Great Breakup Albums, Vol. 1: The Cat In The Hat(5)
wait…he’s white???Blue-eyed soul man (I cant stand that term)–um, white soul artist Bobby Caldwell delivered this follow up to his 1978 self-titled Gold debut album (in some markets, the album is called What You Won’t Do For Love after its classic first single) in 1980.
The album was called The Cat In The Hat (reference to his trademark fedoras). Musically, Caldwell blended soft rock and R&B on the 9 song LP.
While enjoying the sun-touched grooves, one could easily overlook the subject matter.
To my knowledge, Caldwell has never spoken about the inspiration for The Cat In The Hat. Upon a closer listen it was crystal clear to me…
The Cat In The Hat is a breakup album. Like f’real…
I will expound on my love for and fascintation with good breakup albums at a later date, let’s stay focused on this awesome album…
The entry point to the album for most people would be the 3rd to last track on the album called Open Your Eyes…In 1999, Detroit beatmaker supreme Dilla flipped Open Your Eyes for Common’s biggest hit to date–a declaration of love to his then girlfriend, Erykah Badu, called The Light.
I encountered this album in 2002, by my good friend Greg, know to some of you as hip-hop producer tREBLEFREE…I spotted the album at his crib, and he generously told me I could borrow it…
I put the album on and let it play as I packed my stuff in preparation for my move to California…I wanted to make sure I got the album back to Greg, so I didnt have a chance to really get deep into it…I do remember loving the grooves and thinking to myself, “I gotta get a copy of this!..”
FFWD to 2008. An extremely depressed Scorp gets passed a copy of The Cat In The Hat from the same cat who let me peep it originally–Mr. tREBLEFREE…
The album played as the some of the grooves came back to me…but this time, it was the lyrics that shook me…
“darling, somehow/now that you’re gone/I have no one/ I write you letters/and throw them away/only a fool/keeps hanging on/when love slips away…”
“through all the changes/love was so blind/but I continued/keeping an open mind…”
I sat there and listened to the man speak…
The emotional resonance of Caldwell’s words led me to believe that he was writing from a place of personal experience…
The truth of his words blended with the quality of the music attached me to this album…the music was markedly different than the music of other breakup albums…compared to something like Me’Shell N’Degeocello’s brilliant breakup album Bitter, where all the music is cloaked in darkness–Caldwell’s album sounds like a late summer picnic musically…only if one listens closely can they hear the most subtle shades of melancholy…
For example, on the surface Open Your Eyes sounds like a tender love poem, especially listening to they way Common framed it with his rhymes on The Light. Open Your Eyes is actually a romantic indictment of a girl who keeps searching in vain for something that is inside all along.
The opening line clues you in:
“I see you/in a lonely place/how can you be so blind?…”
If Caldwell ever said that this album wasnt ripped from the pages of his life, he a motherfuckin’ lie (he, not he’s). This is, as Pac once said, the realest shit he ever wrote.
Much like Marvin Gaye’s classic Here, My Dear, The Cat In The Hat is a male-centric breakup album…a glimpse into how men process losing love and the pain that results from it.
It takes balls to make an album like this. If only we had more like it.
The Cat In The Hat is an album you need in your life.
Cop that (or listen first).
