Kevin Morris torches up Valentine's Day
22 Jan 2020.

photo is by Sam Gaetz

“Torch songs are sentimental,” explains singer Kevin Morris, “which either means you are a doormat to your good-for-nothing boyfriend, or deeply in love. There’s no middle ground. There’s a reason we still sing these songs, they still have something to say. Like that Billie Holiday song, 'My man don’t love me, treats me mean all the time.' You’re literally singing about a guy who beats you up. Sometimes there’s an addiction to bad relationships because, well, love." 

I meet Morris at the Second Cup to talk about his upcoming show, The Man I Love. It will consist of several standards done from a gay male perspective. “Those songs contain inherent hurt, and express sorrow, but there’s hope in them as well.” To illustrate, he sings a bit from the title tune. "'Someday he’ll come along, the man I love' . . . The show balances the blues with happier songs, like "Get Happy." “There will definitely be a lot of Judy in the show,” he grins.

Morris has been at it a while now. He’s done shows at Buddies In Bad Times and other venues, including the Jazz Bistro. I ask him if there is a difference between his gay and straight audiences, but he believes that the songs speak to everyone. Love is love, and sentiments first expressed 80 years ago still resonate. 

“I was in a bad relationship. I got burned by someone years ago, and I was listening to Billie and thinking about the torch song. The protagonist is aware that they are in shit, and my predicament was that I was the third person in a relationship, an extra, and I’ve never heard a song written about that, so I wrote a song called 'Something On the Side. 'The lover you have to hide, the lover who is affable, never quite compatible,' then at the end, it finishes with 'I really can’t abide the way men have treated me, completed and defeated me, I don’t know what I’m looking for, but I know it’s not that.' So it’s about deciding how much you will tolerate. So many audience members come up to me and tell me that they’ve been in the same situation.”

There’s a happy ending to Kevin’s story, though. “I’ve been partnered with someone for almost two years, so the show starts off from a youthful, naive perspective and builds towards being with him.” Which makes it sound like the perfect Valentine’s Day show. Why sing the blues when Kevin Morris can do it for you?