Ray Stevens: 1986 performance of "The Streak"

Well, hello out there!!! No, you're not reading any kind of typo or anything.. it's my first fan created Ray Stevens blog post since April 29th of this year. Why such a long hiatus you may be asking yourselves? It was my own self-imposed hiatus from blog writing. I remained active on Ray's social media pages in the meantime leaving commentary and interacting with other people leaving comments on Ray's social media pages, mainly Facebook. If you follow Ray's social media you know that he's kept those pages active, too, with a post or two per day and lots of video attachments. He's continued to perform concerts at his CabaRay showroom and as most of you may know this is his final season of concerts. He broke the news back in January before this upcoming concert season began. 

In this blog post I'm sharing a recent video upload from Ray's YouTube channel. On August 26, 2024 a concert performance of Ray delivering "The Streak" from 1986 made it's debut on social media. If you're a fan of Ray Stevens you're going to love it and if you happen to be a student of Ray Stevens, meaning that you know a lot about his life and career in addition to being a major fan, you're going to know that this 1986 performance comes during his first stint with MCA Records. He was right in the middle of that lengthy series of comedy albums and riding a wave of discovery, or re-discovery, depending on the knowledge of the individual music listener. The performance took place in July 1986 which means it happened a month after Ray won his first Music City News Comedian of the Year award. Ray would win this high profile, fan-voted award every year for 9 consecutive years (1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1994). 

In this 1986 performance you'll see Ray decked out in sunglasses, dark green clothes, and at various moments wearing a yellow CAT hat. The thumbnail image of the video shows this but just in case you view this blog post in the future and the image is gone due to some sort of glitch I thought I'd let you all know what he appears in ahead of viewing. I love the green clothing. The temperature in St. Clairsville, Ohio must have been in the 80s or low 90s that day. When the performance of "The Streak" is over you'll see Ray jog off-stage carrying a suit. He must have began his set wearing the jacket but then, as he literally got hotter, removed it. The song originally hit in 1974.. there have long been rumors that actual streakers could be seen at his concerts but I've always doubted that kind of thing happening. It's possible that streaking took place near a concert venue, fair, or festival he was performing at or somewhere in the vicinity if it happened to be what they call a college town but within the audience of a concert I don't think such things happened but it's fun to say it did. Boogity Boogity... here's Ray Stevens and "The Streak"...

Ray Stevens: Vinyl 45 at 35...

Let's take a look back to the summer of 1986 in the career of Ray Stevens. He was preparing for the release of his third studio album for MCA, Surely You Joust, and on this comedy album were a number of songs that have since grown into classics in his career. The main attraction from the album was the lead-off comedy song, "Southern Air", which features Jerry Clower and Minnie Pearl as guest vocalists. The song, from the pens of Stuart Dill and Brent Holmes, is about a southern airline apparently put together with scraps of wood with a screen door on the side. The song kicks off with Ray doing an impression of an airplane propeller trying to start...then finally does...amidst the sounds of shattered glass. Ray sings the song and acts as narrator while Jerry Clower plays the pilot and Minnie Pearl plays the role of the stewardess. It was a Top-40 hit on the Country Single Sales chart in the latter half of 1986. "The People's Court" was released as a single from the album, too. Ray's performed a couple of other songs from the 1986 album in concert. "Smoky Mountain Rattlesnake Retreat" was recorded for this album...later becoming an animated music video. "Dudley Dorite of the Highway Patrol" is another favorite song from the fans and it, too, became a music video in the mid 1990s while "The Camping Trip" was made into an animated music video in the mid 2000's. You can read a much more detailed review of Ray's 1986 comedy album in the archives here. Earlier this year I wrote a blog entry about Surely You Joust turning 35 this year. 

When I saw Ray in concert a few times he performed the whimsical love song "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?". I don't know how long this particular song's been in his setlist but he also performed it during his concerts in Branson, Missouri in the 1990s...video of him performing it at his former theater is on YouTube. The song was included in the 1987 Greatest Hits, Volume Two release and later on it was turned into two separate music videos: a live-action music video arrived in 1995 and an animated music video arrived more than a decade later. The song comes from the pen of Buddy Kalb...known more formally as C.W. Kalb, Jr.  

MCA released "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?" in the latter part of 1986 and it was a song being promoted a lot by Ray in the early part of 1987 and inserting it into his concerts. The song is more or less about a guy who finds out an old flame of his is getting married...from the old flame herself. The guy is told of all the wonderful things her new boyfriend has accomplished which include how rich he is, how he's got several college degrees, how he constantly works out in a gym, etc. to which the guy counters his old flame's happiness by pointing out all of the wonderful things he, himself, is capable of doing such as wiggling his ears, crossing his eyes, drinking mugs of beer one after the other, making balloon animals, etc. and he leaves her with the question "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?". In the 1995 music video Ray included scenes and performers from the movie that the music video originated from...which happened to be his VHS home video release, Get Serious!. In this 1995 music video performance some of the lyrics, toward the end of the song, are exclusive to the music video and they didn't appear in the 1986 recording. The reason Ray's wearing a chicken suit in the music video is because, in that part of the Get Serious! storyline, he and girlfriend Charlene MacKenzie (Connie Freeman) were on the run from Dudley Dorite (Buddy Kalb) and Coy (Tim Hubbard) and the two decided to hide in a chicken coop with the rest of the chickens.  

Ray Stevens sings "Makin' the Best of a Bad Situation"...

