"Wind Beneath My Wings", which had been recorded by several other artists before Midler in the early 1980s, among them Sheena Easton, Roger Whittaker, Gary Morris, Perry Como, Gladys Knight & the Pips and Lou Rawls, was released as the second single in February 1989, following the box office success of the movie.

The recording of the song appearing in the film is notably different from the one released on the soundtrack, and the movie also includes an orchestral version over the end credits.

Bloom's rise to fame as an artist, from doing Cole Porter standards like "I've Still Got My Health" to moderately appreciative audiences in dive bars, appearing in burlesque shows singing about the supposed German inventor of the brassiere ("Otto Titsling", a song Midler herself had co-written and which had already appeared on her 1985 album Mud Will Be Flung Tonight), joining an experimental theater group ("Oh Industry"), to becoming a successful pop star ("I Know You by Heart", a duet with David Pack, originally recorded by Dolly Parton and Smokey Robinson in 1987) with the right to record material of her own choosing (Randy Newman's "I Think It's Going to Rain Today").

A recurring theme in the movie is Billy Hill's old swing standard "The Glory of Love", first made famous by Benny Goodman in the mid-1930s.

The only track on the album not to involve Midler is "The Friendship Theme" from the movie's score, composed by Georges Delerue in his only work for a Garry Marshall film.