| "My Kind of Lady" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Supertramp | ||||
| from the 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 | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Rick Davies, Roger Hodgson | |||
| Producer(s) | Supertramp, Peter Henderson | |||
| Supertramp singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Music video | ||||
| "My Kind of Lady" on YouTube | ||||
"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 for USA Billboard Adult Contemporary and #31 for USA Billboard pop singles. [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
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "My Kind of Lady" | 4:12 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Know Who You Are" | 4:58 |
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 Singles [2] | 31 |
| US Billboard Adult Contemporary [2] | 16 |
Personnel
- Rick Davies – lead and backing vocals, piano
- Roger Hodgson – guitar
- Dougie Thomson – bass guitar
- John Helliwell – baritone saxophone, alto saxophone, synthesizers
- Bob Siebenberg – drums
References
- ^ "Supertramp singles".
- ^ a b c "allmusic – Supertramp – Billboard singles". Retrieved 24 February 2009.
- ^ "Roger Hodgson website biography". Retrieved 24 February 2009.
- ^ "Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. 29 January 1983. p. 12. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
- ^ "Top Single Picks". Billboard. 22 January 1983. p. 69. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
- ^ "Supertramp My Kind of Lady". mvdbase.com. Archived from the original on 15 September 2016. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
- ^ "charts-surfer.de search results". Retrieved 24 February 2009.