Hello to all the fans of Ray Stevens who stop by here. Earlier this afternoon Ray uploaded a performance of "Makin' the Best of a Bad Situation" from his CabaRay Nashville television show. Ray had originally recorded this song in 1986 and it appears on his Surely You Joust album. In this 1986 recording he sang it really up-tempo. The song's writer happened to have also written several up-tempo songs that Jerry Reed recorded...in fact, the 1986 Ray Stevens recording when I first heard it as a kid, had me thinking of Jerry Reed. In 2007 Ray re-recorded the song and changed the tempo from really fast to mid-tempo...actually it's like a ballad in comparison to the 1986 recording. The re-recording appears on Ray's 2007 comedy album, Hurricane. That's the album which features 7 new songs and 5 re-recordings of songs from a couple of his comedy albums from the 1980s, with "Makin' the Best of a Bad Situation" being one of those re-recordings. In this CabaRay Nashville performance, as mentioned, he sings it as it appears on the 2007 Hurricane album. The overall storyline of the song deals with a series of misfortunes that are dealt with in a humorous, often ironic, way. It's in the country comedy category for certain. 

Ray Stevens: Joust at 35...

We're almost finished with the first month of 2021 and one of the milestones happening this year is the 35th anniversary of Surely You Joust. The comedy album from Ray Stevens was released in 1986...it was his third studio album for MCA Records and it became another top selling album for him. Earlier in 1986 he had the honor of hitting number one on the Billboard Country Album chart with I Have Returned, a comedy album released in the latter half of 1985. Ray's comedy albums were like mountain climbers...they would make their debut midway on the album chart or somewhere near the bottom of the chart and then climb up to their peak position. After the creation of SoundScan in 1991 where point of sale documentation became computerized, and immediate, it ushered in the era of albums peaking on the charts within their first or second week of availability. Ray's 1984 and 1985 albums made their debuts on the Country Album chart in the final months of those years but neither album reached their peak until several months into the next year. Surely You Joust came along in the fall of 1986 and reached it's peak within the same calendar year...peaking just outside the Top-10. Surely You Joust made it's debut on the Billboard Country Album chart for the week ending September 13, 1986 and then the following week it was among the Top-40 best selling country albums...knocking on the door at the Top-20 on the September 20, 1986 chart. "The People's Court", one of the comedy songs from the album, reached it's peak on the Billboard Country Singles chart in the very same September 20th issue. Surely You Joust made it into the Top-20 the week ending September 27, 1986. It remained in the Top-20 for several weeks...reaching it's peak in late October 1986. When Surely You Joust made it's debut on the country album chart on September 13, 1986 Ray's previous album from 1985, I Have Returned, was still on the album chart...at that time it was in it's 46th chart week. Something of note about 1986 is it was the first year that the readers of Music City News magazine voted Ray Stevens as Comedian of the Year. He would repeat that win throughout the rest of the decade and into the next. He won the award 9 consecutive years (1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1994). 

The album's second single release was the most commercially successful of the three that were issued from the album. "Southern Air" is a trio recording featuring Ray, Jerry Clower, and Minnie Pearl. The three country comics are on a flight, "Southern Air", going from Hahira, Georgia to Yazoo City, Mississippi. In the recording Ray plays the part of the story-teller/narrator/singer while Jerry Clower plays the role of the pilot and Minnie Pearl plays the role of the stewardess. The lyrics of the song feature all sorts of southern culture, deliberately, and several characters and expressions from the stories of Jerry Clower are woven into the storyline. "Southern Air" made it's debut on Billboard's Country Singles chart on November 1, 1986 and it peaked the following week...spending two weeks in it's peak position on the Country Singles chart on the charts published the week ending November 8, 1986 and November 15, 1986. It's short-lived appearance wasn't the end of the single, however. "Southern Air" appeared on Billboard's Country Single Sales chart on November 29, 1986. The album's third single, "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?", didn't make the Country Singles chart when it was issued early in 1987. MCA Records, the label he was with beginning in 1984, featured "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?" on a couple of further compilation releases and Ray kept the song in concert set-list and over the course of time it became just as popular with his fans as anything else he's recorded. The ironic thing about that song is not only didn't it reach the singles charts but it's appeared on more compilation albums representing 1986 in the career of Ray Stevens...instead of either of the two singles that reached the chart from the 1986 album: "The People's Court" and "Southern Air". Ray made a music video for "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?" in 1995 and then produced a limited animation music video of the song the following decade. Surely You Joust is one of the classic albums in Ray's career...so Happy 35th Anniversary!

Ray Stevens: 1986 "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" performance...

Hello all once again!! Earlier today Ray Stevens uploaded a 1986 performance of "Mississippi Squirrel Revival". It's from one of the various country music programs from the 1980s...I'll say it's from the Music City News Top Hits of the Year gala. The upload states that it's from 1986 and that particular awards organization always handed out their awards in recognition of the previous year. "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" made it's debut on the country chart in January 1985...having been released as a single late in December 1984. The song comes from Ray's first album for MCA Records in 1984, He Thinks He's Ray Stevens. MCA had previously issued "I'm Kissin' You Goodbye" as a single but then word got back to Ray that "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" was being played as an album track on some country radio stations. That meant that disc jockeys, on their own, were playing the song from the album...no 45 single had been issued. When the song started to spread around MCA issued a commercial single late in December 1984 and by the middle part of January 1985 it was well on it's way to becoming a hit. 

