“Games People Play”: Bassist Wakes Drummer Using Musical Chops

Session bassist extraordinaire, Carol Kaye, is certainly no stranger to the philosophical notion of “bass as bottom end.”  And yet, it was an uncharacteristically flamboyant performance that led (ironically, perhaps) to unexpected commercial success.  Songfacts has a great interview that reveals the comical back story behind Carol’s unusually baroque bass lines for Mel Torme’s 1969 version of “Games People Play”:

Songfacts:  Did you ever come out of a session and you didn’t think much of it, and then one of the songs from that session became a big hit?

Carol: Oh yeah.  A few times.  Most of the time I could predict which take was going to be the hit. You just felt it. It just kind of came together.  But there was one time when I overplayed on bass to try to wake up a drummer.  The drummer was in on tour and he was sleeping.  You could tell that.  And it was a big band.  He was slowing down in the parts and the part that I was playing was slow according to the tune.  The tune required just a few notes on my part.  So somebody in the band said, “Do something, Carol.”  And so I played a lot of notes and it woke up the drummer.  And I walked in the booth after the take, and I said, “Now we can do a take.”  And they looked at me and laughed and said, “That was the take.”  I said, “Oh, no, that’s a bass solo.  All the way through that’ll never be a hit.”  But it was the biggest hit that Mel Tormé ever had.  It was a #1 hit.  The bass part that I invented is a test now at schools around the world.  It’s funny, the name of the record was “Games People Play.”  And he’s just going, “La di da” and here’s all this bass and stuff coming in.  I thought, That’ll never be a hit.  And it was a big smash hit for him.  So yeah, a lot of times you’re wrong:

“Games People Play” by Mel Torme

Carol Kaye on lead bass

Carol Kaye touched on the hilarious Mel Torme episode in her interview with Horizon VU Music Blog:

“I went home thinking I failed the fine Mel Torme, musical genius and wonderful Jazz musician/composer/singer. Well, that turned out to be his biggest money-making record.”

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Carol Kaye 45s

• Carol Kaye’s first appearance as a solo artist appears to be on a split single from 1959, with The Gimmicks taking the A-side (“What’d They Say“) and Kaye helming the B-side (“Winter Holiday“), an instrumental, according to the 45 label.  Both sides written by Jerry Colonna, according to 45Cat contributor, DeadWax.

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• In 1962, Kaye would command both sides of the 45 — “Anitra’s Twist” b/w “Ice Cream Rock” — on a self-penned single release for Gene Norman’s GNP Crescendo label.

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• A search of the 45Cat database also turned up a Carol Kaye-related factoid connected to the B-side of a UK single by Spiders Webb entitled “Reggae Bump.”  45Cat contributor Davie Gordon informs us that the first surname listed on the songwriting credits belongs to “session bassist, Carol Kaye, who was married to drummer, Spider Webb.”  I can only presume, based on the song’s title and date of release (streaming audio not yet available), that this “special 12-inch disco mix” is an instrumental disco reggae take on the ‘hip’ 70s dance step.

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“for discos only“

• Zero to 180 previously featured Carol Kaye & The Hitmen‘s Brazilian-flavored instrumental – “Baia” – a track that easily could have been a Top 40 hit if released at the time of its recording.