What'd I say

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What'd I Say is a song composed and sung by Ray Charles in 1959, which belongs to the standards of rhythm and blues and pop music .

History of origin

Ray Charles had been with Atlantic Records since September 1952 and was one of the less successful artists at this blues and R&B record label - measured by hit parade presence . Out of a total of 21 singles, only three reached number 1 on the Rhythm & Blues charts by 1959. Only the 15th single by Ray Charles made it into the pop charts as a crossover .

“We played in Brownsville, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in December 1958, and I had twelve minutes to kill. At 1 o'clock in the morning we had played our entire repertoire after four hours, there was nothing left. I finally said to the band and the Raelettes: 'Listen, I'm going to fool around a bit now and you guys just follow me!' ". In the beginning he experimented and improvised with a small riff , which he kept expanding. He included his band and The Raelettes in the evolving composition. In this way, the song was refined with every performance and received by the audience with increasing enthusiasm.

admission

Recorded in New York's Atlantic Studios and produced by label owner Ahmet Ertegün and chief producer Jerry Wexler , the following cast was present on February 18, 1959 : Ray Charles (vocals and electric piano), Marcus Belgrave and John Hunt (trumpet), David "Fathead" Newman (Alto and tenor saxophone), Bennie Crawford (baritone saxophone), Edgar Willis (bass), Milt Turner (drums) with background vocals by The Raeletts. Ray Charles exchanges grunts and moans with them in a call and response style - characteristic of blues and gospel music . The bass drum consistently plays quarter notes with a samba-like rhythm and rapid cymbal beat. Even the unusually long intro with the characteristic riff (E, A, E, B7, A, E, B7) repeated five times is caught by the electric Wurlitzer piano . After 15 seconds the drums and rapid cymbal beats set in , the vowel part begins - unusually late - only after 1 minute 36 seconds.

The song is based on the classic 12-bar blues scheme . After an instrumental beginning with a presentation of the riff, the rhythm breaks off in every second bar ( break ), and in the first four bars of the next verse an unexpected vocal or instrumental passage appears before the riff starts again. The song does not have - as usual - a middle instrumental part, but ends abruptly after 4:20 minutes, until the session members call for encore, whereupon Ray and the Raelettes in a cappella singing with an ecstatic, intense call and response style continue the song. These passages each last eight bars. The total recording lasted 6 minutes and 28 seconds. The dialogue between Ray Charles and the choir contains erotic allusions, it starts in the church and ends in the bedroom. It was a culmination of blues and gospel that had not yet occurred in pop music.

As a special feature, Ray Charles uses a broken E minor chord instead of the expected E major chord in the above. Breaks a.

The small Atlantic recording studios at 156 West 57th Street (Atlantic Studios 2) had acquired the world's first Ampex 8-track tape machine in January 1958. Sound engineer Tom Dowd was not completely familiar with the device when recording, the new recording technology enabled clear stereo recordings. Ray Charles' rhythmic kicks can still be heard today on the breaks of What'd I Say . The band's routine at What'd I Say saved Dowd from overdubbing .

publication

Ray Charles - What'd I Say

From the total recording, two parts were selected for the single, which were published as Part I (3:05) and Part II (1:59) as A- and B-side under Atlantic # 2031 on June 27, 1959. The title hit the charts on July 13, 1959, in the R&B charts it reached the top position, in the pop charts it came to sixth place. Charles should not have a top listing in the pop charts at Atlantic Records. This title was his best placement there, and the song became the first million seller . In October 1959, the LP of the same name was released, which advanced to rank 20 in the LP charts. It contains the song in full length. The title influenced many later performers and is one of the standards of today's rhythm, blues and pop music.

Because of its cultural and historical significance to the United States , the song was entered into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress on January 27, 2003 .

Statistics and cover versions

A total of 75 versions of the title, which received a BMI award , are inventoried . What'd I Say was Ray Charles' most successful single for Atlantic Records, which then brought out six singles (up to Atlantic # 2084 and # 5005) before he switched to ABC-Paramount on November 1, 1959 . It was only there that Ray Charles became a successful singer. The song ranks 10th in Rolling Stones' 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (2004).

Well-known covers are by Jerry Lee Lewis (published February 27, 1961), Bobby Darin (recorded November 7, 1961, edited January 18, 1962), Bill Black 's Combo (LP Movin '; May 1962), Elvis Presley (recorded August 30, 1963), Roy Orbison (LP More of Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits; released July 1, 1964), John Mayall (LP Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton ; July 1966) and Johnny Cash & June Carter (LP Carryin 'On with Johnny Cash & June Carter; September 1967). Another version was recorded as Tony Sheridan & The Beat Brothers on January 31, 1963 in the Hamburg Studio Rahlstedt with the line-up Roy Young (organ), Rikki Barnes (tenor saxophone), Peter Wharton (bass guitar) and Johnny Watson (drums) however, no member of the Beatles was involved.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ray Charles with David Ritz, What I Say , 1994, p. 189
  2. ↑ For a musicological analysis of the recording see Dörte Hartwich-Wiechell: Pop-Musik. Analyzes and interpretations . Arno Volk Verlag, Cologne 1974, pp. 58-63; see also Werner Faulstich: Ray Charles: 'What'd I Say' - sexuality as a game . In: ders .: From rock 'n' roll to Bob Dylan. Tübingen lectures on rock history. Part 1: 1955-1963 . Rockpaed Verlag, Gelsenkirchen 1983, pp. 108-111
  3. ↑ Mike Evans, Ray Charles: The Birth of Soul , 2007, p. 111
  4. ^ Peter Guralnick, Sweet Soul Music , 2002, p. 66
  5. ↑ Michael Lydon, Ray Charles: Man and Music , 1998, p. 157
  6. ↑ Discogs , February 14, 2017.
  7. ↑ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, pp. 126f.
  8. ^ What'd I Say in the National Recording Registry. Retrieved on August 16, 2017 .
  9. ↑ Cover info about What'd I Say
  10. ^ Frank W. Hoffmann, Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound Volume 1 , 2004, p. 178

literature

  • Werner Faulstich: Ray Charles: 'What'd I Say' - sexuality as a game . In: ders .: From rock 'n' roll to Bob Dylan. Tübingen lectures on rock history. Part 1: 1955-1963 . Rockpaed Verlag, Gelsenkirchen 1983, pp. 108-111
  • Dörte Hartwich-Wiechell: Pop Music. Analyzes and interpretations . Arno Volk Verlag, Cologne 1974, pp. 58-63

Web links