In performance Ray tells us how the squirrel run up the pants leg of Harv Newland and in the screen cap on the left he visually acts out the lyrics. Ray looks as if a squirrel has just run up his pants leg during the performance and it's that sort of thing that endears Ray Stevens to his many fans, myself included. The song, written by Buddy and Carlene Kalb, would eventually peak in the Top-20 on the country charts. The song caused the album to attract sales...unheard of kinds of sales for a 'novelty album'. "It's Me Again, Margaret", released not too long after "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" peaked, added to the sales success...eventually He Thinks He's Ray Stevens climbed into the Top-10 of the Country Album chart was certified Gold and later, Platinum. "It's Me Again, Margaret", also on that album, wasn't a massive airplay hit and it didn't crack the country Top-50 but it's become a classic in Ray's career and along with "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" it's one of the reasons why He Thinks He's Ray Stevens (1984), Greatest Hits (1987), Get The Best of Ray Stevens (1987), His All-Time Greatest Comic Hits (1990), and the VHS Comedy Video Classics (1992), became enormous sales successes in their day. Those two songs appear on each of those projects. The song's writers appear in the "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" music video. The video emerged in 1992 along side several other music videos from Ray in the VHS Comedy Video Classics. The inspiration behind the video album came from his concerts in Branson, Missouri. Whenever he performed certain songs he'd have a big video screen hanging overhead with comical scenes airing as he was singing. The audiences responded favorably to seeing these video sequences and so he decided to put out a VHS of music videos and sell them. 

The purchasing of music videos was not the norm...music videos were only seen as promotional items to entice consumers into purchasing the album containing the song being promoted in the music video. There was never a thought that fans would actually purchase a music video...but yet Ray proved the experts wrong. When no major record label expressed any interest in releasing the VHS to retail stores in 1992 Ray decided to sell them on television and the rest is history. The VHS became hugely successful and Ray released numerous VHS and later, DVD products, consistently over the next 5 years. He continued issuing music video DVDs into the 2000's through his website. Since the creation of video hosting websites on the internet, specifically YouTube, Ray puts out his video content on his YouTube channel...millions upon millions of people have seen his video uploads since the channel began in 2009. The screen shot for the video clip below has Ray acting out the part where Harv shouts that something's got a hold of him... 

Ray Stevens: "Dudley Dorite of the Highway Patrol" music video...

It's me once again!! Earlier this year I wrote a blog entry about the 25th anniversary of Ray's direct-to-VHS movie, Get Serious!. The movie was sold through television advertisements and print ads in the latter half of 1995. The film's overall plot centered around a 1986 comedy song Ray recorded called "Dudley Dorite of the Highway Patrol". In the song Ray is pulled over for 'speeding' by an officer who takes his job very seriously. Dudley tells Ray that he's married to a woman named Ethel and afterward he reveals that his name is actually Bubba...who spends his off days as the Illustrious Potentate of the local Shrine. Ray continues to learn that the characters that have appeared in his comedy songs really exist and they're upset that he's made them laughing stocks. This concept, as mentioned, was further expanded in 1995 when Get Serious! was released. The VHS was certified Double-Platinum through direct mail (more than 200,000 copies sold). The song's writer, Buddy Kalb, appears as Dudley Dorite. Ray's brother, John, appears in the role of Clyde. In the movie they have a different actor playing Harv Newland from the "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" video. In the 1992 music video the song's writer, Buddy Kalb, is playing the role of Harv. I guess they didn't want to have Buddy play dual roles in the movie and create even more post-production considering there's a lot of group scenes featuring Dudley Dorite and Harv Newland; while Ray plays a lot of characters in the movie in addition to appearing as "himself" throughout. So, to reduce an already heavy post-production schedule, that's my theory why they re-cast Harv Newland for Get Serious!. Here's the music video for "Dudley Dorite of the Highway Patrol" from the 1995 Ray Stevens movie, Get Serious!...

Ray Stevens audio clip: "Makin' the Best of a Bad Situation"...

Well, it's me again!! One of the audio clips that appeared on the Ray Stevens social media pages the other day was "Makin' The Best of a Bad Situation". The song appears on the 1986 comedy album, Surely You Joust, which you can tell from listening to the audio clip. A couple of weeks ago he uploaded an audio clip of "The People's Court" from the 1986 comedy album. The phrase, "Makin' the Best of a Bad Situation", sounds rather timely considering COVID-19.



When you listen to the song and you think in your mind that it sounds like something Ray's late, good friend Jerry Reed would've recorded then chances are you're familiar with the song's writer. The writer of the song composed a number of songs Jerry recorded...specifically during the late '70s/early '80s period...at the time Jerry had become just as well known for his acting roles on television and in movies.

The songs Jerry had recorded for those movies and for some of his albums were written by or co-written with Dick Feller. The writer had his own rendition of "Makin' the Best of a Bad Situation" on the charts in 1974. Perhaps coincidentally but Ray and Jerry recorded their own versions of "Coin Machine", another song from the pen of Dick Feller.

In my biased opinion Ray's rendition of the song is the best even though if we weren't to compare the recordings I'd consider both recordings of the song excellent. Ray's rendition of the song is on his 1980 comedy album, Shriner's Convention. Ray's cover of "Makin' the Best of a Bad Situation" in 1986, like "Coin Machine" in 1980, remained an album track...not widely known outside Ray's fanbase but I love Ray's versions of both of those songs.

Ray Stevens audio clip: "People's Court"...

