Miss me?
I have an uncontrollable need for the Divine Miss M. Celebrated actress, singer, and comedian, Bette Midler is one of my favorite idols. Her music isn't always something I'm in the mood for. Granted I'm also not in the mood for Kanye every day, but I love him as well.
She's just one of those personalities you can't help but love. She's that fun aunt. And, she really is a member of my family. Ever since I was a child I've listened to her music, watched her movies. Without Bette I don't know what my life would have been like.
Last week I was having the hardest time trying to think of something I wanted to write for Throwback Thursday. I had nothing. I was listening to Bette Midler every day, but I had nothing that I felt I should throwback to.
It was only while sobbing through “Wind Beneath My Wings” that I realized that Bette Midler was the perfect candidate for me to write about. My problem was that I just don't think of Bette as a “throwback”. She's like Madonna. She's still relevant to me. You don't throwback to people still in circulation.
She's just one of those personalities you can't help but love. She's that fun aunt. And, she really is a member of my family. Ever since I was a child I've listened to her music, watched her movies. Without Bette I don't know what my life would have been like.
Last week I was having the hardest time trying to think of something I wanted to write for Throwback Thursday. I had nothing. I was listening to Bette Midler every day, but I had nothing that I felt I should throwback to.
It was only while sobbing through “Wind Beneath My Wings” that I realized that Bette Midler was the perfect candidate for me to write about. My problem was that I just don't think of Bette as a “throwback”. She's like Madonna. She's still relevant to me. You don't throwback to people still in circulation.
That's when I stepped back and took in her body of work. I most certainly could throwback to that. “Material Girl” was a classic hit for Madonna, and in much the same way Bette has had success's that are iconic. That are classics.
Bette Midler is probably one of the strangest choices for longevity in the music industry. And, yet over the course of four decades, despite a few commercially failed records, she's bounced back and came back harder and stronger then before.
Bette Midler has had more hit records, then she has had hit songs. She sold much the same way Barbra Streisand sold except Bette Midler can and has out Streisanded Streisand. Except for her surprising hit “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” (A hit for the girl group The Andrew Sisters in 1941), all of her hits have been graceful Celine Dionesque ballads. “The Rose”, “Wind Beneath My Wings”, “From a Distance”.
Bette Midler is probably one of the strangest choices for longevity in the music industry. And, yet over the course of four decades, despite a few commercially failed records, she's bounced back and came back harder and stronger then before.
Bette Midler has had more hit records, then she has had hit songs. She sold much the same way Barbra Streisand sold except Bette Midler can and has out Streisanded Streisand. Except for her surprising hit “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” (A hit for the girl group The Andrew Sisters in 1941), all of her hits have been graceful Celine Dionesque ballads. “The Rose”, “Wind Beneath My Wings”, “From a Distance”.
SUCCESS!
...
Her albums have always been pulled together by her voice and personality. The material has never mattered. Bette Midler can sing her way out of any situation. Lined wall to wall against ballads will be a quirky upbeat showtunesque song. Take “Miss Otis Regrets” a song about a secretary who informs a woman that Miss Otis cannot make the appointment as she has been lynched for shooting her lover.
Not typical run of the mill pop filler.
Not typical run of the mill pop filler.
Not only is it included on the multi-platinum Beaches Soundtrack this songs lyrics come from one of her own vignettes found on Mud Will Be Flung Tonight
In between her platinum selling records. She's starred in so many famous movies. The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, The First Wives Club, Hocus Pocus, the admittedly questionable The Stepford Wives. So many of these are ingrained into my childhood.
Beaches was one of those movies I watched all the time as a child. Can't tell you why. It's incredibly depressing. Hopeful, but depressing. I never cried watching it as a child. Now, I ball every single time. It's so embarrassing, I can't watch it with anyone. There's a reason I cry every time I listen to “Wind Beneath My Wings”. I just think of Beaches and I need a moment. It's traumatic.
Beaches was one of those movies I watched all the time as a child. Can't tell you why. It's incredibly depressing. Hopeful, but depressing. I never cried watching it as a child. Now, I ball every single time. It's so embarrassing, I can't watch it with anyone. There's a reason I cry every time I listen to “Wind Beneath My Wings”. I just think of Beaches and I need a moment. It's traumatic.
With The First Wives Club, you might be saying to yourself. I've never heard of this movie. You probably wouldn't have. I believe it was commercially successfully, but just like a Transformers movie no one really remembers it after ten years. I however do and I think it's one of the funniest movies I've ever seen (It even rivals Bette's own Ruthless People). It's just the perfect storm. It has one of my queens, Goldie Hawn. I love this woman so much. I even read her autobiography, A Lotus Grows In The Mud. You don't understand how rare it is that I read anything with 'biography' in it by choice.
Then, there's Diane Keaton, Sarah Jessica Parker, Maggie Smith. This movie has everything. Buy it. Netflix it. I don't care. If you haven't seen this movie. You have a hole in your heart. You just didn't know. The basic concept is that three women are left by their husbands for younger versions of themselves. The three women (Bette Midler, Dian Keaton, Goldie Hawn) then proceed to exact revenge on them. Straight forward. Completely funny.
Then, there's Diane Keaton, Sarah Jessica Parker, Maggie Smith. This movie has everything. Buy it. Netflix it. I don't care. If you haven't seen this movie. You have a hole in your heart. You just didn't know. The basic concept is that three women are left by their husbands for younger versions of themselves. The three women (Bette Midler, Dian Keaton, Goldie Hawn) then proceed to exact revenge on them. Straight forward. Completely funny.
It's also a little late if you missed Bette's one woman only show on Broadway I'll Eat You Last. But, who knows they might have it online somewhere or you might be able to buy it on DVD. I don't know. This show convinced me ever so briefly that I was going to be a talent agent. Bette brilliantly told the story of Sue Mengers, agent extrodinaire to the stars. In her hey day this woman brokered power deals for Barbra Streisand, Cher, Joan Collins, Faye Dunaway, Steve McQueen, Burt Reynolds...
I was convinced that, this was the life for me. Then, I realized how I bad I would be at that. Ah, well.
I hope I jogged your memory on the dear Bette Midler. Always a class act. There's also been rumors that she's working on an album based on covers of songs by girl groups. God. Please don't let her cover the Pussycat Dolls.
I was convinced that, this was the life for me. Then, I realized how I bad I would be at that. Ah, well.
I hope I jogged your memory on the dear Bette Midler. Always a class act. There's also been rumors that she's working on an album based on covers of songs by girl groups. God. Please don't let her cover the Pussycat Dolls.
You're right. I would love it.
Be sure to check out Bette on twitter. She's the best celebrity out there.
Be sure to check out Bette on twitter. She's the best celebrity out there.
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