Lyrics to
I Shall Be Released

This version of I Shall Be Released was released by Bette Midler in 1973.

Visit the Bette Midler Lyrics profile at Decade Lyrics - it has the I Shall Be Released lyrics as well as the rest of the songs by Bette Midler.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Bette Midler or about the 1970s in general.

They say everything can be replaced.
That every distance is not near.
So I remember every face
of every man who put me here.

They say every woman needs protection,
then they turn around and tell you
every woman’s got to fall.
I swear I see my own reflection
somewhere far beyond this wall.

I see my light come shining
from the west down to the east.
Any day now, any day now,
I shall be released.

Now yonder stands
there in that lonely crowd,
a man who swears he is not to blame, no, no.
And if you ask him has he ever seen this lonely woman,
he’ll tell you, “No, no, no.”
What’s more, he does not know my name!

But I see my light come shining,
shining, shining, shining from the west
straight on down to the east.
Ah-anyday now, any, any old day now,
I am going to, I am going to be released, yeah!

They tell ya, tell ya every woman,
they tell ya every woman
got to have protection,
then they turn around and tell ya,
“No! We gotta make that-a woman fall!”
Oh, god, I swear! I swear I see,
I see my, my very own reflection
far and away beyond, way, way beyond
these old walls!

That’s right! I see, I see my light, my light,
my light is shining, shining, shining,
shining, shining, shining, shining
from the west straight on down to the east.
And any day now, do you hear me?
Any day now, I shall be,
I am going to be released!

Any day now, any day now, any day now,
any, any day now, oh, any day now,
any day, any day, any day,
any day, any day, any day,
woah, any day, any day, any old day now,
yeah, any day now
I am going to, I shall be released!

Woah, any day now, I shall see again!
Any day now, I shall be free again!
Any day now, they’ll let me be again!
Oh, any day now, any day now, any day now,
whoa, help me, any day, any day,
any old day now . . .

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Want more lyrics and songs by Bette Midler?

Bette Midler has released many songs over the years besides I Shall Be Released. Bette Midler released songs from 1972 to 2006 spanning across albums like The Divine Miss M, Bette Midler, Songs For The New Depression, Broken Blossom, Live At Last, Thighs And Whispers, The Rose, Divine Madness, No Frills, Mud Will Be Flung Tonight!, Beaches, Some People's Lives, For The Boys, Gypsy, Bette Of Roses, Bathhouse Betty, Bette, Bette Midler Sings The Rosemary Clooney Songbook, Bette Midler Sings The Peggy Lee Songbook, and Cool Yule. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Bette Midler.

If you're a fan of the music of the 1970s looking for more songs from 1973 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and I Shall Be Released by Bette Midler

The lyrics for I Shall Be Released are defined as the words making up the song released by Bette Midler in 1973. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to I Shall Be Released have different meanings to different people. While it is clear in some of the lyrics what the artist is trying to really say, only Bette Midler and those working with them know all of the meanings behind all of the lyrics to their songs.

Some folks are interested in word and phrase etymology. It is easy to understand the lyrics to I Shall Be Released by Bette Midler if you think through it. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to I Shall Be Released" means the words set to the music of I Shall Be Released, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Bette Midler. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to I Shall Be Released and the lyrics to I Shall Be Released are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Bette Midler who came here looking just for the lyrics to I Shall Be Released, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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