October 4, 2013

Ray Stevens and the eBay Songbooks...

Hello fans of Ray Stevens...yesterday there happened to be an announcement of five song books being put up for sale by Ray's company on eBay. The books focus on just one song per copy but the allure of the items happen to be his signature and the fact that the books have his image on the cover. As mentioned there are five of these: 1968's "Mr. Businessman", 1969's "Gitarzan", 1970's "Bridget the Midget the Queen of the Blues", "Everything Is Beautiful", and 1984's "Mississippi Squirrel Revival".

The original asking price for each of the five books was $10.00 but once word got out on social media sites there have been multiple bids on several of the items and the selling price has accordingly gone up. I think most of it is due to having Ray's signature on each item but there's also the nostalgic factor and the images of Ray that appear on each book. The "Everything Is Beautiful" sheet music now has a price of $26.00 and 3 bids. The most popular item is the sheet music for one of his most enduring comical songs, 1984's "Mississippi Squirrel Revival". Even today the fans and the general public alike cite lyrics and catch-phrases from the song as evidenced in posts from social media sites. That particular sheet music book has the most bids so far with 11 and a price of $76.00!! 

At the moment there are 6 bids for "Mr. Businessman" and as a result the current price is $40.00. The prices, I assume, are going to continue to go up considering there's 6 days left to place a bid. Ray started an eBay page in the summer and I vaguely remember hearing about it at the time but it turned out to be something that wasn't publicized that much but these 5 song books are the first items he's offered for sale and you can see them HERE.

2 comments:

  1. I found it very interesting the sheet music for EIB says it is a Monument recording - it was released on Barnaby!

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    1. It's ironic that you should mention that. I pay attention to detail, too. I had a paragraph about that very thing but I deleted it. At the last minute, before publishing, I decided to just simply pass along the news that the books are available for sale without getting into the murky mystery as to why it has a different label. My guess is the song must have been intended to be released on Monument Records but Andy Williams lured him to Barnaby. Monument was still issuing singles on Ray into 1970...I believe the final one was "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight". So "Everything Is Beautiful" could originally have been slated as a Monument release in 1970 but ultimately it became his debut single for Barnaby. As it's long been reported, the song was originally meant to be the centerpiece/theme song of the 1970 summer show but by the time the program hit the air Andy had brought Ray to Barnaby. I think Andy even bought the rights to all of Ray's Monument recordings, too? A company known as Celebrity Licensing often credits Barnaby Records for song that we all know Ray recorded for Monument. If one looks at the credits on the 1987 GREATEST HITS album that MCA issued, Barnaby is credited to "Along Came Jones" and "Gitarzan" even though those two songs actually appeared in 1969 on Monument.

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