The title refers to Bernadette Soubirous, a young French girl in the mid-19th century who claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary on several occasions.
Warnes was inspired to write the song on a bus trip near Lourdes: I was given the name Bernadette at birth.
In 1979, on tour in the south of France with Leonard Cohen, I began writing a series of letters between the "Bernadette" I almost was, and "Jennifer"–two energies within me.
Anne Murray included this song on her two CD set released in 1999 called "What a Wonderful World."
The song was performed as a duet by Aaron Neville and Linda Ronstadt on the former's album, The Grand Tour.