Bette Midler – Superstar – De Tour (Live in Texas, 1983)
Bette Midler – Superstar
(Bonnie Bramlett/Leon Russell)
Long ago and so far away,
I fell in love with you before the second show.
And your guitar just sounds so sweet and clear,
but you’re not really here.
It’s just the radio.
Don’t you remember you told me you loved me, baby?
Said you’d be comin’ back this way again, baby.
Baby, baby, baby, baby, oh, baby.
I love you.
Lonliness is such a sad affair.
And I can hardly wait, oh,
just to sleep with you again.
What can I say to have you come again?
Come back and play, yeah,
you could play, you could play, play that sad guitar.
Don’t you remember you told me you loved me, baby?
Yes, you said you’d be comin’ back this way again, baby.
You called me baby, baby, baby, oh, baby.
I love you.
You know, lonliness is such a sad affair.
And I, I can hardly wait
just to sleep with him again.
What can I say to have him come back again?
He could come back and he could play,
play his sad guitar.
Don’t you remember you told me you loved me?
Said you’d be coming back again, baby.
He called me baby.
Baby, baby, baby, oh, baby.
I love you, I really do.
Long ago and so far away,
I fell in love with you before the second show.
And your guitar just sounds so sweet and clear,
but you’re not really here.
It’s just the radio.
Don’t you remember you told me you loved me, baby?
Said you’d be comin’ back this way again, baby.
Baby, baby, baby, baby, oh, baby.
I love you.
Lonliness is such a sad affair.
And I can hardly wait, oh,
just to sleep with you again.
What can I say to have you come again?
Come back and play, yeah,
you could play, you could play, play that sad guitar.
Don’t you remember you told me you loved me, baby?
Yes, you said you’d be comin’ back this way again, baby.
You called me baby, baby, baby, oh, baby.
I love you.
You know, loneliness is such a sad affair.
And I, I can hardly wait
just to sleep with him again.
What can I say to have him come back again?
He could come back and he could play,
play his sad guitar.
Don’t you remember you told me you loved me?
Said you’d be coming back again, baby.
He called me baby.
Baby, baby, baby, oh, baby.
I love you, I really do.
Bette Midler performs “Superstar” on Burt Bacharach special “Opus 3” 1973
In 2016 Midler releases an alternate version of Superstar for her debut album’s 40th anniversary
Bonnie Bramlett’s version called Groupie
Bette Midler said in a TV interview she studied a lot of male rock star’s movements for “The Rose” but she also mentioned two females, Bonnie Bramlett who wrote Superstar and toured with Janis Joplin, and Grace Slick from the Jefferson Airplane. I tried to find an old clip of Ms, Bramlett singing this, but could only find her recent versions of it. She lives in my town and she’s a legend. Like I said she toured with Janis, Eric Clapton, Leon Russell, the Allman Brothers, and she was pretty much like Bette in “The Rose” I remember seeing Bonnie as a kid in outfits reminiscent of Bette’s in the Rose, especially that outfit in the long concert scene, so I was excited when Bette said she used Bonnie for some inspiration. I have one of Bonnie Bramlett’s albums where she’s wearing those powder puff heels. LOL, She was a boozer on stage and she still has a huge voice. One of my favorite albums of hers she really sounds drunk throughout, but I loved it. But here she is a couple of years ago singing at Leon Russell’s memorial, and she still sounds pretty darn good. Oh, and she was the first and only white woman to be one of Ike and Tina Turner’s Ikettes!
