Draw of the Cards

Last updated
"Draw of the Cards"
KimCarnesDrawOfTheCardsUS.jpg
Single by Kim Carnes
from the album Mistaken Identity
B-side "Break the Rules Tonite (Out of School)"
ReleasedAugust 1981
RecordedJanuary 1981
Genre
Length4:53 (Album Version)
4:02 (Single Version)
Label EMI America
Songwriter(s)
  • Kim Carnes
  • Bill Cuomo
  • Dave Ellingson
  • Val Garay
Producer(s) Val Garay
Kim Carnes singles chronology
"Bette Davis Eyes"
(1981)
"Draw of the Cards"
(1981)
"Mistaken Identity"
(1981)
Licensed audio
"Draw Of The Cards" on YouTube

"Draw of the Cards" is a 1981 single, the second released from Kim Carnes's Platinum-plus Mistaken Identity album.

Contents

Background

Carnes said that the idea for the song came from when she went with her husband and co-writer Dave Ellingson and her producer Val Garay to visit her guitarist in the hospital. Carnes said that she said "something about his illness being all in the draw of the cards." Carnes continued that "We wrote some lines that went with that theme, the later Bill [Cuomo] brought his Prophet synthesizer over, played a line he had, and we pulled out the lyrics to finish the song." [1]

Reception

The single reached #28 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1981, failing to match the chart success of its predecessor, "Bette Davis Eyes", which reached #1. [2] [3] Billboard called it an "adventurous track" in which Carnes' "cool, distant vocal delivery maintains its intriguing edge" and said that the song has a "dazzling arrangement." [4] Record World said that "Serpentine keyboards lurk among grating guitars and Kim's raspy purrs" and felt this was a strong follow up to Carnes' previous single. [5]

Tampa Bay Times contributor Kevin Wuench felt that the song has a "great '80s synth sound." [6] Rolling Stone critic Dave Marsh called it a "standout". [7] Music critic Colin Larkin described the song as having a "contagious, swirling organ-dominated sound." [8] Viacom ranked "Draw of the Cards" as Carnes' 10th best song, stating that it was "just as intoxicating in its creepiness" as Carnes' previous single, "Bette Davis Eyes." [9]

Some critics had negative reactions to the song. Boston Globe critic Bill Flanagan called it a "silly attempt at pulsating rhythmic sensuality...that sounds desperately self-conscious." [10] Leader-Post critic Bruce Johnstone called it "a blustery and bombastic piece of pseudo-rock" and said that "despite its catchy beat and some nice saxophone and guitar filler, nothing can disguise the song's inherent emptiness." [11] Chicago Tribune critic Blair R. Fischer called it "inimitably forgettable." [12]

Music video

The music video was directed by Russell Mulcahy, who had also directed the video for "Bette Davis Eyes." According to Wuench, the video "has some weird carnival activities and one long tongue by some creature of the underworld." [6]

Format and track listings

7" Single
12" Single

Trivia

Charts

Chart (1981)Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report) [13] 64
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40) [14] 16
Canada Top Singles ( RPM ) [15] 42
Ireland (IRMA) [16] 30
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) [17] 12
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade) [18] 13
UK Singles (OCC) [19] 49
US Billboard Hot 100 [20] 28
US Cash Box Top 100 [21] 25
West Germany (Official German Charts) [22] 35

Related Research Articles

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Kim Carnes is an American singer and songwriter born and raised in Los Angeles. She began her career as a songwriter in the 1960s, writing for other artists while performing in local clubs and working as a session background singer with the famed Water Sisters. After she signed her first publishing deal with Jimmy Bowen, she released her debut album Rest on Me in 1971. Carnes' self-titled second album primarily contained self-penned songs, including her first charting single "You're a Part of Me", which reached No. 35 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart in 1975. In the following year, Carnes released Sailin', which featured "Love Comes from Unexpected Places". The song won the American Song Festival and the award for Best Composition at the Tokyo Song Festival in 1976.

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Now let me tell you about a coincidental relationship between Smokey at #2 and Kim Carnes who's at #1 again this week. Kim's last hit was "More Love", her remake of an old Smokey Robinson hit. Well, Smokey liked Kim's version so much that he wrote her another song, but when Smokey's producer heard the demo, he told Smokey, "You oughta record it yourself!", and that's the song we just heard in the #2 position. And how ironic it is that Smokey's recording of the song he'd written for Kim Carnes has been kept out of the #1 spot by a Kim Carnes hit for 3 weeks running. - Casey Kasem, American Top 40

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References

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  2. "Billboard Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  3. "Music: Top 100 Songs | Billboard Hot 100 Chart". Billboard.com. 1981-09-26. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  4. "Top Single Picks". Billboard. August 8, 1981. p. 67. Retrieved 2023-01-21.
  5. "Hits of the Week" (PDF). Record World. August 8, 1981. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  6. 1 2 Wuench, Kevin (September 13, 2013). "Do you remember the Kim Carnes hit that came after Bette Davis Eyes?". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  7. Marsh, Dave (May 28, 1981). "Kim Carnes' album is 'smoothly soulful'". The Daily Item. p. 25. Retrieved 2023-03-02 via newspapers.com.
  8. Larkin, Colin (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Eighties Music. Virgin. p. 96. ISBN   9780753501597.
  9. Snicks (July 20, 2015). "The Essential Kim Carnes: Ranking Her Top 20 Songs". Viacom. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  10. Flanagan, Bill (May 14, 1981). "Will the real Kim Carnes stand up?". Boston Globe. p. 82. Retrieved 2023-03-02 via newspapers.com.
  11. Johnstone, Bruce (October 2, 1981). "Double-barrelled show would have been cheap at twice the price". Leader-Post. p. D10. Retrieved 2023-03-02 via newspapers.com.
  12. Fischer, Blair R. (December 24, 2000). "The worst of the best of". Chicago Tribune. p. 7-13. Retrieved 2023-03-02 via newspapers.com.
  13. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. p. 256. ISBN   0-646-11917-6.
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  16. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Draw of the Cards". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
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