I Can't Stop Loving You

June 1962

It's no secret that the great American musical traditions are mostly divided along racial lines. Blues, jazz, and (later on) R&B and rock and roll were products of American blacks, descendants of West African slaves—on the other hand, folk and country music were the domain of whites, descendants of European colonialists. Both groups had their own stories to tell, and both created hugely rich musical traditions, to express themselves. But crossover was always relatively rare, and still is—it's at least rare enough that when it happens, it's notable.

Quick, name a black country singer! Time's up. It's okay, I couldn't think of one either. A cursory web search turned up one Charley Pride, who, for about 15 years starting in 1969, produced a staggering string of country hits (but never broke the mainstream top 10—country music, for all its popularity, has never been the dominant popular form, with the exception of a few crossover hits here and there).

And I can't help but think that someone like Charley Pride owes a huge debt to someone we've covered a couple times before during this project: Ray Charles. The great R&B musician, known for popularizing the sounds of gospel and soul that he grew up with, suddenly blindsided the American public in 1962 with a record called Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music. Calling it a "country album" is probably a misnomer—it's filled with blues scales, syncopated rhythms, and jazzy horn sections, not to mention a slick, pop production—but it's country enough to be a noticeably different venture for Charles. But the man himself didn't necessarily consider it such a drastic change. In his own words, "You take country music, you take black music, you got the same goddamn thing exactly."

The record's lead single is the #1 hit in question here, a cover of a 5-year-old country song called "I Can't Stop Loving You."



The song, which tells a familiar story of its subject unable to move past a lost love, was originally written and recorded by Don Gibson, and has been covered by many artists over the years, but most would consider Ray Charles's version the definitive one.

As is often the case with #1 hits, the track is not even all that representative of the album as a whole, or of where Charles was musically at this point in time. But it was the most palatable to the hoi polloi, and so here we are. I'm more partial to the more upbeat numbers, where Charles seems most at home, such as this leadoff track to the album. At any rate, this post was a refreshing departure from the rather long stretch of middling songs I've had to cover lately. It also is the last of the three songs by Ray Charles I'll be covering—his popularity waned as tastes changed gradually throughout the 60s, but he left us with some great stuff.

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Hit the Road Jack

October 1961

And so we return to Ray Charles. His previous chart-topper was a strings-drenched ballad, but here he strikes it big with an upbeat R&B number; the kind that made him who he was. I would say this song should be recognizable to just about anyone, or any American at least.

One thing that I like about Charles's style is that he has a propensity for interacting with his backup singers, rather than the more traditional approach of simply having them, well, back you up. I'm thinking also of his tour de force "What'd I Say," where he banters back and forth with his singers, to create a risqué sexual exchange. Here, Ray is the eponymous "Jack," and it's his backups who are telling him to get the hell out. He can only plead for mercy to this faceless and unforgiving woman – having the part sung by several women instead of only one serves to make Charles seem even more helpless. It's a neat trick, and it makes the short song a fairly effective mini-drama. Ultimately, we can't help but to side with "Jack;" this is clinched when we hear his sly spoken appeals at the very end.

It seems that for every cherished Ray Charles classic, there's a few missteps that haven't lasted quite as well. Take for example "Ruby," which was released around the same time as "Jack," and was top 10 on the R&B charts. It hasn't really stood the test of time. But his other smash success from this year, a brassy instrumental version of "One Mint Julep," is pretty well done in my opinion.

So this post covers a fairly brief portion of Ray Charles's career – that's because we're not quite done with him yet. He'll be back again next year. Until then, "Hit the Road Jack" will do just fine.

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Georgia on My Mind

November 1960

Hey! "Mr. Blue" by the Fleetwoods made an appearance in today's New York Times Sunday puzzle, and as a theme answer, no less! I wouldn't have known it if it weren't for this project.

But anyway, Ray Charles.

Charles had been hugely successful for years in the R&B chart – from 1953 to 1959 he had 18 top ten hits on that chart, including four #1s. But it wasn't until 1959's "What'd I Say" that he broke through to the mainstream, and finally scored a top ten on the pop chart. The song, so long that it had to be split into two halves for release on a 45, is sublime. A lengthy instrumental introduction features Charles's explosively virtuosic keyboard playing over a manic rhythm section – we are then treated to one of the most controversial vocal performances ever in popular music. Many fans and critics deplored the song, particularly the ending, for being imitative of sex. Well, they were right, but they would have never guessed that the tune's mixture of gospel ideas with secular lyrical themes would be so influential – "What'd I Say" is often cited as the birth of the genre of soul music.

So how better to follow that success than with a cool, jazzy ballad about the Peach State? The song had been around since 1930, and had been variously covered by just about every jazz group around, but I don't think many people would disagree that Ray Charles's is the definitive version, due to his passionate vocal performance. I guess it makes sense that his first #1 hit would be a sweet, mellow tune rather than his usual, more energetic fare – this kind of thing is more palatable to a mass audience.

Although the cynic in me must point out that it's hard to imagine such a (relatively) challenging melody being so successful today. Or even back then! For example, compare "Georgia" to "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" or "I Want to Be Wanted" (let alone "Poker Face") – it's not immediately whistlable, it's very non-repetitive, and it takes a few listens for the song to really sink in. These are not common features of pop music, where things usually have to be blunt, obvious, and simple to make it big. But hey, sometimes popularity and quality are compatible. This is a terrific song, and I'm glad it's on our list.

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