Artist Guide

Billy "Soul" Bonds

#29 ranked Southern Soul Artist

"Scat Cat, Here Kitty Kitty"

Billy "Soul" Bonds

Composed by Billy "Soul" Bonds

December 1, 2023:

BILLY SOUL BONDS: DEPARTED 2023

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Daddy B. Nice notes:

I googled Billy "Soul" Bonds on a whim and the first thing that popped up at the top of the page was "From Dick 2 Dick". I had to laugh because that song just came out last year! Billy was chipping away at those social norms until the very end. The "Dicks," by the way, are two different men with the same first name who happen to be dating the same woman.

Those were the kinds of juxtapositions Billy lived to discover and embellish. Billy "Soul" Bonds had a sense of humor on par with the finest comic minds of the 21st-century chitlin' circuit, and there have been some great ones---Willie P. Richardson, Jimmy Lewis, Marcel, Poonanny, Bishop Bullwinkle---and yet Billy's domestic vignettes invariably held up musically as well. He had a romantic bent with a gentle "signature" sound, with disarming tempos and melodies. But the selling point was the lyrics, which became more outrageously personal and straight-faced as he grew older, often couched in the cartoon-like fables of housepets and---of special favor---"kitties". In fact, Ms. Jody and Billy pretty much "own" the subject of cats and kitties in the southern soul genre.

Listen to Billy "Soul" Bonds singing "Scat Cat Here Kitty Kitty" on YouTube.

My later-career Bonds favorite "cat" song is...

Listen to Billy "Soul" Bonds singing "Every Time My Neighbor Walks His Dog, My Wife Has To Walk Her Cat" on YouTube.

One thing about Billy "Soul" Bonds: you either bought into his work entirely or wrote him off as silly. To those few in the latter group I would suggest delving into his substantial early work, when he was much more conventional (though unique). After the success of "Scat Cat, Here Kitty Kitty," Bonds became more daring with his subject matter (cats, kitties, dogs, etc.), and to those who don't want to go there I'd suggest the straight-ahead romantic anthems of Bonds' early career, like "Best Of My Love," "Baby I've Been Missing You" and "I'm Searching". Unfortunately, like Roy C and many others of his generation, much of Billy "Soul" Bonds best work predates the digital age and is out of print. You'll have to work hard to find it.

(See Daddy B. Nice's CD Store.)

Scroll down to Tidbits #3 near the bottom of this page for Daddy B. Nice's interview with Billy "Soul" Bonds.

October 5, 2023:

Billy "Soul" Bonds passed away on Tuesday, September 26, 2023 in Biscoe, Arkansas, his home town. According to some reports the cause was prostrate cancer. He was 76 years old. Visitation will be held 3-8 pm, Friday, October 6, 2023 at Brinkley Convention Center, 124 South Main St., Brinkley, Arkansas. Funeral services will be held 3 pm, Saturday, October 7th at Brinkley Convention Center. Tributes and donations can be sent to Charlotte Bonds, 2420 South Schiller, Little Rock, Arkansas, 72206.

February 1, 2014:

NEW ARTIST GUIDE ALERT!

Billy “Soul” Bonds is now the #43-ranking Southern Soul artist on Daddy B. Nice's new 21st Century Top 100 Countdown.

Go to Daddy B. Nice's new 21st-Century Artist Guide to Billy “Soul” Bonds.

Scroll down to Tidbits #2 to read Daddy B. Nice's "Appreciation of 'Scat Cat, Here Kitty Kitty'".

Listen to Billy "Soul" Bonds' "Scat Cat Here Kitty Kitty" on YouTube

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To automatically link to Billy "Soul" Bonds' charted radio singles, awards, CD's and other references, go to "Bonds, Billy 'Soul'" in Daddy B. Nice's Comprehensive Index.

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Daddy B. Nice's Original Critique:

Lovers of sixties' and seventies' soul would do well to acquaint themselves with Billy "Soul" Bonds. If Bobby Rush spent much of his career in the shadow of Marvin Sease, not exactly a household name himself, then Billy "Soul" Bonds--a younger version of Rush--can be said to toil in even deeper obscurity, confined to the back roads of the Bible Belt and rotations on Deep South radio outposts.

Like Rush, Bonds specializes in humorous accounts of common folk, often adopting a conversational tone that insures an easy familiarity with his small-town Southern fans. In "I Just Came Out To Party" (2002), he speaks through the voice of a woman who's just "out to have a good time."

"Ain't trying to be picked up.
I don't need no romance. . .

My man gave me money,
So I can drink,
So if you're gonna put a move on me,
You'd better stop and think."

In "Tell It To The Judge," he builds a funny treatment of a "Jerry Springer" kind of couple arguing on the show "Court TV" around the old Joe South hit, "Games People Play."

"I'm gonna tell Judge Wapner,
You've got another sex partner."

And in "Reverend Joe" (from 2003's Going Public With My Love), Bonds even ventures to tell the story of a preacher with a hard-to-kill sex drive.

