The girl with the curl has supplanted Burl. We’re speaking of Melody Sweets, the singing starlet of Absinthe, and how she’s taken the spirit of Burl Ives’ holiday ditties and turned it on its head.
This is no “Holly Jolly Christmas” or “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Instead, Sweets has made Santa blush with this one. Tie her up, in little bow ties, ’cause she’s the gift that keeps on givin’. Her words, not mine.
The song is the sugar-spicy “Santa Maybe…” released December 1 on iTunes and melodysweets.com. A party celebrating the single’s release, and Sweets’ birthday (from a non-specific year) is set for December 19 at 11:30 p.m. at Fizz at Caesars Palace. Sweets will perform a rendition of the song, and burlesque star Michelle L’amour will make an appearance during the event.
The song is novelty by definition and a parody in execution, hearkening to the Eartha Kitt classic “Santa Baby” and the sultry delivery of Mae West. Those are a pair of Sweets’ inspirations, and the song took development as Sweets worked on a concept for a follow-up album to her 2012 release, Burlesque in the Black.
That project is a full album of Sweets covers, aptly titled Covered in Sweets. Set for recording by spring of 2016, that CD would be full of songs that evoke thoughts of sugary noshes or any naughty temptation. Performing on the album are some of Las Vegas’ top players.
“I thought this would be a fun way to start recording again, to experiment with different musicians and a different sound,” Sweets says. “I wanted something different, and something that sounded organic and that was quirky and fun.”
By the time Sweets asks the musical question, “Who can that be, comin’ down my chimney?” she has achieved the quirk and fun. But even as the song is three minutes of satirical shtick, the musicianship and Sweets’ vocal quality are no joke. In the parlance of “Santa Maybe…” this song is not tossed off.
The single has been expertly produced by O music director and sax man Eric Plante, joined on the recording by such high-achieving Vegas musicians as trumpet master David Perrico (founder of Pop Strings and Pop Evolution and a former touring musician with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra), guitarist Steven Lee (of the Donny & Marie band) and drummer Mike “Beans” Benigno (of the stage show MJ Live at Stratosphere).
The song’s co-writer is Mike Williams, who worked with Sweets on Burlesque in the Black, which is effectively hooky in the same spirit of “Santa Maybe…” The tree topper is the audio mixing work of Tim O’Heir, nominated for a Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album as producer of Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
The lineup is a mix of longtime colleagues and artists Sweets has met since arriving in Las Vegas. She has known Williams, Benigno and O’Heir for years dating to her time in New York. The others appearing on the single musicians have become collaborators since Sweets’ arrival in Las Vegas with Absinthe in the spring of 2011. She worked with Perrico, Plante and Lee on her recurring productions in the Spiegeltent. The most recent late-night show produced and hosted by Sweets was a rowdy tribute to Coney Island. Those productions mix Sweets’ originals with some often obscure covers, the Kermit the Frog version of “Lydia the Tattooed Lady” among them.
Always, Sweets is seeking inventive ideas, whether exhuming old cover tunes or in her originals. When she lived in New York, she often holed up in a small sushi bar in Manhattan and watched the chefs work and customers file in and out while she caught the muse. In Las Vegas, these moments are achieved while lounging at the pool or tooling around the city.
Then she seeks someone to work with to animate these ideas. “I enjoy working with different people, because you can become linear if you don’t,” she says. “If you have different minds, different musicians and different sounds coming together, you become more creative.” Look for the great Lon Bronson, especially, to play a creative and recording role in the upcoming Sweets album. She is revising a song she has long been eager to record, “Sugar Daddy.”
Because she is a stage performer, shedding her attire nightly as the Green Fairy in Absinthe, Sweets always considers the “look” of a song. “I often think, ‘What am I saying here?’ because a song, especially in burlesque, is a story. You’re telling a story,” she says. “So I’m thinking of something that can be produced and I can act out onstage.”
As has been the case since she arrived in Las Vegas, Absinthe continues to feature Sweets and her originals at the top and closing of the production. “Slice of Heaven” is the lilting opening number and “Taboo,” the reverse striptease, closes. “Up All Night,” her number in the middle of the production, is in the process of being replaced with a new segment.
But for now, it’s time for Sweets to celebrate in a salacious sort of way, with “Santa Maybe...”
“When I listened back to it, I thought, ‘It’s fun,’ and that’s what I was after,” she says. “It’s sexy and naughty. It makes me giggle. Hey, it makes a lot of people giggle.”
With that, there is a giggle. Why not? It’s the gift that keeps on giving …
