Ray Charles: "What'd I Say" Said It All

There are moments when musical “lightning in a bottle” is captured. On this day in 1959, Ray Charles did just that with the recording of “What’d I Say?” for Atlantic Records.

Like the discovery of penicillin, this too was purely by accident.

A song that was born out of necessity—the need to merely fill time. Ray Charles had about 10 minutes to fill at the end of a show in Pittsburgh. He and the band had completely run out of songs to play, so Ray’s genius kicked in. A riff that had been “floating around” in his head suddenly came out.

The crowd went wild.

It would have been fun to hear the conversation when Charles phoned his label with the request to record this song. A made-up song played on the road was doing the same thing to audiences each and every time. Namely, the beat, the piano and the back-and-forth with the crowd was creating magic night after night.

Here’s a rare clip of the song performed live on the TV show “Shindig” in 1965. Notice how the Righteous Brothers get into the act:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm1iGqecFGo&feature=related


I love that song, but my all-time favorite Ray Charles tune is “Hit The Road Jack”—Here’s a clip of that huge hit:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8Tiz6INF7I&feature=fvwrel


“What’d I Say” became a #1 R&B hit—and went #6 on the pop charts, thus becoming the very first of Ray Charles crossover smashes. It wouldn’t be his last.

If you’d like my blog in my box, just let me know: tim.moore@citcomm.com