtray
Why bother?

It's so hard to keep your ears clean
Why bother?

There arе millions of wonderful piano players in the world
Listеn to the chump I got
Why bother?

You know, modern painting is supposed to be the panacea for all the ills of modern life
And yet everyone still buys the painting that matches the couch
Why bother?

Do you know that the only museum in Las Vegas is run by Liberace?
Why bother?

France - the country that gave us Renoir, Manet, Monet, Van Gogh, Gauguin - has hailed Jerry Lewis as a genius...
Why bother?

Calvin Klein wears his own jeans
His own underwear
His own cologne
I still wouldn't fuck him
I said "Calvin, why bother?"

I have a star named after me on Hollywood Boulevard
It's under a fire hydrant
Why bother?

I got a new haircut
I have to put a lotta mousse on it to make it look like anything
I got a terrible case of dandruff
My doctor said I was suffering from "mousse abuse"
Why bother?

Dr Ruth...
Why bother?

There are 88 keys on that piano
That motherfucker knows five
Why bother?

Halley's Comet comes once every 76 years
So do I
Why bother?

I fasted for 25 days
I took a high colonic every day
I lost 3 pounds
My Enemist said, "Why bother?"

You ever read the LA Weekly?
You ever notice how many ads for high colonics they have?
Is this town that full of shit?
Why bother?

Is this what T.S. Eliot meant by
"the hollow men"
"the stuffed men"
Or did he only mean...
"Why bother?"

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

Mud Will Be Flung Tonight

From the album

Mud Will Be Flung Tonight (1985)

Bette Midler popular songs

Why Bother?Bette Midler

Bette Midler

Mud Will Be Flung Tonight