Hello all the fans of Ray Stevens!! One of the numerous court room television programs that used to air when I was younger was a show called "People's Court" featuring Judge Wapner. It was just one of several courtroom television shows in the 1980s...a format that expanded dramatically throughout the 1990s. The television series ran for more than 10 years and due to it's popularity it became the focal point of song recorded by Ray Stevens in 1986. The song appears as track number two on the Surely You Joust album. This comedy album also features "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?", "Dudley Dorite of the Highway Patrol", "The Camping Trip", and the trio recording, "Southern Air". In that song he was joined by Jerry Clower and Minnie Pearl. In "People's Court" Ray portrays a man named Arlo who's fed up with his wife, Myrna Louise, and he's talked her into appearing with him on the television court show. The song begins with the man calling up Judge Wapner personally and stating his reasons for wanting to appear. Later, in court, Ray portrays the soft-spoken narrator, the Judge, Arlo, and Myrna Louise.

Ray Stevens: Mid 1980s television commercials...

It's me once again! Earlier today Ray Stevens uploaded one of his mid 1980s television commercials for a local Toyota dealer in Nashville, TN. I don't know if the commercial is from 1985 or 1986...could be 1984 or 1987. One thing is certain: it's the mid 1980s. He uploaded another mid 1980s commercial he did for Nashville's Toyota not too long ago...but this one is officially referred to on YouTube as Toyota Commercial 2. Note the special guests that appear in the commercial playing the bouncers. They look like Wrestlers but I can't think of their names.



The one he uploaded back on May 1st is below...



The two commercials had originally appeared on YouTube 6 years ago in a single upload. As you can tell the previously uploaded commercials were re-uploaded, but this time, separately. Ray also uploaded a Flav-O-Rich television commercial from the early 1980s. It features another boy, this one with dark hair, acting as his son. In a previous upload a boy with lighter hair was acting as his son. The message in both of those commercials are largely the same...there's an abundance of saccharine in the presentation of the commercial as is typically the case when children take center stage in commercials. In a previous commercial Ray and the kid spoke of frozen cows...this time they discuss a busy cow...

Ray Stevens: "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?" 1990 performance...

This is one of my favorite Ray Stevens recordings! Ray recorded "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?" for his 1986 comedy album, Surely You Joust. It's appeared on several compilation albums since then and he's performed it in concerts and on television in the years following it's original premiere. It's a comical love song. He included the song on his 1993 VHS release, Ray Stevens Live!. The performance has since been uploaded onto YouTube. He produced a live action music video of the song in 1995 for his VHS movie, Get Serious!, which is also on YouTube. In the next decade an animated music video of the song emerged and it, too, can be found on his YouTube channel. In 1990 Ray appeared on an episode of the Charlie Chase prank show, Funny Business. In the video clip you'll see Ray perform "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?". If you're dedicated fans of Ray and more or less know the song then you'll know that he sings it a bit differently than what's on the recording. By that I mean you'll notice some of the lyrical omissions in the 1990 performance but it's nevertheless an entertaining performance all the same. Upon the conclusion of the performance Charlie mentions that Ray's on a new record label. Ray had been on MCA Records since 1984 but early in 1990 he signed with Curb Records.

Ray Stevens: I Have Returned...this week in 1986...

One of the funniest Ray Stevens recordings, "The Ballad of the Blue Cyclone", was part of an album that was released in the latter half of 1985. I Have Returned hit late in the year on the heels of He Thinks He's Ray Stevens, which had seen it's release hit the Country Top-10 and eventually receive Gold certification (half a million in sales). The bulk of that 1984 album's success took up most of 1985 and so in the fall of 1985 along came the follow-up, I Have Returned. The novelty album began a slow climb up the Billboard Country chart and peaked at Number One for the week ending March 15, 1986. It, too, would eventually become a Gold record. Earlier today on Ray's social media sites an audio of the full version of "The Ballad of the Blue Cyclone" emerged. An edited copy of this song appears on the MCA 1987 album, Greatest Hits, Volume Two. It's the single release, radio edit of the song. The album version is broken in two parts and that is what you'll hear below...



I Have Returned:
1. Thus Cacked Henrietta
2. Hugo the Human Cannonball
3. Vacation Bible School
4. Armchair Quarterback
5. The Ballad of the Blue Cyclone, Part One
6. The Ballad of the Blue Cyclone, Part Two
7. Kiss a Pig
8. The Haircut Song
9. The Pirate Song
10. Punk Country Love
11. Santa Claus is Watching You

Ray Stevens and the Week that Was...

Ray Stevens: 10-20-19

Has it been a week since Induction Day at the Country Music Hall of Fame? Well, yes, we're a week removed from the day that Ray Stevens, Brooks and Dunn, and Jerry Bradley officially became members of the Country Music Hall of Fame on October 20, 2019. I'm not going to literally recap every single moment of the past week but let me point out that it was a very busy week for each of the inductee's...a very busy lead-up to the inductions, as well. Ray, a busy artist himself regardless of the time of year, had to split his two-day charity golf tournament, which in time's past is scheduled on back-to-back days, by a week. The first round of the charity event took place on October 13th while the second round took place on October 21st. It was the fourth annual charity golf event. The golf game itself was at the Temple Hills Country Club. Video footage surfaced on his Facebook page of the charitable events taking place at Ray's CabaRay showroom on October 13th. In the video clip Ray mentions that the activities were scheduled on back-to-back days as in the past (October 20th and 21st) but this year, due to his formal induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame taking place on October 20th, they had to postpone day one of the event by a week and so those that shown up on the 13th expecting to play golf the next day, Ray remarked, were going to have to wait a week for the actual golf game on the 21st. In keeping with tradition the first day of the charity event takes place on a Sunday with the golf game itself taking place the next day but this time around, as mentioned, the auction and performance from Ray at his CabaRay took place a week ahead of the golf game. It's my guess that the golf course wasn't available on October 14th nor October 28th and so that's why the event this year was split in half by a week. In my last couple of blog entries I provided links and images of Ray from the Country Music Hall of Fame induction. In addition to the formal induction by Ralph Emery there were performances. I touched on this in those blog entries as well but a quick recap: Ricky Skaggs performed "Misty", The McCrary Sisters performed "Everything is Beautiful", while radio/television broadcaster Keith Bilbrey and country comedian, James Gregory, did a version of "The Streak".