But Billy "Soul" Bonds has another side. He's a sensitive romantic and an accomplished balladeer, modeled in many ways after his probable namesake, Bobby "Blue" Bland. "I'm Searching" from 1998's I'm On My Way Back is his most memorable effort. (Bonds must think so, too. He reprised the track on 2002's I Just Came Out To Party.)

Bonds' vocal delicacy shines on his ballads, and the female backup of Thomisene Anderson (of Bobby Bland and Love Doctor fame) and Jewel Bass shimmers with an almost angelic sheen.

Although "I'm Searching" is pure pop artifice in form, the vocals lend it the solemnity of Gospel. Certain key phrases in the lilting, cradle-like rhythm are so affecting one almost feels the compunction to kneel or genuflect. (Your Daddy B. Nice once sandwiched "I'm Searching" in a playlist between Gospel singer Keith "Wonderboy" Johnson's version of "I'll Fly Away" and country artist Shania Twain's version of "God Bless The Child.")

"I'm looking for a girl
To rock my world,
To understand
How to love a real man."

Women may look askance at Bonds' comment that:

"She don't have to be too smart,
Or have a strong mind."

But the innate goodness in Bonds' voice would melt all but the most politically-correct and hard-line of feminists. He explains it further in this way:

"I'm looking for a girl
To treat me nice.
And with the warmest heart,
Melt the coldest ice."

In his cover of Glen Frey's rock standard, "The Best Of My Love" (from I Just Came Out To Party), Bonds approaches the material with the same muted tenderness he does on "I'm Searching," achieving an eerily similar effect. The chord changes of the two songs are nearly identical, and Bonds lavishes the same reverent arrangement on the Eagles' classic, turning what could be a lightweight undertaking into a surprisingly durable cover.

"Every morning I wake up worried.
What's going to happen today?
You see it your way,
I see it mine,
But we both see it slipping away."

As always, the voice is so glove-soft you get the impression Billy "Soul" Bonds couldn't harm a flea. If you're tired of today's musical fare--tired, that is, of the attitude, cynicism, and glitter--be advised that the sensitive ballads of Billy "Soul" Bonds, not to mention the hilarity contained in his up-tempo work, are the perfect antidote. Bonds is a country boy with impeccable manners, a fine ear for melody and an indefatigable desire to make music that soothes and ingratiates.

--Daddy B. Nice

About Billy "Soul" Bonds

Billy "Soul" Bonds--the self-styled "Mister Sock-It, Sock-It"--grew up in Biscoe, Arkansas, non-Mississippi "blues" country on Route 70 halfway between Memphis and Little Rock, just up the road from West Helena, Ark. and Clarksdale, Mississippi.

Bonds began his professional career in the eighties, notching a regional hit with "Baby, I Been Missing You." Ace Records featured the track (along with "I'm Going Public With My Love") in its compilation/sampler, The Kings And Queens Of Ace, in 1997.

Bonds' debut LP, the aptly titled Soul Of The Man, came out on the small Sog Secret label. A follow-up, Heart and Soul, followed in 1994. I'm On The Way Back (which included "I'm Searching") was released in 1998 (Avanti).

Since then Billy "Soul" Bonds has put out a CD every couple of years, the most recent being his 2002 disc, I Just Came Out To Party (Hus-La). Going Public Again (Avanti, 1999) and I Just Came Out To Party have proven to be the most popular and durable of Bonds' albums, appealing to both fans of Bobby Rush-style light-hearted fare and fans of sensitive ballads in the Bobby "Blue" Bland vein.

Despite a recording hiatus, Bonds continues to perform across the chitlin' circuit, most recently headlining the 2003 Pre-Father's Day Show in Jackson, Ms. The memorable songs from his catalog are staples of Deep South radio outlets. Favorites include (in addition to those listed above) "I Just Came Out To Party," "One Way In, No Way Out," "You Can't Do Wrong Right" and "I Failed."

Song's Transcendent Moment

"Just the other day,
I had to turn down your best friend Smitty.
When you say 'Scat cat!'
Another man say, 'Here kitty kitty.'"

Tidbits

1.
August 30, 2006. The wait for another Billy "Soul" Bonds CD is over. Here Kitty Kitty (Waldoxy), led by its title cut, "Scat Cat, Here Kitty Kitty," is vintage Bonds.

"Here Kitty Kitty"--a typically gentle, finely-focused portrait of a domestic squabble--was one of the most highly-requested songs across the Stations of the Deep South in the summer of 2006. Once again Thomisene Anderson and Jewel Bass participated, delivering scintillating background. (These ladies sang back up on Ronnie Lovejoy's "Sho' Wasn't Me".) DBN

2.

November 24, 2007:

Appreciating "Scat Cat, Here Kitty Kitty"

Author's Forward: Jerry "Boogie" Mason once told your Daddy B. Nice how taken by surprise he'd been by the success of Theodis Ealey's "Stand Up In It." "I never saw that one coming," he said.

That's how I'd describe my reaction to the enthusiastic response to Billy "Soul" Bonds' "Scat Cat Here Kitty Kitty." When it came out in 2006, "Scat Cat" seemed to me like just another fine tune in the typical Bonds mold. But before the fact, who would have believed it was destined to make Bonds a major Southern Soul star?

