December 9, 2010

Ray Stevens and the Shriners Convention...



The Shriner's Convention, as performed by Ray Stevens in 1979. (Don't tell me the blogger is writing about this song again!!). Yes, I'm writing about this song once again! 2010 continues to be the 30th anniversary of this song's commercial release and so as we draw closer to the end of this year I decided to once again spotlight this recording. The commercial single was issued in January of 1980. The above performance of Ray is from 1979 and it may very well be the first time he'd performed the song on television. Sharp eared listeners/fans are well aware of the full-length version and the radio version of this song. As I touched upon in previous blogs there's the slower, ballad-paced recording which runs 5 minutes, 33 seconds. There is also another version issued which has a much more urgent, quicker vocal delivery and it leaves out some of the lyrics, specifically the reference to The Knights of Columbus. This performance, even though it's the longer version, also leaves out the Knights of Columbus reference. RCA issued both versions as promo singles...distinguishing between the two simply as Long Version and Short Version. The "short version" runs 4 minutes, 10 seconds...which was still relatively long for a country single at the time. Each version was issued as A-side and B-side on red vinyl and sometimes come up for sale on-line. The general public commercial single featured the long version as the A-side and "You're Never Goin' To Tampa With Me" as the B-side. The song takes place inside a fictional hotel in Hahira, Georgia where two members of a local Shrine are having a phone conversation during a convention. The humor of the song stems from the outrageous behavior of a renegade Shriner named Coy and the stern, straight-laced Shriner named Bubba. Their lodge names are Noble Lumpkin and the Illustrious Potentate, respectively, though they're only referenced as such at the beginning of the performance.

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