Ray Stevens, Jerry Bradley, Ronnie Dunn, and Kix Brooks: 2019

In addition to all of the coverage of the Country Music Hall of Fame inductions Ray also balanced his time performing scheduled concerts at his CabaRay showroom as well as appearing as a guest on the Grand Ole Opry (October 23rd). I provided a recap of his performance in my previous blog entry...the one with the title making reference to his interview with the L.A. Times. On October 25th Ray uploaded the audio track of his 1986 recording, "Southern Air", due to it being the birth date of Minnie Pearl (October 25, 1912 - March 4, 1996). The recording featured a third country comic, Jerry Clower, in the role of the pilot...referred to in the song as Captain Clower. The video clip featured art work from the time period promoting "Southern Air"...the song reached the country chart in the final couple of month of 1986. It placed among the Top 100 songs based on Airplay but the sales enabled it to make an appearance on the Single Sales chart, a concurrent survey of country singles based entirely on sales. When it appeared on the Top-30 country Sales chart it was the only single on that list that wasn't simultaneously in the radio dominated country Top-40...with most of the songs on the Sales list already in the Top-20 or Top-10 portion of the Airplay chart. I point that out just because I think it's a perfect example of the subjective nature of airplay and how the sales popularity of a single, or an album, doesn't necessarily mean airplay will automatically follow. The art work looks as if it was illustrated by those that did the art work for Jerry Clower's 1983 album, Live at Cleburne, Texas but that's only my guess based on visual similarities of Clower's likeness on the 1983 album and the art work surrounding Ray's 1986 single.

Jerry Clower, Minnie Pearl, Ray Stevens: 1986

An autographed publicity photo from 1986 shows the three legends, in character, for "Southern Air". Ray's character speaks like the by-stander heard in "The Streak". I'll be embedding the audio clip for those that have never heard "Southern Air" before. I'm always amazed whenever I read social media reaction about previous Ray Stevens recordings that I, personally, consider classics of his career but yet have never been heard by a good percentage of people posting on social media sites. It's at that moment when I have to realize not everyone's a Ray Stevens nut/fanatic like myself and that not all of his fans choose to get nearly everything he's recorded. That fact is one of the foundations of this fan-created blog page...covering every aspect of Ray's career from the obscure to the well-known. There's a treasure chest full of Ray Stevens recordings out there yet to be discovered. "Southern Air" originally appeared on Ray's 1986 Top-20 album, Surely You Joust. That particular comedy album was heavy on the rural, southern humor style not only with "Southern Air" but also the tale of a rural couple appearing on "The People's Court", a southern man "Makin' the Best of a Bad Situation", a rural couple visiting a "Smoky Mountain Rattlesnake Retreat", a rural family on a "Camping Trip", and an overly anxious and viscous southern policeman, "Dudley Dorite of the Highway Patrol". Here is the "Southern Air" audio clip with art work...

Ray Stevens: The Road to the Country Music Hall of Fame, Part Fourteen...

As we make our way down the road to the Country Music Hall of Fame in the career of Ray Stevens we've arrived in the summer/fall period of 1986. In Part Thirteen I mentioned how the Music City News organization often asked Ray to appear on their annual awards programs. His involvement goes back to the late 1970's. In fact he was one of the co-hosts of the 1980 awards and in the years that followed he often appeared on television specials centering around Music City News. One of their annual programs was a presentation of The Music City News Top Hits of the Year. In this special program the hosts and the recording artists would highlight the biggest hit songs of the year. It wasn't an awards program but it nevertheless singled out specific songs to highlight. This kind of show went hand-in-hand with the Music City News Songwriters Awards. This secondary awards program featured a couple of hosts that presented awards to the songwriters. Now, of course, to create some sort of a viewership incentive there were performances by recording artists, too, so it wasn't exclusively a night for the writers to perform the songs they wrote. A lot of the recording artists were songwriters themselves and so it was always an opportunity for the artists to perform whatever nominated song they'd written or co-written. I'd decided to start off Part Fourteen with a brief re-cap of Ray's involvement with the various televised events from Music City News because I didn't make mention of them in the previous chapters of this mini-blog series. In the aftermath of the 1986 edition of the awards where Ray was named Comedian of the Year coupled with the publicity that went along with it he lent his talents in further television appearances on the syndicated Hee Haw series. Ray had made sporadic appearances on this series in the past...a couple of appearances in 1972 followed by appearances in 1975, 1980, 1982, and 1985. The appearances continued steadily, too. In some of his appearances he was billed as a special guest co-host (following the departure of previous co-host, Buck Owens). "The People's Court" became Ray's first single release of 1986...and it arrived in August....entering the Country singles chart in September. The novelty release is a parody/spoof of the television series of the same name and it is very funny and uses Ray's mimicry of southern accents when he vocally portrays a feuding couple, Arlow and Myrna-Louise, who decide to file for divorce but are eager to sacrifice their personal dignity by appearing on a television show to air their domestic problems for an entire country to see. In keeping with the overall theme of the Deep South represented in this particular comedy album Arlow runs a 24 hour convenient store that he proudly advertises during his phone call to Judge Wapner...not only that but Arlow feels it necessary to list most of the items his store offers (beer, ice, bread, video tape rentals, etc.). The novelty is meant to be a parody...a satirical look at the phenomena of the courtroom television niche...but it's endearing at the same time because it's not far off from the kind of complaints from plaintiff's and defendant's heard on any number of episodes of the original run of the series.

