Synopsis

Bette Midler prepares to perform "Beast of Burden" while Mick Jagger waits in her dressing room, leading to playful banter about whose version of the song is better. The pair then share the stage, trading vocals and exaggerated rock-star moves. A cream pie thrown at Jagger turns the performance into slapstick, but Midler is soon hit as well. The video ends on a newspaper photograph of the messy pair beneath the headline "Just desserts."

Factoids & Trivia

• Midler's recording appeared on her 1983 album *No Frills* and was released as a single in February 1984.

• Mick Jagger wrote the song with Keith Richards for the Rolling Stones and appears in the video as Midler's on-screen partner and duet vocalist.

• The spoken dressing-room exchange was also issued as part of the audio track on the European 12-inch single. Midler's boast that she sings the song better than anyone prompts Jagger's teasing reply: "Well, almost anybody."

• The video was nominated for three MTV Video Music Awards in 1984: Best Female Video, Best Choreography, and Best Stage Performance Video.

• Toni Basil handled the choreography, helping shape the deliberately theatrical blend of concert performance, comedy, and vaudeville-style physical humor.

• Martin von Haselberg appears as a sheik, while Stacey Nelkin is featured as a dancing girl.

• Midler's version reached No. 71 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and performed more strongly in several European markets, including a No. 2 peak in Sweden.