Pink Cadillac (Written by Bruce Springsteen) Now you may think I'm foolish0000 With all the foolish things I do. You may wonder how come you love me When I get on your nerves like I do. Aw, baby, you know you love me. Ain't no secret 'bout that. Come on over here and touch me, baby. We're gonna seal a pact. Now, honey, it ain't about money, 'Cause I know you got plenty of that. You love me for my pink cadillac, Crushed velvet seats, Low in the back, oozing down the street, Waving to the girls, feeling outa sight, Spending lots of money on a Saturday night. Aw, don't you love it when you're Riding in the back of my pink cadillac, baby? Now some folks say it's too big, Uses too much gas. Some say that it's too damned old. Does not go real fast. But, honey, your love is bigger than a Honda. I heard it's bigger than a Subaru, yeah! But my car's the real thing, baby, Ain't no one else will do. Anyway, we don't have to ride it, We can just park it out in the back And have a party in my Cadillac! Cadillac! Cadillac! Cadillac! Cadillac!
Cadillac Walk
(Moon Martin)
When the moon comes up,
The sun goes down,
Ooh, we love to creep around.
We get a flame in our blood,
A fire in our breath,
And fourteen names carved on my chest.
Got a rose tattooed on this thigh.
Made a dead man rise and shine.
You got to drive them men folks wild.
You got to drive them men folks wild.
My my my, do that talk.
Woops, the Cadillac walk.
Early to rise! Early to bed!
The grown men that we have lead.
Little-bitty baby, you are the one!
Sign your name right on my gun.
Ain’t we something nice?
Really cheap at twice the price.
We’re gonna raise your Fahrenheit!
We’re gonna raise it tonight!
My my my, do that talk.
We’re gonna Cadillac walk.
We’re gonna Cadillac walk.
Make your Cadillac walk!
Make your Cadillac,
Make your Cadillac walk!
History
Bette Midler added “Pink Cadillac” to the set list for her 1982-83 De Tour tour and recorded the song for inclusion on her 1983 No Frills album; however, Springsteen blocked the release of Midler’s version on the grounds that “Pink Cadillac” wasn’t a “girl’s song”. According to the Midler biography Still Divine by Mark Bego, Midler was severely disappointed by Springsteen’s veto, which forced her to record a new track (“Beast of Burden“) for No Frills at considerable expense. Midler’s August 1984 video release Art or Bust video – comprising footage from the two De Tour concerts at the University of Minnesota – included “Pink Cadillac” as the opening number.
Wow. You certainly are living up to your namesake. Does Bette know you are posting official material from her archive? (I hope so) Bootlegs are one thing, but a soundboard recording like this is recorded by the shows engineer, and is property of the artist. Not only are you cheapening this material by posting it, but you are robbing Bette herself of the chance to share it someday when she’s ready. As great as it would be to hear the whole show, for Bette’s sake (and morality) I certainly hope this is all you plan on sharing. I do like your page a lot and respect what you’ve done over the years, but I work in this business and I think you cross the line when it comes to certain things you opt to share. It really should be up to Bette to decide what she wants out there from her own archive, not a fan who just happens to come across something special. But that’s just my two cents worth. Otherwise, keep up the great work.
Bette and her people have been following my page since 2004 and have only asked me to take down one thing. We’ve met several times over the years and had talked about my site and many other subjects. They have my phone number, my email address, my home address so they know how to get me. There is a video that looks professionally filmed on YouTube of Miss Millenium. I told them about that and they didn’t care because it’s still up. I’ve helped them out discovering stuff they wanted down and it went down. There was a soundboard recording of one of her real early concerts which sounded great that someone was trying to sell. I told them about that. The response: “Who would buy that stuff?” I kid you not. The one thing she did ask me to take down was an article she just didn’t like. I said, but it’s all over the internet. She just didn’t want it on my site. I don’t know her reasoning for not putting her concerts out for sale or her many bootlegs. If anything is ever put out old of hers it will sound better and reach more people than I ever will. So I will share what I find unless I’m asked to remove it. I respect and understand your position. But I’m not the one who originally posted it and the whole show is posted elsewhere, so maybe you should go after them first. And I named my site what it is to be very transparent. Cheapens? It depends on how you look at it. Over the years I have found it just makes people want it more.
