It would be hard to find an artist who was more influential than Ray Charles. Making music for more than 60 years, Charles’s impact is felt in both rock and country music. While his list of hit songs is vast, these are three Ray Charles songs that every music fan should know.
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“Georgia On My Mind”
In 1960, Charles released “Georgia On My Mind”. Written by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell, Charles’s delivery of the pensive tune remains among the best musical performances of all time.
On his The Genius Hits The Road album, “Georgia On My Mind” begins with, “Georgia, Georgia / The whole day through / Just an old sweet song / Keeps Georgia on my mind / I said Georgia, Georgia / A song of you / Comes as sweet and clear / As moonlight through the pines.”
Although Charles is from Georgia, he says that has nothing to do with why he recorded “Georgia On My Mind”.
“I wasn’t dreaming of the state when I recorded the song, even though I was born there,” he reveals in his Brother Ray memoir. He adds that he has also “never known a lady named Georgia.”
“I Got A Woman”
One of Charles’s early hits, “I Got A Woman” came out in 1954. Written by Charles and Renald Richard, “I Got A Woman” became a No. 1 hit on the R&B chart. The song later appears on his debut Ray Charles record.
“I Got A Woman” says, “Well, I’ve got a woman / Way over town / That’s good to me oh, yeah / She’s there to love me both day and night / Never grumbles or fusses, always treats me right / Never runnin’ in the streets, and leavin’ me alone / She knows a woman’s place is right there now in her home / Well, I’ve got a woman / Way over town / That’s good to me oh, yeah / Say I’ve got a woman / Way over town / That’s good to me oh, yeah.”
Charles was reportedly inspired to write “I Got A Woman” after hearing a spiritual on the radio.
“I Can’t Stop Loving You”
In 1962, Charles released “I Can’t Stop Loving You”, a song that remains among his most successful. On his Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music, Don Gibson is the writer of the song. “I Can’t Stop Loving You appears on Gibson’s 1958 Oh Lonesome Me album.
“I Can’t Stop Loving You” says, “I can’t stop loving you / I’ve made up my mind / To live in memory of the lonesome times / I can’t stop wanting you / It’s useless to say / So I’ll just live my life in dreams of yesterday / Dreams of yesterday / Those happy hours that we once knew / Tho’ long ago, they still make me blue / They say that time heals a broken heart / But time has stood still since we’ve been apart.”
Photo by CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images
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