Nothin' But the Music - Track 9

                Though I have never been able to claim or display any musical talent, the blessing of growing up around and sharing genes with so many musically and vocally talented individuals gave me a strong appreciation for music and the power and function of a song.  While we often think of songs as devices to stir emotion, most of the songs we regularly hear are about one emotion, love, in all its forms – the joy, the pain, the longing, and the loss.  I’m equally fascinated by songs that stir other emotions and invoke a variety of responses – especially laughter.  Few writers or performers have dedicated as much of their career to stirring laughter through song as Ray Stevens.  I’ve loved his work for most of my life and, here, I would like to pay tribute to some of my favorite items in his long collection of masterpieces.

                The arsenal of comedy tunes from Ray Stevens is unmatched in volume or quality.  While it has not been the sole focus of his career, it’s what he is most known for, and he has done a lot to make folks laugh for many years.  His first Billboard Hot 100 single, “Jeremiah Peabody’s Polyunsaturated Quick-Dissolving Fast-Acting Pleasant-Tasting Green and Purple Pills” (the second-longest title of any Billboard Hot 100 single as well), was released in 1961.  Still a funny favorite, the song holds more meaning now than ever as we live amidst a swirl of prescription and non-prescription drug ads promising to “cure all your ills.”  When the concept of the music video hit the Country music world, Ray jumped on it like the master that he is and turned even some of his older hits into fresh new comedy mini-shows.  With a hilarious ballad like “It’s Me Again, Margaret,” this was an inspired move.  It was also one of several of his songs that would see a slight change in lyrics (usually just a very few words) from the original recording to update it for newer media or younger audiences.  “The Mississippi Squirrel Revival” was a tour de force for any music video, featuring a trained rodent, a church choir, and one of Ray’s foot-stompingest tunes that speaks to many of us who grew up in or near the rural South.  To take one of his comedy hits and give it the feel of a genre film, “Sittin’ Up With the Dead” was the perfect pick.  The talented Bill Byrge provided the “corpse” of Uncle Fred (I’ll write about my personal encounter with him soon) and the black-and-white film style and small set gave the look of a comedic horror film.  Bill Byrge also appeared in Ray’s music video for “Shriners Convention,” a long-time favorite for Ray Stevens fans which gave many folks the only knowledge they may ever have had of the longstanding and strong charitable fraternity toward which Ray has great respect.  Among Ray’s earliest comedy hits that would also see updates but never lose their original power was “Ahab the Arab,” from which his company Clyde Records took its name, and “Gitarzan,” that paid tribute to the literary works of Edgar Rice Burroughs which have been redone on film time and time again.  Each of these yielded some of Ray’s most elaborate stage numbers as well.  With an established comedy niche, Ray Stevens still doesn’t have to shy away from the concept of love songs, writing the hilarious “Can He Love You Half As Much As I?” about the idea of seeing a former love with a new man.  Among my favorite fun Christmas songs is Ray’s “Santa Claus Is Watching You.”  While it is a song warning one’s love not to stray, it’s a fun reminder of Santa’s many skills and the tools in his arsenal to watch out for all the good little girls and boys (it also taught me that there are a few reindeer we didn’t read about in storybooks).  As a writer of funny songs, Ray has a particular talent for writing in response to high-profile events or changing cultural circumstances.  The most notable of these, naturally, was “The Streak,” the most famous and best-selling (my grandparents’ Rhodes Music Center sold many copies of this one back in the day) of several songs written in response to the trend of streaking incidents on college campuses and at sporting events in the 1970s.  As one of Ray’s biggest hits, it had a still-popular music video produced years later and even earned a remixed version during Ray’s years of regularly performing at his own theater in Branson, Missouri.  To speak to the years of constant “Is the King still alive?” speculation and to reflect America’s fascination with absurd tabloid tales of lying, dying, and missing celebrities, Ray put out “I Saw Elvis In A U.F.O.”  Three years after the real Julio Iglesias recorded “To All the Girls I Loved Before” with Willie Nelson, Ray created his own Julio duet with the 1987 song “Sex Symbols” speaking to our culture’s fixation on the “perfect” man or woman.  These are merely a sampling of a treasury of comedy hits that the longstanding King of Country Comedy has given the world to remind us all that God gave us a funny bone for a reason.

