"Song of Bernadette" is a song written by

Jennifer Warnes Jennifer Jean Warnes (born March 3, 1947) is an American singer and songwriter. She has performed as a vocalist on a number of film soundtracks. She has won two Grammy Awards, in 1983 for the Joe Cocker duet "Up Where We Belong" and in 1987 fo ...

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

and Bill Elliott, and first recorded on Jennifer Warnes' 1986 album ''

Famous Blue Raincoat "Famous Blue Raincoat" is a song by Leonard Cohen. It is the sixth track on his third album, ''Songs of Love and Hate'', released in 1971. The song is written in the form of a letter (many of the lines are written in amphibrachs). The lyric tells ...

''. The title refers to

Bernadette Soubirous Bernadette Soubirous (; ; oc, Bernadeta Sobirós ; 7 January 184416 April 1879), also known as Saint Bernadette of Lourdes, was the firstborn daughter of a miller from Lourdes (''Lorda'' in Occitan), in the department of Hautes-Pyrénées in ...

, a young French girl in the mid-19th century who claimed to have seen the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

on several occasions. She was

canonized Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christianity, Christian communion declaring a person worthy of Cult (religious practice), public veneration and enterin ...

by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and proclaimed a saint. Warnes was inspired to write the song on a bus trip near

Lourdes Lourdes (, also , ; oc, Lorda ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for the Château ...

: The song was covered by

Bette Midler Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...

and opened her 1998 studio album ''

Bathhouse Betty ''Bathhouse Betty'' is the ninth studio album by the American singer Bette Midler, released in 1998. ''Bathhouse Betty'' was Midler's debut album for Warner Bros. Records, after having parted ways with sister label Atlantic Records in 1995 foll ...

''.

Anne Murray Morna Anne Murray (born June 20, 1945) is a retired Canadian singer. Her albums, consisting primarily of pop, country, and adult contemporary music, have sold over 55 million copies worldwide during her over 40-year career. Murray was the fir ...

included this song on her two CD set released in 1999 called "

What a Wonderful World "What a Wonderful World" is a song written by Bob Thiele (as "George Douglas") and George David Weiss. It was first recorded by Louis Armstrong and released in 1967 as a single. It topped the pop chart in the United Kingdom, but performed poor ...

." The song was performed as a duet by Aaron Neville and Linda Ronstadt on the former's album, ''The Grand Tour''. The same performers sang it live on Neville's televised Christmas special. The title is derived from the 1941 novel '' The Song of Bernadette'', by

Franz Werfel Franz Viktor Werfel (; 10 September 1890 – 26 August 1945) was an Austrian-Bohemian novelist, playwright, and Poetry, poet whose career spanned World War I, the Interwar period, and World War II. He is primarily known as the author of ''Th ...

References...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Song of Bernadette (song) Leonard Cohen songs Songs written by Leonard Cohen Our Lady of Lourdes Jennifer Warnes songs Songs based on actual events Songs written by Jennifer Warnes 1986 songs