Thanks for taking the time to respond Don. Very well defended and informative too. I wasn’t aware that the show had been posted elsewhere first, so that’s totally on me and I apologize. Shame on them, though. I guess we just have to accept certain things leaking out. It’s great for the fans, of course, but frustrating when you wish it was Bette herself who was the one putting this stuff out officially, and actually wanting to. I’ve seen material posted that has baffled me as to how it has been allowed to remain online (like the examples you gave) but as you’ve explained, there doesn’t seem to be much concern from the powers that be. Sad but understandable I suppose. I guess we have to accept that we live in a time now when nothing is sacred, and with all the crazy bullshit going on these days, any little escape we can find is an asset. It’s just a pity Bette doesn’t utilize her own YouTube channel to post bits and pieces from her career. Twitter is a great place for her to express herself (which she is doing brilliantly) but a place to go and just enjoy the work (without people’s horrid comments) would be such a joy. Anyhow, keep up the great work and no hard feelings.
William: You don’t owe me an apology. I see exactly where you’re coming from and I struggle with it. I really just wanted to have an online scrapbook and this page just took off by surprise. I had no idea when I made it, what would come with it. But I promote stuff a lot. I tried to make this a daily thing to keep Bette alive and fresh, and I if I did put stuff up that was questionable, a lot of this crowd are full Bette-aholics and we buy her stuff no matter what. Bette was more than appreciative of what I was doing. I don’t think she likes to look or read stuff about herself, but her circle keeps a lookout for things she might not like and I help also with that also. I’ve helped out a little on a couple of her shows (just a little stuff) and on a couple of docs. And they’ve helped me out of a couple of hot spots. Ex: I posted the full Hello Dolly! show on my website and I got a call saying, “Don, take that down now. Scott Rudin saw you had it up and he’s going to send you a cease and desist.” I said it’s not even mine. I said it’s just an embed from somebody who put it on YouTube. And that kind of stuff does happen once in a while, but it never originates with me. I know some people get away with stuff like that because they put it behind some kind of paid access but rarely do things originate from me. Maybe in the real early days like when I started in 2002. But they are on it. I just don’t understand Bette’s devaluing of her past work. People are really craving her concerts on DVD and of course, we want box sets galore. But I don’t see it coming in my lifetime. But thanks for writing. I understand. And I do torture over some of it, but I usually give in. It just makes so many people happy.
First of all, it’s nice to have such an intelligent conversation with somebody. That is getting harder and harder to find these days, so cheers. But yes, it must indeed be such a fine line to walk, deciding what to share and what not to. Wanting to keep the legacy alive and yet not tarnish it at the same time. Not sure I could handle such a responsibility. But your intentions certainly seem to be pure, and Bette and her associates seem to trust you, so that must be reassuring. Plus I doubt you get many people begging you NOT to share something. I’d say I’m definitely in the minority there, but I appreciate your understanding.
I think social media has destroyed the whole webpage era, which is a real shame in my opinion. Everything is so quick paced now that if you blink you’ll miss something. That “DeTour” track you shared is probably so buried now in people’s feeds that it’s forever out of sight out of mind. Whatever happened to just stopping and enjoying the moment? There were some great sites back in the day that really paid homage to Bette with integrity. I miss them. I do consider yours one of them, and I’m amazed at how you’ve managed to hang on and adapt with the times. Yours is really the only one left that I ever take the time to visit. I’m not much of a fan of these new groups and sites on the go (if the truth must be told). The fact that Bette (or whoever is doing it) will post a rare photo on her Instagram page and within minutes “they” have it posted on their pages. That just totally demeans the original post in my opinion. I just don’t get it. I guess they see it as flattery, or maybe it’s just a product of the times we’re living in now. I don’t know, but I definitely need to stop caring.
Thanks for taking the time to explain your position and for hearing me out on mine. I certainly don’t envy you having to make those hard decisions but it must be wonderful to make so many people happy. Here is hoping that within our lifetimes we’ll get some special releases from Bette herself. A box set is certainly due! (She’s got to have a few things saved from over the years.) Fingers crossed.