Monday, February 4, 2008

Mica Paris

In the summer of '89 one of my favorite songs was "My One Temptation" by Mica Paris. A jazz-inflected pop-soul number, it didn't burn up the American charts back then, but the song did make its way to Top 40 radio, at least in Georgia, where I grew up. "My One Temptation" was a breezy triumph then, and remains so today.

I didn't know much about Paris at the time, and MTV wasn't playing the video for "My One Temptation," as far as I can remember, but I found it on YouTube the other day. I know I've seen pictures of Paris before, but when I watched the video I couldn't help but think, "Oh, so that's what she looks like."

I wonder if there's a name for that phenomenon—if it can even be called a phenomenon. Maybe it's that I was seeing Mica Paris in motion for the first time, whereas before I'd only seen still photos. 

Or maybe I felt like I was seeing her for the first time because I'm in love.

That's right, Ms. Paris, it's your move now.

4 comments:

  1. Great call on this song. Her LP was consistently great, and was always an in-store play favorite at Peaches, where I worked at the time. I could never figure out why, in the days of Sade, Basia, and Swing Out Sister, this was not a huge record. Maybe the Bacharach-sounding arrangement was a little too ahead of it's time..

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    1. I apologize for not responding much, much sooner, but where were you living when you worked at Peaches?

      I think you're right: if "My One Temptation" had been released ten years later, when Bacharach's sound was being revived by Elvis Costello, Ben Folds Five, and others, it might've been a smash.

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  2. Yeah, fine album indeed. Her duet with the excellent and successless Paul Johnson, "Words Into Action", and "So Good" were fantastic as well.

    In case you need it, here's a link to "My One Temptation", from my little blog:

    zshare.net/audio/288274174b3aa4/

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    1. Thanks for that link (he said eight years later)!

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