Cole was exposed to the greats of jazz, soul and blues at an early age and began performing at the age of 11. Her debut album in 1975, Inseparable, won her immediate praise, with the smash single This Will Be (An Everlasting Love) (#1 R&B, #6 Pop) winning her a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female, a category that had been monopolized by Aretha Franklin, since its inception in 1967. She also was named the Grammys' Best New Artist of 1975. She attended the Northfield Mount Hermon School in Northfield, MA.
More hits followed through 1980, including her biggest Pop hit, 1977's I've Got Love On My Mind, as well as Sophisticated Lady (She's A Different Lady) (1976), Our Love (1978), and Someone That I Used To Love (1980). "I've Got Love On My Mind" and "Our Love" both earned certifications as Gold singles. But then her career hit a snag in the early 1980s due to a severe drug problem. By 1985, Natalie was clean, sober, and in fine voice, and ready to begin her comeback in earnest with the album Dangerous, released on the Modern label.
In 1987, she released Everlasting (on EMI Manhattan) which sold over 2 million copies in the U.S., and won Cole a Soul Train Award for Female Single of the Year for the #1 R&B ballad I Live for Your Love. This album was the one that put Natalie Cole firmly back in the spotlight, yielding three major hit singles: Jump Start, "I Live For Your Love" (#2 AC and #13 Pop as well as #1 R&B), and a successful remake of Bruce Springsteen's Pink Cadillac (#5 Pop, #16 AC, and #1 Dance). The album also included a taste of things to come in her career with a remake of one of her father's signature hits, "When I Fall In Love," which did moderately well on the AC chart. In 1989, the aptly-titled Good To Be Back gave her another across-the-board smash with "Miss You Like Crazy" (#1 both R&B and AC, and #7 Pop).
However, it was her 1991 album, Unforgettable... with Love, featuring her own arrangements of her father's greatest hits, that gave her the most success. Ironically, when Natalie began her career, she was determined not to capitalize on her father's name and wanted to forge her own identity by going after the soul market in earnest. For many years, she also found the prospect of recording her late father's songs too painful on a personal level. But Unforgettable... With Love certainly paid off. The set sold over 5 million copies in the United States alone, and won Cole several Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance. The album featured a duet, the title track, with her father, created by splicing a recording of his vocals into the track. As a single, it reached #14 on Billboard Magazine's Hot 100 chart, and went gold. The one sour spot in the album's success was that it strained Natalie's already-tumultuous relationship with her mother, Maria, who said in interviews at the time that she couldn't listen to the album or attend any of her daughter's concerts because she felt that the music really belonged to her late husband.
Natalie has released several more albums of pop standards in the years since; as a result of appealing to the "adult standards" audience, she has made only occasional forays onto the pop singles charts in that time (for example, "A Smile Like Yours," #8 AC and #84 Pop in 1997), although her albums still sell well. Her 1999 album Snowfall On The Sahara marked a return to the easy adult-contemporary soul that categorized her late-1980s hits, but for 2002's critically-praised Ask A Woman Who Knows, she turned more to the jazz side of the spectrum, covering songs made famous by Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, and Sarah Vaughan.
Battle With Drugs
In 2000, Cole released an autobiography, Angel on my Shoulder, which described her battle with drugs during much of her life. In the book, Cole admitted to using LSD, heroin and crack cocaine. Cole said she began experimenting with drugs while attending the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and was arrested in Toronto, Canada for possession of heroin in 1975. Cole continued to spiral out of control - including an incident in which her young son Robert nearly drowned in the family swimming pool while she and her first husband, the late Reverend Marvin Yancy were on a drug binge - until she entered rehab in 1983.
In concert with the release of the book, her autobiography was turned into a made-for-TV movie, The Natalie Cole Story, which aired December 10, 2000 on NBC.
