The first two songs (1980) in the Bette jukebox were written by the legendary rocker/guitarist, Pete Townshend from The Who: The songs are “And I Moved” and “You’re So Clever“. In the liner notes of the CD, Scooped, he states that he submitted the songs to producer Chris Thomas to give her. However, Pete thought that Chris was unimpressed and never gave them to her.
The third song is by Julie Gold called “The Journey (1991)“. Of course, we Betteheads know that she wrote “From A Distance” and “Heaven” which Bette did record. “The Journey” is from Ms. Gold’s CD, Try Love, and was actually written for “For The Boys”. Ms. Gold states that Bette called her up and explained a scene which needed a song. Julie said she sat down immediately and channeled Bette Midler. Julie thought the song was perfect for the movie, but it never made it. Eventually it was recorded by several other other artists.
The last 2 songs were written by Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz, ex-Talking Head members and current Tom Tom Club Members. They said that Bette approached them first about writing a couple of songs for her..she had liked the rhythm tracks she had heard….Tina and Chris really wanted her to help write the lyrics, but Bette said she didn’t have the time…of course we know why…she was busy getting on with the TV series. Anyway, Chris and Tina said that WB wanted her to stick with a more tried and true formula, so Bette didn’t get to record the songs. Therefore, Chris and Tina did for their own CD, entitled, The Good, the Bad, and the Funky (2000).
Anyway, I thought this would be an interesting listen and a change of pace…I have provided links to the artists’ CD’s and websites while you are listening…hope you enjoy. You may not like these songs at all….but if you’d like to make some comments about them, please do…that would be very interesting…