Ray's third album for MCA arrived right around the time "The People's Court" was on the charts. Surely You Joust continues the cover art theme of depicting historical figures. This time around Ray is suited in Armor depicting any member seated at the Knights of the Round Table...King Arthur or Sir Lancelot come to mind. Ray's logo, Clyde the Camel, appears prominently on the shield. The album's title is based on the expression 'surely you jest'. This album, as the previous two, is heavy on comedy and it came oh so close to entering the Top-10 on the Country Album chart. Ray's follow-up single arrived near the end of the year in the form of "Southern Air". This novelty single featured two of Ray's comical peers and friends as special guests: Jerry Clower played the role of the pilot referred to as The Captain while Minnie Pearl played the role of the flirtatious stewardess. The song blended a lot of characters and catchphrases from Jerry Clower comedy stories along with the fictional image of Minnie Pearl as a hopeless romantic/spinster...with Ray playing the role of a nervous passenger observing everything taking place. The rickety airplane, as described in the song, came complete with a screen door and the plane flew so close to the ground that en route from Hahira, Georgia to Yazoo City, Mississippi you could literally see the Boll Weevil monument in Enterprise, Alabama. This single was also a hit on the Country singles chart and there's something interesting about the catalog numbers for these two 1986 hits. "The People's Court", released in the fall of 1986, has a catalog number of MCA-52924 while it's follow-up in the winter of 1986, "Southern Air", has a catalog number of MCA-52906. It's my guess that MCA was going to release "Southern Air" as a single first but then held off and released "The People's Court". Ray, Jerry, and Minnie performed "Southern Air" on an episode of Nashville Now...to date I have never seen this episode but based on a TV Guide listing I came across the program description from an episode of that series states that the three appeared and performed the song. Considering the massive amount of talent contained on that particular recording it looks like it would've been preserved on video, too, but so far nothing has emerged from the archives. The B-side of "The People's Court" is a comical tale of an over-zealous highway patrolman...specifically "Dudley Dorite of the Highway Patrol". The song doubles as a tribute to Ray's career...it's from the pen of Buddy Kalb. As if it's an episode from The Twilight Zone Ray finds himself getting pulled over for speeding (going 57 in a 55 zone) and throughout the course of the song Dudley reveals to Ray that the small town he's speeding through consists of actual people named Clyde, Harv Newland, Sister Bertha, Ethel, Coy...and Dudley himself is revealed to be a man named Bubba. The B-side of "Southern Air" is "The Camping Trip". Ray taped material for Hee Haw during the fall production period of the series. In the meantime, a third single release arrived in December 1986...a funny love song titled "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?". This single didn't appear on the Country charts, though, but it's B-side happened to also be "Dudley Dorite of the Highway Patrol".

The footage that Ray taped for Hee Haw in the fall of 1986 turned up in March 1987. In two episodes that aired during the month of March he was seen as a special guest co-host. A month earlier MCA released a compilation on Ray titled Greatest Hits. This collection shows Ray and an unidentified woman on the album cover as Bonnie and Clyde. It became a top selling album throughout 1987 and would eventually be certified Platinum a couple of years later. Ray and MCA then put together something of an ambitious project. The concept of direct marketing wasn't new but there weren't too many active recording artists willing to sell their music over television airwaves by way of commercials. A stigma existed and probably still exists that only those unable to sell in retail stores or get their songs on radio turned to the television airwaves to promote their songs...as if it's there's something of professional pride at play if you sell in retail stores instead of through direct mail. Stigma or not the bottom line is getting your music to the people and whether it's through radio or television is irrelevant. Anyway...a marketing plan was dreamed up and a television commercial was taped...advertising the 20 song collection titled Get The Best of Ray Stevens. I don't know the sales statistics of this album but I do know that it was an obvious hit because the commercials for it aired for a number of years on cable television as well as in print advertisements for the remainder of the decade. I'd say that it sold nearly half a million copies...at least...and for a direct mail release the sales thresholds are a bit lower than retail requirements. Direct mail requires 50,000 for Gold and 100,000 for Platinum certification. Retail requires 500,000 for Gold and 1,000,000 for Platinum certification.



When you watch the commercial you'll hear the voice-over announcer identify "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?" as Ray's latest hit. The song never achieved a chart placement during it's original release in late 1986/early 1987 but Ray performed the song on several television shows and it became part of his concert set-list for decades...eventually becoming a music video...but it was never a chart single. As seen in the commercial the cover art for the compilation double album shows Ray with a black eye, holding a rigged dynamite stuffed microphone, wearing a Kick Me sign, as two boisterous clowns are definitely in a playful mood. One is squirting water from his oversized flower and ready to throw a pie in Ray's face and the other is attempting to trip Ray in the back of the knees in the hopes of Ray landing on a whoopee cushion while displaying a prop gun with a Bang sign emerging from it. Also of note is the classic bucket of water located at the top of Ray's fictional dressing room door. In short it's one of the more wilder album photo's from Ray...

