It's easy to think of Nat King Cole as "that Christmas song guy" but his musical output is truly astounding, recording hundreds of songs with over a hundred of them becoming hits on the pop charts. The Complete Capitol Recordings of the Nat King Cole Trio is by far the largest album we've ever discussed on Heat Rocks and we couldn't have asked for better guests to come break it down with us.  

Nate Sloan and Charlie Harding of the Switched on Pop podcast sit down with us to talk about this enormous anthology, the timbre of Cole's voice, and the ubiquity of the AABA song structure. Stay tuned to the very end for a special Heat Rocks theme song workshop.

More on Switched on Pop

• Get Charlie and Nate's book!
• Check out the Switched on Pop podcast
• Nate's Twitter | Charlie's Twitter

More on Nat King Cole

• Nat King Cole: An Incandescent Voice (NPR)
• Della Reese on Nat King Cole

Show Tracklisting (all songs from The Complete Capitol Recordings unless otherwise indicated):

• All for You
• John Pizzarelli: The Best Man
• The Best Man
• (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons
• An Old Piano Plays the Blues
• I'm In The Mood For Love
• Sweet Lorraine
• Embraceable You (1943 version)
• Embraceable You (1961 version)
• I've Got A Way With Women
• Jonas Brothers: Sucker
• Prelude in C Sharp Minor
• The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)
• Nature Boy
• Ahmed Sirour: Nature Boy
• Can You Look Me In The Eyes (And Say We're Through)
• I'm An Errand Boy for Rhythm
• The Frim Fram Sauce 
• Embraceable You (1961 version)
• Nat King Cole: Almost Like Being in Love
• Kendrick Lamar: Thanksgiving
• An Old Piano Plays the Blues
• John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman: My One and Only Love
• Brook Benton: Mother Nature, Father Time
• Speedy West: Speedin' West
• Slim & Slam: Jump Session

Here is the Spotify playlist of as many songs as we can find there.

If you're not already subscribed to Heat Rocks in Apple Podcasts, do it here!