Rick James — “Cold Blooded”

Entered Top 40:  September 24, 1983
1  week
Peaked at: 40

Since we last saw Rick James, he followed “Give It To Me Baby” with “Super Freak” (#16), which ended up being his signature song. He wouldn’t hit the Top 40 again until “Cold Blooded,” a skittering synth & drum machine groove that only crossed over for this single week, but spent 6 weeks atop the R&B chart. That makes “Cold Blooded” James’s biggest R&B chart success (“Super Freak” peaked at #3 there).

“There’s no dictionary book/to describe the way you look.” Well, that’s because such a book would be an encyclopedia, or perhaps a field guide.

James wrote this about his two-year relationship with actress Linda Blair, specifically about her decision to terminate a pregnancy without telling him. I don’t know that he drew from life often when writing songs, but I hope that’s not the case for his next Top 40 (and Bottom Five) appearance in 1984.