Bette Midler

Released: November 7, 1972

Songwriter: Jeff Kent

Producer: Geoffrey Haslam Barry Manilow Ahmet Ertegün

Daytime Hustler, you're out of line
Don't ya try to change my mind!
Don't you try
You see, I ain't no fool
No, I can tell
Oh, baby, you ain't my kind!
My kind!

I'm in love with a down home man
Simple lovin' I can understand
I've been hustled by the best of them
And you ain't nothing but a crazy man
Hustler

Oh, daytime hustler, you better look away
Because I won't play your game no more
No, no more, no
You spend all of your money
On those other women
Who are blind enough to buy your shame
All your shame, oh, oh, oh

Fancy money doesn't buy me love!
Flashy Cadillacs won't make me fuck!
I been hustled by the best of them
And you ain't nothing but a crazy man

Hustler, hustler
Hustler, hustler
Ooh, hustler
Hustler, baby, oh!

Whoa! Daytime Hustler!
Ooh, what did you say?
I say you're a jive, jive dude
Yes, I do. Yes, I do
You just don't, you just don't
Ya just don't know
That you are really
You're really not too cool
And I believe your mind is slow
Oh, oh, oh

I'm in love with a down home man
Simple lovin' I can understand
I've been hustled by the best of them
And you ain't nothing but a crazy, crazy man
Hustler, hustler, hustler, hustler
Hustler, hustler, hustler baby
Oh, hustler. Oh, hustler. Oh, hustler
Hustler baby . .

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

The Divine Miss M

From the album

The Divine Miss M (1972)

Bette Midler popular songs

Daytime HustlerBette Midler

Bette Midler

The Divine Miss M