Ray Charles

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Ray Charles (23 September 1930 – 10 June 2004) American Soul musician, singer, songwriter, and composer; born Ray Charles Robinson

Attributed

• "I started to sing like myself — as opposed to imitating Nat Cole, which I had done for a while — when I started singing like Ray Charles, it had this spiritual and churchy, this religious or gospel sound. It had this holiness and preachy tone to it. It was very controversial. I got a lot of criticism for it." — (San Jose Mercury News, 1994)

• "Do it right or don't do it at all.That comes from my mom. If there's something I want to do, I'm one of those people that won't be satisfied until I get it done. If I'm trying to sing something and I can't get it, I'm going to keep at it until I get where I want it." — (Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, 1998)

• "The fact of the matter is, you don't give up what's natural. Anything I've fantasized about, I've done." — (Los Angeles Times, 1989)

• Affluence separates people. Poverty knits 'em together. You got some sugar and I don't; I borrow some of yours. Next month you might not have any flour; well, I'll give you some of mine.

• I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me, like food or water.

• Love is a special word, and I use it only when I mean it. You say the word too much and it becomes cheap.

• Music has been around a long time, and there's going to be music long after Ray Charles is dead. I just want to leave my mark, leave something musically good behind.

• Music is nothing separate from me. It is me... You'd have to remove the music surgically.

• My music had roots which I'd dug up from my own childhood, musical roots buried in the darkest soil.

• What is a soul? It's like electricity — we don't really know what it is, but it's a force that can light a room.

• You better live every day like your last because one day you're going to be right.

Lyrics

• I got a woman way over town,
  That's good to me, Oh yeah!
  • "I Got a Woman" (1955)

• Other arms reach out to me
  Other eyes smile tenderly
  Still in peaceful dreams I see
  The road leads back to you.
  Georgia, oh Georgia, no peace I find...
  Just an old sweet song
  Keeps Georgia on my mind.
  • "Georgia On My Mind" (1960), lyrics by Stuart Gorrell and Hoagy Carmichael

• Hit the road, Jack, and don't you come back no more, no more, no more, no more.
  
  • "Hit the Road, Jack" (1961)

• Tell your Mama
  Tell your Pa
  Gonna send you back to Arkansas
  • "What'd I Say" (1957)

External links

• American Masters: Ray Charles at PBS
• Ray Charles at MTV
• Ray Charles at the Internet Movie Database

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