Happy Music Monday! Today, for a barely-passible reason, Scott's gonna pay tribute to Ray Charles. But let us be honest here, does one really NEED a reason to play a little Ray Charles?
Ray Charles - Georgia On My Mind
On November 14th, 1960, this cover went to Number One on the charts. On November 14th, 1961, Ray Charles was arrested on a narcotics charge. Balanced between those two you're looking at the entire story of Ray Charles. Back then maybe it was kind of a scandal. Today it's just something you've gotta expect from a genius. And it's not possible to apply any other word to Ray Charles.
More to come, for which you should all be thankful. IT'S JUST SO GOOD
If you're a fan of the modern era, you might recognize this as "the song that Kanye West sampled." If you're a fan of the classic era, you might be a bit miffed at how the modern people only know Ray Charles from that sample. But face it, music is always in motion. Just be happy that some artists will never let the flame go out, even if they're only talking to people who read the liner notes to find out what the sample was.
If you can listen to this simple, jazzy, honest song right here and not feel something at all, I honestly question if you're human. The beauty of Ray Charles is that he could make you get up and dance and then invite you to sit and think about what you were hiding from with all that dancing. And he could do it in a way that made you pay no attention to how serious he was about that piano.
To really understand this song, take a listen to the original. And keep in mind that, at time Ray Charles did this record, there was a serious divide between what was black and what was white. By making a beautiful cover that was incredibly respectful of the original while still turning it into something more soulful, Charles did what few people have ever done: forced everyone to think about what was so different between us. Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music is such a good record that we'll be giving it away on our Facebook page today. But even if you don't win it, you should absolutely listen.
This is one of the final things Ray Charles did. It's from 2002. He's got an old voice and the pianos are mostly synths. It's still so lovely. Ray Charles was one of those talents who was just a talent, not assigned to any era or style. I'm glad his life and my life overlapped for a while and he'll absolutely be rediscovered by the "cool" critics in a generation or two.
As mentioned above, we've got a vinyl record on our Facebook page, just waiting for you to win it. And hey, let us just remind you: some images come from the corresponding Wikipedia page and are here under fair use. See you next week.