Trivia / Kathy Mattea

• Beam Me Up, Scotty!: The phrase "dance like nobody's watching" originates from the song "Come from the Heart", of which her version is the best known. This phrase itself is often both misattributed (ranging from Mark Twain to Satchel Paige) and misquoted, but appears in the song as follows: "You got to sing like you don't need the money / Love like you'll never get hurt / You got to dance like nobody's watchin' / It's gotta come from the heart if you want it to work".
• Chart Displacement: Many of her biggest hits didn't hit #1, such as "Where've You Been" (#10), "Love at the Five and Dime" (#3), "Walking Away a Winner" (also #3), or "455 Rocket" (#21).
• Creator Couple: Her husband, Jon Vezner, wrote several of her songs, along with ones for Diamond Rio ("You're Gone") and Clay Walker ("Then What?") among others.
• No Budget: Mattea herself noted that her first album was subject to this, as the cover features her wearing a jacket she bought at Kmart, and she was unable to afford a $75 makeup session.
• One-Hit Wonder:
  • Mattea herself is obviously not on the country charts. But on the Hot 100, her only entry was as one of many vocalists on the Charity Motivation Song "Voices That Care", which was done to support soldiers in Operation Desert Storm.
  • Her duet partner on "The Battle Hymn of Love" is bluegrass musician Tim O'Brien, for whom it is his only chart entry.
• One-Take Wonder: The recording of "455 Rocket" was actually a first take, which was kept because it had a looser feel, resulting from the band not knowing that they were being recorded. Notably, the drummer can be heard dropping his drumsticks and laughing at the end.
• What Could Have Been: Mattea cut "Street Talk" with the intent of pitching it to Terri Gibbs (best known for her 1981 hit "Somebody's Knockin'"), but kept it after Gibbs turned it down.

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