Bette Midler

Released: May 7, 1996

Songwriter: Alan Menken Stephen Schwartz

Producer: Alan Menken Stephen Schwartz

[Verse 1]
I don't know if you can hear me
Or if you're even there
I don't know if You will listen
To a humble prayer

They tell me I'm just an outcast
I shouldn't speak to You
Still I see your face and wonder
Were you once an outcast too?

[Chorus]
God help the outcasts
Hungry from birth
Show them the mercy
They don't find on earth
The lost and forgotten
They look to you still
God help the outcasts
Or nobody will

[Verse 2]
I ask for nothing
I can get by
But I know so many
Less lucky then I
God help the outcasts
The poor and downtrod
I thought we all were
The children of God

[Bridge]
I don't know if there's a reason
Why some are blessed, some not
Why the few you seem to favor
They fear us, flee us
Try not to see us

[Chorus]
God help the outcasts
The tattered, the torn
Seeking an answer
To why they were born
Winds of misfortune
Have blown them about
You made the outcasts
Don't cast them out

[Outro]
The poor and unlucky
The weak and the odd
I thought we all were
The children of God

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.

From the albums

Bette Midler popular songs

God Help the OutcastsBette Midler

Bette Midler