Bette Midler

Released: November 7, 1972

Songwriter: Leon Russell Bonnie Bramlett

Producer: Geoffrey Haslam Ahmet Ertegün Barry Manilow

Long ago, and, oh, so far away
I fell in love with you before the second show
Your guitar, it sounds so sweet and clear
But you're not really here
It's just the radio

Don't you remember you told me you love me baby?
You said you'd be coming back this way again
Baby, baby, baby, baby, oh, baby
I love you, I really do

Loneliness is such a sad affair, and I can hardly wait
To sleep with you again
What to say, to make you come again?
Come back to me again, and play your sad guitar

Don't you remember you told me you love me baby?
You said you'd be coming back this way again
Baby, baby, baby, baby, oh, baby
I love you, I really do

Don't you remember you told me you love me baby?
You said you'd be coming back this way again
Baby, baby, baby, baby, oh, baby
I love you, I really do

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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