Thursday, 17 June 2004
Ray Charles is forever - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER - The great Ray Charles is dead. The word great is not used lightly in that last sentence. It's apt, and totally justified. For Ray Charles was great. Before Joni Mitchell taught cold English wives how to feel, Ray Charles taught everyone - man or woman - how to rock from side to side, feel the beat of joy and happiness, and at times, the depths of the blues and love unrequited.
To mourn Ray Charles is not to mourn the loss of a vivid rock or pop voice, or an R&B hit maker, or a country warbler. In essence, the world of music loses all of that, and then some. He was, as Richard Harrington in the Washington Post wrote last Friday, "one of the greatest voices, and possibly the most soulful voice in the history of the 20th-century American popular music." That bluesy voice, wrote Jon Pareles and Bernard Weinraub in the New York Times, "reshaped American music for a half-century, bringing the essence of soul to country, jazz, rock, standards, and every other style of music he touched." Ray Charles was a giant in American music and his ability to transcend multiple genres without missing the proverbial beat, was at its core his greatest achievement, and which makes it easy for people musically inclined, as well as lay people like me, to mourn and celebrate Ray Charles.
Both pieces in the Washington Post and the New York Times are wonderfully written and capture both the highs and lows of Ray Charles, not to mention the famous and infamous in the 73 years he lived. One does not sing or play music well, if he does not capture the essence of what the music writ says or means. Ray Charles though blind since the age of seven, captured and experienced more in his head than most sighted people could ever attempt. He had Georgia on his mind, and you also could hear on more than one occasion, that he's drowned in his own tears.
"I guess I'm kind of a strange animal. What works for me is songs that I can put myself into. It has nothing to do with the song. Maybe it's a great song. But there's got to be something in that song for me," said Charles to the New York Times earlier this year as he was recording a forthcoming album of duets, "Genius Loves Company." Singing with Charles are such performers as Michael McDonald, Norah Jones, Willie Nelson, James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, Johnny Mathis, B.B. King, Elton John, and Gladys Knight. When asked if his songs were suffused with sadness: "To be honest with you, I sing what I feel, what I genuinely feel. That's it. No airs."
Ray Charles was born Ray Charles Robinson, but to avoid getting confused with the boxer Sugar Ray Robinson he dropped the Robinson and learned how to play the piano. At five, he saw his brother drown and soon after lost his sight to glaucoma. One can't possibly imagine that image which likely stayed with him forever.
When Ray Charles died last Thursday, the cable news outlets, where his death would warrant worthy and much expected extended coverage of his life and times through old footage of performances and interviews, were busy memorialising and covering wall-to-wall or gavel-to-gavel, the death of Ronald Reagan. Come Friday it was obvious that Reagan would, at least until his burial, overshadow Ray Charles. With fortuitous luck, MSNBC unearthed footage of Charles performing his wonderful rendition of "America the Beautiful," at the 1984 Republican Convention. As he performed, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, with George and Barbara Bush stood singing along with Charles's soulful rendition to a capacity crowd swaying and swooning at Charles and their country 'tis of thee.
Ray Charles's legacy is that his songs are immortal. (As Harrington puts it, "Who knew Ray Charles was mortal? His songs aren't.") When word of his death floated, listening to his soulful if not mournful "Georgia on My Mind," was apt and delicious. That fabulous intro to "What'd I Say" is rocking and joyous. "Hit the Road Jack" is fit and raucous, making you want to kiss-off the first person who done you wrong. It was also the first Charles record to get to the top of both the pop and R&B charts. "You Don't Know Me," that wonderfully despondent and heartbreaking ballad, is as sad as "Georgia on My Mind," but it's a little more rough because it's about love this time. And of course, "I Can't Stop Loving You," which is both an anthem for love, as it is the love Ray Charles had for music.
And of course there's more, countless more in the music repertoire of Ray Charles. His album "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music," proved that a black man could tap into country music and its "white man's blues." Romantic sadness and blue-collar misery, writes Harrington, Ray Charles tapped into and rather effortless. A favourite of mine is his duet with Willie Nelson of "Seven Spanish Angels." How sublime is the marriage of country, blues and Ray Charles. The meeting of such music minds is serene, as it is delightful, and it's all Ray Charles's doing.
Ray Charles's ability to crossover and crossover so easily is remarkable and admirable. Elvis Presley could switch from "Jailhouse Rock" to "My Way," or "He Touched Me," but he couldn't do that without getting chunkier or becoming a caricature. Ray Charles had a sense of flamboyance, but it was always about the music, and never about papering over the chords with flashy jumpsuits.
Don Imus made an interesting point last week. As had been reported, Ray Charles began his career trying to emulate Nat King Cole. Imus points out that near the end of Nat Cole's career, he was trying to sing Ray Charles, as in Cole's "Rambling Rose." I remember Ray Charles's appearance at Frank Sinatra's 80th birthday special. He playfully chided Sinatra for appearing in glorious Technicolor in the 1946 picture, Till the Clouds Roll By, wearing a white suit, a white guy, singing a black man's song, "Old Man River." Sinatra chuckled warmly, and it was as if Ray Charles was teaching Old Blue Eyes how to sing the legendary Kern and Hammerstein standard from Show Boat, the right way. Ray Charles brought down the house and the crowd to its feet, including Sinatra. Grinning profusely, and hugging his arms, embracing the cacophony of whoops, cheers and applause, Ray Charles was a tremendous highlight of a rather awkward party.
The Genius, Ray Charles, was not without controversy. He was addicted to heroin for 17 years, divorced twice and leaves behind 12 children, 20 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Nonetheless he is mourned for his music and the tremendous catalogue he wrought. Accolades befell him, such as some 12 Grammy's, as well as a few lifetime achievement awards along the way, as well as the thanks from a grateful nation with the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors in 1986 (alongside Lucille Ball, Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, and Yehudi Menuhin), and the Presidential Medal for the Arts in 1993. He is mourned in these parts too, as for many years he'd fly up to Vancouver to appear on BCTV's Variety Club telethon.
There's going to be a film on the life of Ray Charles. The talented and underrated Jaime Foxx plays Charles, and he previewed his portrayal on a recent appearance on David Letterman's program, and from that, it's shaping up to be a grand portrayal. There's going to be that album of duets with singers doubtless influenced by Charles, who join the list of others so inspired: Elvis, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Van Morrison, and Billy Joel. The singer influenced by Nat King Cole went on to influence so many, not to mention an entire era of music, regardless of genre.
Ray Charles's records live on though the man does not. His records are immortal, his performances timeless. That's the miracle of the medium that his music lives on. Whether "Georgia on My Mind," or "I Can't Stop Loving You," or "A Fool for You," his songs will continue to nurse those broken hearts or salt those wounds, or just comfort hopelessly to help one get through another night. Never before has someone come along, and in so many genres left his mark on the sound of his lifetime. For that, Ray Charles is forever.
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An archive of Joseph Planta's previous columns can be found by clicking HERE .