Cold Hearted

Album

Wild Wild West

Label

Virgin Records

Genre

New jack swing

Composer(s)

Elliot Wolff

Entered Chart

Jun 24, 1989

Peak Date

Sep 2, 1989

Released

June 15, 1989 (US)

Recorded

Unknown

Catalog #

Virgin 7-99196

B-Side

One Or The Other

This song finds Abdul warning another girl about a man, letting her know he's a heartless snake. Like all of her hits, it was written by a man: Elliot Wolff wrote it after working with Paula on another one of his songs, "Straight Up." Wolff says he wrote the lyrics by getting in the mindset of a woman. Abdul does some pseudo rapping in this song, which comes off in a distinctive stutter-scat style. When Elliot Wolff demoed the song for her, she told him there was no way she could rap at that pace. She tried, and it wasn't happening. Wolff solved the problem by giving her some unconventional advice: don't worry about saying the words, just the vowels. He wrote it out for her phonetically, so "How come he can tell you're always number one without a doubt" became "ow um ee can ell oor umber un ith out a out." This was Abdul's third consecutive #1 hit. Her first two singles, "Knocked Out" and "(It's Just) The Way That You Love Me," were just modest hits, but "Straight Up" was huge, going to #1. After the title track was issued and rose to the top, "Cold Hearted" followed. Abdul scored yet another #1 when "Opposites Attract" hit the top spot. The video was directed by David Fincher, who also did the "Straight Up" and "Forever Your Girl" clips. The video, an homage to the movie Flashdance, made good use of Abdul's skill set, as it shows the former Laker Girl leading a dance routine for some incredulous record executives. Abdul says the video is a tribute to the famous choreographer Bob Fosse and his film All That Jazz.

He's a coldhearted snake lookin' into his eyes
Oh, oh he's been telling lies
He's a lover boy at play (no)
He don't play by the rules oh, oh (oh, oh)
Girl don't play the fool now

You're the one givin' up the love any time he needs it
But you turn your back and then he's off and running with the crowd
You're the one to sacrifice, anything to please him
Do you really think he thinks about you when he's out?

He's a coldhearted snake lookin' into his eyes
Oh, oh he's been telling lies
He's a lover boy at play (no)
He don't play by the rules oh, oh (oh, oh)
Girl don't play the fool now

It was only late last night, he was out there sneakin'
Then he called you up to check that you were waiting by the phone
All the world's a candy store
He's been trick or treatin'
When it comes to true love girl with him there's no one home

He's a coldhearted snake lookin' into his eyes
Oh, oh he's been telling lies
He's a lover boy at play (no)
He don't play by the rules oh, oh (oh, oh)
Girl don't play the fool now

You can find somebody better girl
He could only make you cry
You deserve somebody better girl
He's c-cold as ice
Cold as ice
He's cold as ice
He's cold as ice
Still wait for me, girl

Co-co-co-cold hearted oh, ah, ah
Co-co-co-cold hearted snake
Co-co-co-cold hearted oh, ah, ah
Co-co-co-cold hearted snake

He's a coldhearted snake lookin' into his eyes
Oh, oh he's been telling lies
He's a lover boy at play (no)
He don't play by the rules oh, oh (oh, oh)
Girl don't play the fool
Oh, ah, look into his eye
Oh, ah, he's been telling lies
Oh, ah, ah don't play by the rules
Oh, ah, girl don't play the fool now

He's a coldhearted snake lookin' into his eyes
Oh, oh he's been telling lies
He's a lover boy at play (no)
He don't play by the rules oh, oh (oh, oh)
Girl don't play the fool now

He's a coldhearted snake lookin into his eyes
Oh, oh he's been telling lies
He's a lover boy at play