In the meantime Ray next turned his focus onto his fourth album for MCA...the first single from this forthcoming album arrived in the form of "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?". This satirical, social commentary on the televangelist scandals from the pens of Chet Atkins and Margaret Archer struck a nerve with people inside and outside the religious community and those in both the country and pop music worlds...becoming a high profile single during the summer of 1987 which took on a life of it's own. It was such a biting song and crossed over into the national mainstream that it even made it's way to the attention of the people behind The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson and legendary commentator Paul Harvey made mention of the song on his radio broadcasts and print columns. The single should have peaked higher than it did...falling one notch short of a Top-40 Country appearance...but given the chart's reliance on not only sales but airplay, too, it wasn't surprising that one of the most talked-about country music releases of the year wasn't ranking high on many radio programmer's playlists and I say it's due to the satirical and comical overtones heard throughout. MCA issued Ray's fourth album for the label, Crackin' Up, during the flurry of media activity surrounding "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?". The cover art for this album was less historical...it shows Ray dressed up as Humpty Dumpty in the process of falling from the wall.

While the previous 1986 album was decidedly rooted in comical songs conveying a deep South overtone this Crackin' Up album was more broad and featured a mix of comedy styles similar to what was found on his 1984 and 1985 albums. The album hit the Top-30 on the Country Album chart during the summer of 1987 at which time Ray won his second Comedian of the Year trophy from Music City News. Curious as to the B-side of "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?"...it was a novelty song centered around Willard Scott...a comical look at the popularity of the weatherman from The Today Show and his grip on the ladies. In the song Willard's popularity is greatly exaggerated as he's depicted as a heartthrob and has become the talk of the neighborhood and the desire of women in all age groups. Appropriately titled "Cool Down Willard" it's hilarious to put it bluntly. The next single release from Ray emerged in the fall of 1987...the wacky tale of the "Three Legged Man". The single's absurdist humor stood in sharp contrast to the satirical bite of "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?" but nevertheless it represented one of the styles of comedy heard on Crackin' Up. The B-side of the non-charting "Three Legged Man" happened to be a return to satirical humor, "Doctor, Doctor Have Mercy on Me".

MCA released Greatest Hits, Volume Two on Ray later in 1987...the cover art for this compilation was rather simple...it shows Ray dressed as a baseball player swinging the bat. The looks of the ball boy and umpire (producer/songwriter Norro Wilson) as well as the catcher it appears Ray hit a home run. This collection gathers eight songs from Get The Best of Ray Stevens while adding two songs not found on that direct mail album. The Volume Two exclusives are "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?" from the summer of 1987 and a brand new song, "Mama's in the Sky With Elvis". This Volume Two would receive a Gold sales certification as well. In October of 1987 Ray did a week long guest appearance on the television game show, Hollywood Squares, hosted by John Davidson. Ray's week long appearance in 1987 aired from October 5th through October 9th. Ray closed out the year with a new single release...a duet between himself and a singer named Julio. The song, "Sex Symbols", was an obvious parody of the unlikely duet successes of Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias. In Ray's single he deliberately pronounces the letter, J, in the duet partner's name...referring to him as Julie-O. The duo sing about their sex appeal and their luck with the ladies. Ray does a broad vocal impression of the Latin singer, Julio, for this recording. The duo name off their idea of "Sex Symbols", too. Julio, or should it appear, Julie-O, makes mention of legitimate candidates like Fernando Lamas, Valentino, etc. whereas Ray comically counters with Grandpa Jones, George "Goober" Lindsey, etc. In concert Ray performed this song with the aid of multi-tracking during the chorus as he couldn't possibly sing in two voices at the same time. He used a Ventriloquist dummy to portray Julio. I seen him perform this song for the first time on an episode of Hee Haw...and among the cast of that show was George "Goober" Lindsey...one of the people Ray makes mention of in "Sex Symbols". Unfortunately the single didn't reach the charts for Ray in spite of it's excellent production and craftsmanship. The single's B-side was "The Ballad of Cactus Pete and Lefty".

News surfaced that "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?" had been nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Comedy Recording at the upcoming 30th Annual Grammy Awards. The ceremony took place on March 2, 1988. This was Ray's 11th and, to date, final Grammy nomination. He won twice in eleven nominations. He won in 1971 and 1976. His 10th nomination was in 1980 in the Best Comedy Recording category with "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow". The Grammy Awards reflect the prior year's music which is why his wins in 1971 and 1976 are for recordings released the previous year: "Everything is Beautiful" (1970) and "Misty" (1975). When we reach Part Fifteen I'll discuss 1988, 1989, and the excitement that a new decade seems to bring as we step into the 1990s in the career of Ray Stevens.

Ray Stevens: The Road to the Country Music Hall of Fame, Part Thirteen...

When we left off in Part Twelve I mentioned the happenings in the career of Ray Stevens in the early part of 1985. MCA Records had issued "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" as a single late in 1984 due to overwhelming demand from disc jockeys. The single, from the pen of Buddy Kalb and his wife, Carlene, would go on to reach the Top-20 on the Country chart by the spring of 1985 which resulted in larger sales for the album it appeared on, He Thinks He's Ray Stevens.

The album features mostly all comedy and the on the album's cover Ray appears as Napoleon. The title of the album is based on the slang phrase 'he thinks he's Napoleon' but in this case we have Napoleon who thinks he's Ray Stevens. This wasn't the first comical looking album cover from Ray but it was the first in a series of eye catching art work tied into mostly historical imagery. On the back of the album it shows Napoleon Ray being chased by doctors with their intention of returning him to the asylum. As mentioned it's an all comedy album pretty much. One of the highlights of the album, though not released as a single, was his very funny version of the theme song heard on "The Monkees" television series. In the song Ray performs as an Austrian duo, Wolfgang and Fritzi. Elsewhere on the album is "Joggin'"; an ode to a pet dog named "Fred"; a bluesy version of "Furthermore", the original from Ray emerged in the early '60s as a fast-paced narrative; "Erik the Awful" is wonderful and then there's the most satirically clever song on the album, "Happy Hour".

