There's been record heat this summer, all over the world. "It feels like a hundred," is what you hear...and that's even from people living where they count degrees in Celsius,
“Tar’s hot as soup in the street. Can’t get away from this awful heat!”
Below, you get the STEREO version of “Heat.” The guest artist on this cut, and a few others on the album is Kathy Kelly. Despite the very short rehearsal time, she kept up with Bobby pretty well here.
It was an interesting notion, bringing in a female vocal on certain tracks. On one song, Kathy does some vocalise, doing ethereal wordless singing in a style used on many a jazz album of the day. Marni Nixon did a lot of that. Much sappier was the tradition of a guy and gal singing together...Debbie Reynolds and Gene Kelly or whatever, enjoying perfect harmony. On "A Point of View," Bobby didn't want that at all.
On "Heat," Bobby was not going for harmony, but the idea of a couple on the same note; looking for a night out on the town, and trying not to let nature interfere.
There’s a delicious contrast between the rough voice of saloon-singer Cole, and the rather cheerful and sweet sound of Kathy Kelly, especially on “Heat.” Bobby is the somewhat grim New Yorker undaunted by streets “like Hades lowest floor” even at night. Kathy’s pretty cool as she sings along! This isn’t that much of a surprise to me, as I recall that Bobby was a great fan of “Miss Toni Fisher,” who had a big hit with a rather cheerful version of “The Big Hurt.”
I remember going over to Bobby’s apartment with a copy of Del Shannon’s version, with its “this time the big hurt will end” drum-pistol shot punctuation. Bobby shook his head. He liked Toni’s take much better, and with gruff enthusiasm, asked, “Where is she? I’d like to write an album for her!” Perhaps he was recalling when he wrote “No Difference At All” for Kathy? But more on that in a minute.
Meanwhile, back in the "Heat," note how the well-read Mr. Cole threw in words most don’t know how to spell! Bobby didn't stick with simple lines ala Irving Berlin or the punny hipness of Johnny Mercer:
“Look at this town incandesce. Like it or not you must acquiesce. Sure I’m admitting defeat. Can’t get away from this awful heat!”
Kathy Kelly sings with Bobby on this and several other songs on the album, but she's not on the one he wrote for her, the unlikely “No Difference at All.”
The humorous if hipster-cruel put downs in this kiss-off tune include “she’s like pink champagne, and you’re like beer. You’re like scratchy old corduroy. She’s cashmere.” And: “She’s like a gentle rain, and you’re like a basement flood. She’s like a lunar rocket and you’re a dud.”
No, if Kathy joined in on the chorus, that would be quite mean, implying that Bobby and his new girlfriend were making fun of the dumped chick.
Too bad there isn’t a demo of Kathy singing this with the original lyrics aimed at some loser who, what, is some scratchy old clod named Roy?
While the Concentric album wasn’t exactly a best seller, Bobby Cole stayed in show business and Kathy moved on. “I was in the messenger/courier business, and before that I was in the anti-poverty program. I didn’t go to law school until I was 42, and I graduated at 45.” She worked with a partner in San Francisco and later moved on to set up her own firm in Seattle. She specialized in employment law. About 40% of her clients came to her with complaints of workplace violence and discrimination. Another 30% of the cases she handled involved sexual harassment. Another 20% involved wrongful termination. (That leaves 10% for miscellaneous crimes and misdemeanors.)
After nearly 30 years of this, Kathy is now retired in Arizona: “I am doing mostly nothing, except playing around with my dogs and puttering around the house. “ Yes, it’s hot in Arizona like everywhere else, but it’s a dry heat. Hot dogs? No, Kathy's dogs look pretty calm and cool.
HEAT - Bobby Cole and Kathy Kelly -- listen online or download. No spyware, no crappy website that takes forever to download, no porn ads.
3 comments:
Another absorbing read. Thank you!
This was great too read
I really appreciate the details in this article. Good to know a little more about Kelly.
Bobby was an expert wordsmith and avoided the obvious. I'm sure Tom Waits listened to
Bobby in his early years, not just the voice but the use of language.
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