It is sad when a shining star in the music industry dies out. We lost many legends over the past years like David Bowie and Maurice White. We even lost Natalie Cole, the daughter of legendary jazz singer and pianist Nat King Cole.
I can admit: I have listened to a little bit of Natalie Cole’s discography. I know some of her father’s music because of his works are definitely well-known. The only thing I really know about Natalie is that she released a lot of R&B hits in the 70s and 80s. Some of these hits were “This Will Be”, “Inseparable”, and “Our Love”.
I don’t know why I never got into Natalie’s music. She was an amazing performer and singer. As heard in a song that appeared in one of my favorite ’90s movies: “Wild Women Do”.
Natalie Cole and Pretty Woman
I discovered “Wild Women Do” when I watched Pretty Woman, starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, about a year ago. I recently bought the soundtrack at a local discount store as the soundtrack is a great listen. Along with Natalie Cole’s “Wild Women Do”, it has songs like Go West’s “King of Wishful Thinking”, Roxette’s “It Must Have Been Love”, Red Hot Chili Pepper’s “Show Me Your Soul”, and a remixed version of David Bowie’s “Fame”.
However, Natalie Cole’s “Wild Women Do” will always be my favorite song off the soundtrack. The reason why is how brash, in a good way, and tough the song’s character is. If you take a look at the song’s lyrics below, you can sense the character behind the song as this strong: an independent woman who does not take any crap from anyone. She has many experiences as she knows what true love is.
But, she is also a wild child. This character likes to live in a life of danger. Finally, she can also do whatever she wants whenever she wants to. These characteristics describe Julia Rober’s character of Vivian so perfectly in the sense that Vivian is also wild, strong, and independent.
The Musicality of “Wild Women Do”
The reason why this song does a great job portraying the independent, women character is due to how Natalie’s soulful yet aggressive vocal style. It helps to paint this “tough girl” attitude. My favorite line in the whole song is “Well, let me tell you something, little boy” because Cole sings in a cynical style, just like the mannerism of Roberts’ character.
“Wild Women Do” is a perfect blend of R&B, pop, a little soul, and rock. The best part of the song is the character and how Natalie portray this person through her singing. I might have to start 2016 off by listening to more of Cole’s works that are like this one. And someday, I will get to her more profound and earlier works.
What do you think of “Wild Women Do”? Take a listen below and let me know you think in the comments below!
The Lyrics of Natalie Cole’s “Wild Women Do”
Wild women do
And they don’t regret it
Woo!
You tell me you want a woman
Who’s as simple as a flower
Well
If you want me to act like that
You’d better pay me by the hour
Don’t want to travel in the danger zone
Take another number
Don’t want a lover who can hold her own
Baby, step aside
If you don’t want to ride
Because
Wild women do
And they don’t regret it
Wild women show
What they’re going through
Wild women do
What you think they’ll never
What you only dream about
Wild women do
You think that love is a vision
Of a princess in a picture
Well
Let me tell you something, little boy
You wouldn’t know love if it hit you
Scared of someone who is off the wall
Kicking and a screaming
Don’t you want a lover who can do it all?
Listen to me, Jack
I ain’t holding, back
Cause
Come on and wild with me, baby
Everybody
Come on
Everybody get wild
