My Kind of Lady explained

My Kind of Lady
Cover:Supertramp My Kind of Lady single cover.jpg
Type:single
Artist:Supertramp
Album:…Famous Last Words…
B-Side:Know Who You Are
Released:January 1983[1]
Genre:Pop
Length:4:24 (single), 5:17 (album version)
Label:A&M
Producer:Supertramp, Peter Henderson
Prev Title:It's Raining Again
Prev Year:1982
Next Title:Cannonball
Next Year:1985

"My Kind of Lady" was the second single from Supertramp's 1982 album …Famous Last Words…. The song is a '50's-style mid-tempo love ballad; it peaked at #16 on the USA Billboard Adult Contemporary and #31 on the USA Billboard pop singles charts.[2] The lead and backing vocals were all sung by Davies, who harmonizes with himself by switching between his natural voice and a falsetto vocal. The echo-treated and natural sounding voice was sung in Davies' baritone. The falsetto passages were double tracked and mixed with a phaser. Despite being released as a single, the track was not performed live.

The song's writing credits are given to Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson, members of the band, although as indicated on the album sleeve, it is a Davies composition. Like John Lennon and Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, Davies and Hodgson joined writer's credits from 1974 until 1983, when Hodgson left Supertramp to pursue a solo career.[3]

The song was the last single released during original member Hodgson's tenure.

Cash Box predicted that the song would be successful based on the "minimal production, Rick Davies’ trademark falsetto and a catchy sax solo."[4] Billboard praised the song's "sense of fun" and said it is a throwback to 1956 with "chunky piano, bleating sax, and rhymes you can quote before you've heard them."[5]

Track listings

7" vinyl single

Music video

The video for "My Kind of Lady" was directed by Kenny Ortega.[6] The band depicted themselves as a 1950s doo-wop group and 50s rock band. To do so, the band members shaved off their trademark beards and moustaches. Because he showed up late for the shoot, Hodgson is not in the doo-wop sequences.

The video had two different endings. One was a black and white ending with the band playing and the other was in colour with a different angle of the band playing at the end.

Chart performance

Chart (1983)Peak
position
German Singles Chart[7] 74
US Billboard Pop Singles31
US Billboard Adult Contemporary16

Personnel

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Supertramp singles.
  2. Web site: [{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p5562|pure_url=yes}} allmusic – Supertramp – Billboard singles ]. 24 February 2009.
  3. Web site: Roger Hodgson website biography . 24 February 2009.
  4. Reviews. Cash Box. January 29, 1983. 2022-07-17. 12.
  5. Billboard. Top Single Picks. January 22, 1983. 2023-02-08. 69.
  6. Web site: Supertramp My Kind of Lady. mvdbase.com. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160915084102/http://mvdbase.com/video.php?id=27211. 15 September 2016. 22 February 2021.
  7. Web site: charts-surfer.de search results . 24 February 2009.