Some People's Lives


Some People's Lives is the seventh studio album by American singer Bette Midler, released on the Atlantic Records label in 1990. It contains one of her biggest hits, "From a Distance", which won the songwriter Julie Gold a Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1991.
Some People's Lives became the biggest commercial success of Midler's musical career, peaking at number 6 in the US and number 5 in the UK. It was later awarded double platinum by the RIAA for sales of over two million copies in the US alone.

Composition

Following a series of successful Hollywood movies made throughout the 1980s, among them Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Ruthless People, Outrageous Fortune, Oliver and Company and Big Business, Midler returned to the music scene with a proper studio album in 1990, her first since 1983's rock and new wave-influenced No Frills. Some People's Lives however had more in common with the preceding soundtrack Beaches in that it featured both interpretations of jazz standards like "Miss Otis Regrets", "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" and "He Was Too Good to Me" as well as more chart-oriented pop and adult contemporary material with contrasting synth-driven arrangements courtesy of producer Arif Mardin, his son Joe and Robbie Buchanan. The up-tempo track "Moonlight Dancing" was written by noted hitmaker Diane Warren and "The Gift of Love" by Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg and Susanna Hoffs. Steinberg and Kelly were the songwriting team behind Madonna's "Like a Virgin", Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors" and The Bangles' "Eternal Flame".

Singles

"Moonlight Dancing", "Night and Day" and "The Gift of Love" were all issued as singles, but the biggest hit that the album produced was Midler's interpretation of Julie Gold's anthem of universal brotherhood "From a Distance" featuring The Radio Choir of New Hope Church. The single reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, number 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart and number 6 in the UK and was later certified platinum in the US, making it Midler's second million-seller within the space of two years. The song has since been recorded by a large number of other artists, and Midler herself included an alternate version with partly re-written lyrics on her 2006 album Cool Yule.

Track listing

  1. "One More Round" – 2:03
  2. "Some People's Lives" – 3:29
  3. "Miss Otis Regrets" – 2:51
  4. "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" – 5:30
  5. "Night and Day" – 5:30
  6. "The Girl Is On to You" – 4:10
  7. "From a Distance" – 4:37
  8. "Moonlight Dancing" – 4:39
  9. "He Was Too Good to Me" / "Since You Stayed Here" / – 4:12
  10. "All of a Sudden" – 4:33
  11. "The Gift of Love" – 4:02

    Personnel

Certifications