If great Bonds songs like "I'm Searching" and "I Failed" and "Tell It To The Judge" could "try and fail" (to quote from "I Failed") to become hits, what reason was there to believe the equally sentimental and throwback-sounding "Scat Cat, Here Kitty Kitty" would be received any differently?

I remember in particular omitting "Scat Cat" from my Top 25 Southern Soul Singles of 2006, but I was aware even then that I was going against the grain of public sentiment. Six months earlier, in an August 2006 Billy "Soul" Bonds artist-guide update, I had already written that "Here Kitty Kitty" was "a gentle, finely-focused portrait of a domestic squabble, and one of the most highly-requested songs on the Stations of the Deep South in the summer of 2006."

So you can imagine my bafflement in 2007, a year later, as month after month passed with Bargain-Priced "Scat Cat, Here Kitty Kitty" at or near the top spot of the chitlin' circuit charts, a breaththrough hit for Bonds in just the way "Stand Up In It" had been for Ealey.

When a song proves itself with the audience the way Theodis Ealey's "Stand Up In it" or T. K. Soul's "Cheating And Lying" have recently done, all a pundit can do is marvel at the unpredictability of art and consumer taste and try to grab hold of the rear bumper as the bandwagon passes. Popularity, in other words, forces even the most recalcitrant critic to reassess his initial judgments. What may have sounded familiar or trite to him somehow managed to have the opposite effect on a great number of people. Anybody has to respect that.

And as your Daddy B. Nice searched the stanzas of "Scat Cat Here Kitty Kitty" over the hundreds of times I heard the song over the ensuing year, I gradually settled upon the one ingredient in the song's success that had been eluding me. And that was the power--the reality--of the woman's complaint.

Perhaps, being a man and a husband myself, I wasn't so different from the man in the song, the guy taking his wife for granted. I may not have committed his laundry list of domestic crimes, but I wasn't unfamiliar with "tuning out." And in a sense I had let the nursery rhyme-like title--"Scat Cat Here Kitty Kitty"--and to an extent Bonds' own ingratiating politeness, lull me into disregarding the pain and frustration so finely detailed in the lyrics.

Chronically betrayed and neglected by her husband, the heroine in "Scat Cat" was very much at the end of her relationship.

It was that grievance, that sense of being wronged, that I believe struck such a chord with fans, and particularly women. And when Barbara Carr issued her cover of "Scat Cat" (Ecko Records) in 2007, the contrast with the original was illuminating. Covers of good songs always are, but hearing the Bonds-composed words sung by a woman gave the song new and added force. It was no longer a man telling a story second-hand; it was the woman herself--or such was the conceit of the record.

And when Barbara sang verses like,

"All this neglect and disrespect,
I can't take that from my man.
Why just the other day,
A man said I was still pretty."

--Not only was it more direct; it was rougher, tougher and more bitter in all the places where the Bonds version had been possibly a little too sweet. And yet, the credibility and power in Carr's words reflected back on the artistry of Billy "Soul" Bonds. And when you went back to Billy's version, so sugar-coated compared to Barbara's, you heard things you hadn't heard before. You heard more of the substance which had been there all the time.

What's even more remarkable about the "Scat Cat, Here Kitty Kitty" is how old-fashioned it is. "Scat Cat's" melody and arrangement wouldn't have sounded out of place on the radio in the late 50's or early 60's. There are the saccharine violins, the orchestral trimmings, the tinkling background sound (Bonds' trademark), the show-tune-like crescendos on the choruses, not to mention Bonds' typically humble and soothing vocal.

Also not to be overlooked is the subtle but powerful texture created by female back-up singers Thomisene Anderson and Jewel Bass, who along with Tina Diamond were present at Southern Soul music's equivalent of the "Sermon On The Mount," the late great Ronnie Lovejoy's "Sho' Wasn't Me" sessions.

The warbling of these two near-invisible divas ratchets up the classic Southern Soul ambience--an atmosphere that seems almost out of place in these frantic, perfunctory, rat-race times. And it still mystifies your Daddy B. Nice how such an old-fashioned-sounding song could have garnered so much love and appreciation from a 21st-century audience.

And yet, the Southern Soul audience does love it and does crave it. The proof is that three of the biggest Southern Soul hits over the same period--Ms. Jody's "Your Dog Is Killing My Cat," Carl Marshall's "Good Loving Will Make You Cry" and J. Blackfoot's "I'm Just A Fool For You"--also mined the same "retro" ambience.

It's a throwback sound so drenched in nostalgia that in today's musical universe the records sound daringly original. It's a remarkable comment on today's entire Southern Soul genre.

How big is the triumph of "Scat Cat Here Kitty Kitty" for Billy "Soul" Bonds? Well, prior to its release, Bonds fans would have been hard-pressed to settle upon the signature song by this unheralded, chitlin' circuit, singing-songwriting master. One might have said, "I Just Came Out To Party," another one "Going Public," another "I'm Searching," and yet another "I Failed" or "Best Of My Love."

There's no disagreement any more. "Scat Cat Here Kitty Kitty" has without a doubt become Billy "Soul" Bonds' signature song.

DBN