Bootleg Betty
Bette Midler Recorded Waits’ ‘Ol 55’ For ‘The Divine Miss M’ But It Was Cut
By Mister D
Sept 17, 2023
![Bette Midler Recorded Waits' 'Ol 55' For 'The Divine Miss M'](https://bootlegbetty.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/s-l1600-3-1005x1024.jpg)
Well I’ve been trying to find my source for this, but I can’t, so it must have come from one of Waits’ unauthorized biographies. In what I remember Bette Midler was said to have recorded ‘Ol 55’ from Tom’s debut album. ‘Closing Time“ but it didn’t make the cut for her debut album, The Divine Miss M. It would have been a great performance song about the bliss of a post-coital early morning experience.
The song then went to The Eagles on their big crossover album and became one of their biggest hits. Midler would later record ‘Shiver Me Timbers ‘ on her 3rd album and in concerts. She also performed ‘Martha’ in Divine Madness on Broadway and her World Tour, but she never recorded it. We do have a classic Bette performance of ‘Martha’ from SNL 1979 and a heartbreaking rendition of ‘Rainbow Sleeve’ from the movie, ‘Divine Madness’. And of course, Waits’ and Midlers’ recorded duet of ‘I Never Talk To Strangers’ is not to be forgotten.
Anyway, here are Waits. The Eagles, and Shelby Lynn’s version of ‘Ol 55’. Two other females who recorded it are Sarah McLaughlin and Sass Jordan. Check it out!
Here’s a laugh:
Ol’ 55′, is one of Tom Waits’ first songs. Initially, he was flattered when The Eagles covered it, but later he spoke derisively about their homage:
I frankly was not that particularly crazy about their rendition of it. The song is about 5 years old, it’s one of the first songs I wrote so I felt like it was kind of flattering that somebody wanted to do your song but at the same time I thought their version was a little antiseptic.
Going even further, he mentions how he doesn’t like the Eagles in general:
Naw – I don’t like the Eagles. They’re about as exciting as watching paint dry. Their albums are good for keeping the dust off your turntable and that’s about all. – Source
Tom Waits