Natalie has been married three times and has a son Robert Yancy (by Marvin Yancy), born in 1977. She later married former Rufus drummer Andre Fischer, who co-produced the Grammy Award-winning Unforgettable... With Love, Natalie's love offering featuring songs made famous by her father, including a faux-duet between her and her father.
The marriage to Fischer ended in divorce a few years later, amidst rumors of domestic verbal and physical abuse.
It has also been reported that Natalie has recovered from a life-threatening hepatitis illness (most likely the cause of her years of drug abuse) by having a liver transplant.
Miss Cole went on to release more albums after Unforgettable...With Love, with most of them featuring jazz-oriented standard songs or pop-song remakes. None of the albums were nearly as successful as Unforgettable...With Love.
As of 2013, Natalie Cole spent most of her professional time covering the concert circuit entertaining audiences around the world with her hits.
On December 31, 2015, Natalie Cole died from congestive heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She was aged 65.
Coffee Time
Natalie Cole Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Coffee time
My dreamy friend
It's coffee time
Let's sing
This silly
Little rhyme
And have
Java time
My happy chum
Let's have a time
We'll celebrate
For just a dime
And have
A cup of coffee
Greetin' time
The music box
Is beatin' time
It's good
Old-fashioned
Meetin' time
We're in the pink
So come and clink
And let's drink
A cup of coffee
[Chorus: x2]
And have
A cup of coffee
And have
A cup of coffee
The lyrics to Natalie Cole's song "Coffee Time" speak to the simple pleasures in life and the importance of slowing down and enjoying a cup of coffee with loved ones. The chorus repeats the phrase “coffee time,” emphasizing the idea of taking a break from the chaos of life to savor a moment of peace and connection. The lyrics suggest that sharing a cup of coffee with a friend is an opportunity for celebration and joy, even if it costs just a dime. Furthermore, the mention of the music box and the idea of an old-fashioned meeting time suggest a nostalgia for simpler times and an appreciation for tradition.
Overall, "Coffee Time" is a reminder to enjoy life’s small pleasures and to cherish the time we spend with loved ones. It is an ode to the power of a simple cup of coffee to bring people together and create moments of joy and peace.
Line by Line Meaning
Coffee time
Let's take some time to enjoy the pleasure of drinking coffee
My dreamy friend
The singer is addressing someone close who they have a dreamy relationship with
It's coffee time
It's time to make and/or enjoy some coffee
Let's sing
Let's enjoy coffee and sing a simple song together
This silly little rhyme
The song they are singing is a simple, lighthearted one
And have a cup of coffee
Enjoying a cup of coffee is the main activity they are doing together
Java time
Let's have some coffee
My happy chum
The artist is addressing someone close who they are happy to spend time with
We'll celebrate
Drinking coffee together is a reason to celebrate and enjoy each other's company
For just a dime
Having this simple pleasure is affordable and accessible
And have a cup of coffee
Enjoying a cup of coffee is the main activity they are doing together
Greetin' time
This is a time for socializing and enjoying each other's company
The music box is beatin' time
The singer is suggesting that the music is setting a tempo or rhythm
It's good old-fashioned meetin' time
This is a happy, nostalgic time for people to meet and socialize
We're in the pink
We're doing very well and having a good time
So come and clink
Let's raise our cups to each other and enjoy each other's company
And let's drink a cup of coffee
Enjoying a cup of coffee is the main activity they are doing together
And have a cup of coffee
Enjoying a cup of coffee is the main activity they are doing together
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Written by: ARTHUR FREED, HARRY WARREN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Denver
Coffee time
My dreamy friend, it's coffee time
Let's listen to some jazz and rhyme
And have a cup of coffee
Let me show
A little coffee house I know
Where all the new bohemians go
To have a cup of coffee
Greetin' time
The music box is beatin' time
It's good old fashioned meetin' time
So grab a chair and take me there
'Cause that's just the place I'm at
Coffee time
My dreamy friend, it's coffee time
Let's sing this silly little rhyme
And have a cup of coffee
Hey, greetin' time
That music box is beatin' time
It's good old fashioned meetin' time
So save me a chair, I'll see you there
'Cause that's just the place that I'm at
Coffee time
My dreamy friend, it's coffee time
Let's sing this silly little rhyme
And have a cup of coffee
We'll have a cup of coffee
Just a little bit of Java
Yeah, we'll have a couple of joke
Don't you know?