Ray Stevens is a great American patriot.  I also respect him for getting serious about being funny (or perhaps I should say getting just funny enough when things get serious) and for standing up for what is right.  After 9/11, he produced an excellent album featuring the title track “Osama Yo’ Mama.”  The song was a funny, yet assertive, declaration of the common sentiment toward the mastermind of the attacks that sparked the War on Terror.  While the album’s songs were not all patriotic-themed or political, they also were not all songs of humor.  Ray’s version of “United We Stand” was a powerful closing number to the list of tracks he included and allowed that 70s classic (which he also covered years ago after its Brotherhood of Man release with powerful vocals from Ray and a host of his contemporaries) to shine in a new light after the events that defined the historical point of view for most of the “Millennial” generation. 

Ray Stevens is a master with all types of songs – from funny to serious and patriotic to spiritually inspiring.  In fact, his most recent project is an album of Gospel hymns.  He has always best displayed his talent in its rawest form when performing Gospel.  For all the variations of “Amazing Grace” that can be heard in churches, on radios, in homes, and on concert stages around the world, one of my favorites is simply to hear Ray’s vocals combined with his awesome talent at the keyboard.  While I could not find a recording of one of those performances to link here, check out the version he recorded on his new album.  As Ray explains in his new web series “Rayality TV,” the backbone of Gospel music is the quartets.  I can’t agree with that enough.  The greatest Gospel music I have ever heard or could ever hear came from the grouping of my Granddaddy, his brother, and their two first cousins – the original Rhodes Brothers.  Some of what Ray says about quartet structure in the web video speaks a lot to how I viewed them when I was a young kid amazed by the vocal talent assembled by those four men.  Back then, they occasionally performed a fantastic 20th Century hymn that I only knew by one other artist – Ray Stevens.  I’ll not pick a favorite between the two on this particular song, but one performance always reminds me of the other when I hear “Turn Your Radio On.”  Though not really a Gospel song, Ray’s 1987 hit “Would Jesus Wear A Rolex?” speaks volumes to the Christian faith in modern America and the “social development” of the church in the age of changing technology.  While the message has some strong meaning today, it packed a lot of punch in the 1980s when televangelists had no shortage of words, or requests for funds, via the airwaves during “the decade of excess.”  It’s a fun song with a clear message.  Whether being just a little funny or having fun with it as the great music it is, Ray Stevens and his God-given talent go perfectly well with the music that praises the One who gives all. 

Beyond the comedy songs and his serious approaches to patriotism and praise, Ray Stevens has written several other serious tunes and done some interesting things with those already written.  One of his most underappreciated songs is a beautifully-flowing composition from 1973 that is basically a love song to the city of “Nashville” – a city that Ray has done a lot to promote and enhance.  It is also a song of his that has probably seen the most updates as he often tweaks the lyrics here and there to fit the changing life and landscape of our city.  When Ray had his own TV variety show, he had the opportunity to write an original theme song.  Thus, “Everything Is Beautiful” emerged and has stood the test of time as one of his biggest and most recognizable hits (it also serenaded the cows my Great-Grandmama Rhodes would milk in the early morning hours of years gone by).  A happy accident in the recording studio led Ray to take an existing love song and give it the Country music touch.  It worked well.  His version of “Misty” won a Grammy and stands as a universal example of what a transformation can be made when a song “goes Country.”  While “Misty” got a musical makeover and a faster tempo from Ray, he went a step further with “Help Me Make It Through The Night.”  Particularly through the vehicle of the music video, Ray turned that slow song of love and longing into a cavalcade of comedy.  As a kid, I had never heard any of the original versions of the song (everyone and his brother seemed to record it) before I saw Ray’s music video for it.  When I eventually heard an original cut, I was bored stiff.  Give me a Ray Stevens remake any day!  Whether keeping it serious or having some serious fun, Ray Stevens can basically do anything with good music and always do it well.

I had the honor of meeting Ray Stevens last summer when he released his book Ray Stevens’ Nashville.  After years of watching his videos and listening to his music by way of CD, cassette, 8-track tape, and vinyl record (Mama grew up in a music store, so we had access to the originals), meeting the man behind the music was an amazing experience.  Not only talented and brilliant but a super nice guy.  While I recommend listening to all the songs I've linked here, you should comb through more of his discography.  You may be surprised by how many songs this man has put out over his career and how many of your favorite artists are connected to him and his work.  The book is also a great source of history; not only of Ray’s, but the history of Nashville as the true Music City and the history of the music that keeps it shining.  Ray has been there for it all.  Often imitated, but never duplicated – Ray Stevens is still the real King of Comedy and a master of all music.