Ray Charles – What'd I Say | A Classical Musician's First Listen & Expert Analysis

Comments · 169

• SU

  @susanaltman5134 · 2 weeks ago

  You must hear his version of Georgia on My Mind.  So glad that he wasthe poll winner.

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• ST

  @Steven-x6h · 6 days ago (edited)

  It will still sound fresh 10000 years from now.

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• JE

  @Jeff_Lichtman · 2 weeks ago

  In December, 1958 Ray Charles was at a gig and played the band's whole set list before they ran out of time. He told his backup singers and musicians to follow along, and started playing. "What'd I Say" is what he came up with. People in the audience wanted to know where they could buy the record, but of course, there was no record, because he had just improvised the whole thing. He went to the studio and made the recording you reacted to here.

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• PE

  @petersattler22 · 2 weeks ago

  According to Charles' autobiography, "What'd I Say" was accidental when he improvised it to fill time at the end of a concert in December 1958.

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• MI

  @mitchellbatchelor1594 · 12 days ago

  My parents listened to Classic Country & Western music from the 50’s & 60’s.  I was totally surprised when soul singer Ray Charles turned up in their LP collection.  Ray Charles appealed to anyone who took the time to listen.

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• VI

  @Viejotrueno · 2 weeks ago

  The 'vibrancy' comes from being recorded LIVE in the studio, there was no multi-tracking recording back then, so you're hearing musicianship as it is

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• FE

  @FeiTongWen · 2 weeks ago

  I enjoyed this when I was 16 years old. It is just as fresh today as it was then. I saw Ray Charles at a concert in a movie theatre venue in Hong Kong 15 years after this recording; it was fantastic! He ended his concert with this, and my comany, a staid lawyer and his wife STANDING on the theatre seats, dancing and clapping.

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• PE

  @PeterButcher-k3u · 12 days ago

  Some radio stations banned this song and wouldn't play it because of the sexuality of the call and response at the end, and lines like "shake that thing." Of course that just generated more interest and made the recording even more popular.

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• JO

  @johnwest7993 · 2 weeks ago

  This is a fun song, and fun is timeless.

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• JA

  @jamesgibson9919 · 8 days ago

  The blues, plain and simple, in all the right ways.

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• GR

  @grayfool · 2 weeks ago

  Soul is exactly the correct description of this epic performance.  It has life.  It is the most joyous song you could possibly imagine.  Apparently, it was developed from a jam by the band when they ran out of songs during a gig one evening.  It wasn't written as much as growing from a seed to the wonderful experience it has become over the decades.  Charles was a true genius.

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• PE

  @Peter-e3e7e · 2 weeks ago

  “Hit the Road Jack” is another Ray classic with a unique jazzy vibe that must be experienced.

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