'Cause it's coffee time
Mark Blackburn
How I miss Natalie Cole -- who for her last album of standards thanked Tony Bennett for pestering her to record "Coffee Time" -- my favorite song you never heard of: Siriusly Sinatra this morning played this, the most obscure song ever recorded by Natalie. It was a track on her “Still Unforgettable” follow-up album to the one that featured her duet with her father – the album that sold more than 14 million copies world-wide.
I miss Natalie so much – most every day I think of her, comparing in my mind's ear her version of a song being sung by someone else on Siriusly Sinatra. Concerning COFFEE TIME I quoted her in an Amazon.com review I wrote for her final album of standards. I concluded my review this way:
“Something I look forward to each time Natalie gifts us with a new album of standards (this is her fourth such offering but the first one in six years). There's always a great tune most of us have never heard before. This time, it's "Coffee Time" - a deceptively simple little `riff' tune as Frank Sinatra used to call such melodies - this one written by my second-favorite composer, Harry (Salvatore Guaragna) Warren.
Natalie (in her delightful, but too-brief) liner notes gives credit where its due - "to Tony Bennett."
"I ran into Tony on several occasions in 2007 and he kept bugging me about doing this song! I had never heard of it. But he said I would thank him . . . and he was right: Introduced in 1945 by Fred Astaire and recorded by the late Mike Douglas the talk show host, [there we are, Edna!] as well as by singer Carmen McRae. It's totally cool, Tony - thank you!"
[NOTE to Natalie: On your spring tour this year, you made one stop in a Canadian city (lucky Halifax, Nova Scotia). Just wanted to say, we have a world-class symphony orchestra here in the "world's coldest major city." And we promise you a warm welcome, should you find your way back here!]
Mark Blackburn
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Jose Rey Pahuyo
This music is what they called "Jazz". Easy listening music. You're legendary Natalie Cole. RIP..
Jeffrey Zeiss
Great song by a great singer ...rest in peace Natalie.
R. M. Caldwell
Rest in peace, Natalie and thank you for this gem. (lifting coffee mug)
Earl Jr
right. just discovered this gem on Spotify. i love it
HoneyHoneyBaby
☕🥰
CORNUCOPIA OF COOL
Cool, smooth and in the groove. Takes charge of the big band and crushes it. Extremely sensual Vocalist, sings like the beautiful Feminine Flower she was. Thanks for the memories.
Pamela Condila
RIP Natalie and thank you for your wonderful memories and wonderful music and songs that bring smiles to all faces. This song I will cherish, especially when I'm at Starbucks, Petes Coffee and Cafes
Denver
Coffee time
My dreamy friend, it's coffee time
Let's listen to some jazz and rhyme
And have a cup of coffee
Let me show
A little coffee house I know
Where all the new bohemians go
To have a cup of coffee
Greetin' time
The music box is beatin' time
It's good old fashioned meetin' time
So grab a chair and take me there
'Cause that's just the place I'm at
Coffee time
My dreamy friend, it's coffee time
Let's sing this silly little rhyme
And have a cup of coffee
Hey, greetin' time
That music box is beatin' time
It's good old fashioned meetin' time
So save me a chair, I'll see you there
'Cause that's just the place that I'm at
Coffee time
My dreamy friend, it's coffee time
Let's sing this silly little rhyme
And have a cup of coffee
We'll have a cup of coffee
Just a little bit of Java
Yeah, we'll have a couple of joke
Don't you know?
'Cause it's coffee time
D Tho
Love it! I love you Natalie! Rest well!
projekt123
Damn, this is just so relaxing :3 and your mood gets lifted everytime! :D