The album was released in the latter half of 1984 coinciding with the rush release of "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" as a single. If you recall I mentioned in Part Twelve that the original debut single from the forthcoming album was "I'm Kissin' You Goodbye" but after MCA went ahead and released the album as scheduled without the benefit of a hit single various disc jockeys took it upon themselves to play the album cut, "Mississippi Squirrel Revival", rather than the official single release, "I'm Kissin' You Goodbye". He Thinks He's Ray Stevens would eventually climb all the way up and into the Top-10 on the Country album chart and eventually the album would be certified Platinum for a million in sales. A third single release from the album, "It's Me Again, Margaret", hit in the spring of 1985 backed with "Joggin'" which had originally appeared as the B-side of "I'm Kissin' You Goodbye". "It's Me Again, Margaret", in spite of it's surprisingly low peak position on the Country singles chart, has become one of Ray's most popular recordings...based almost entirely on the natural talents of Ray Stevens and how he delivered the song. It's long become a very memorable performance in Ray's stage shows which helped it become a beloved, integral part of his concerts. It's one of the examples of how Ray is able to have a very popular 'hit' song without it ever becoming some sort of high ranking 'radio hit'. I don't want to get into the weeds of detailing the differences in types of hit songs but there are recordings from artists that become what I refer to as word-of-mouth hits and then there's the recordings from artists that become radio hits.

The success of He Thinks He's Ray Stevens and it's two main singles, "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" and "It's Me Again, Margaret", not only enabled Ray to benefit from a newfound marketing plan of country comedy but it increased his demand for personal appearances (concerts) and television. He had been doing television guest appearances at a steady pace since the mid 1970s and had added commercials for Farm Best and later, Flav-O-Rich, to his television exposure but by the early 1980s country music had a new outlet: The Nashville Network. This cable channel launched in 1983 and by 1985 it had become part of everyone's basic cable package. A lot of artists within country music both past and present as well as recording artists marketed country finally had their own national television channel. In year's past the only national exposure for country music artists were on off-network syndicated television programs which aired on the weekends or once a year awards shows such as those from the CMA and  ACM. As you could imagine Ray Stevens was one of the most visible recording artists during the early years of TNN (the famed acronym for The Nashville Network) and it didn't hurt that the nightly television program, Nashville Now, was hosted by one of Ray's longtime friends, Ralph Emery. The exposure that Ray was getting from his increased television appearances in addition to this newfound fame as a country comedian cemented the direction that his career would be taking for the foreseeable future. MCA released "The Haircut Song" in the fall of 1985...nearly a month before the release of Ray's second album for the label, I Have Returned. The novelty song became a hit (reaching the Country Top-50).

The single told the story of how risky it is to get a haircut while on the road...indicating that it's best to have a trusted barber because you'll never know the kind of haircut you'll end up receiving at the hands of a different, untested barber. The single release, for airplay consideration, is shorter than the recording that appears on the album. The album recording is 6 minutes, 11 seconds and the single release is 3 minutes, 59 seconds...might as well say 4 minutes. The single release edits out the visit to the barbershop in Los Angeles. In the full length recording Ray visits a barbershop in Butte, Montana and then a barbershop in Los Angeles and lastly a barbershop in an unidentified area in the Southern United States. The song is based on a stand-up comedy routine from Mike Nuen and with his permission Ray and Buddy Kalb turned the routine into a zany comedy song. Mike is credited as one of the writers due to the 'strange haircut' concept being his but Ray and Buddy actually wrote the song. The B-side is "Punk Country Love" from the pens of Ray Stevens, Buddy Kalb, and his wife, Carlene. After MCA released I Have Returned it mirrored the same kind of slow climb up the Country Album chart as He Thinks He's Ray Stevens. On the cover of the 1985 album Ray is dressed as Douglas MacArthur with his crew behind him depicting a famous image of the real MacArthur wading through the waters during WWII before proclaiming 'I have returned' once he reached the shore. On the back of this album it shows MacArthur (Ray) and his crew on a modern-day beach...visually wondering if they're where they're suppose to be. The album crawled and climbed it's way into the Top-10. Ray made his very first music video in 1985 for his re-recording of "Santa Claus is Watching You". It's not only a re-recording of his early 1960s single but it's nearly an entirely different song altogether. In the original the song it's definitely aimed at children while this 1985 version keeps the song's title and hook lines but the new lyrics reflect a love story where a jealous man warns his wife to remain faithful to him because Santa's watching and she won't get anything for Christmas if she makes his naughty list. MCA released it as a single and it came with a picture sleeve. It's one of Ray's most rarest commercial singles...and finding a copy with it's picture sleeve is even more rare.

In the latter half of 1985 Ray issued "The Ballad of the Blue Cyclone" as a single. In fact it was issued as a single about a month after "Santa Claus is Watching You" and so both singles were more or less competing against one another in December of 1985. This very funny story of a couple of buddies that go to the local wrestling matches but end up in a lot of trouble benefited greatly from the resurgence of wrestling on a national level. WrestleMania, a kind of Fan Fair/CMA Music Fest of the wrestling world, began in 1985. The pay-per-view event aired in the spring of 1985...so by the time I Have Returned and "The Ballad of the Blue Cyclone" emerged wrestling was one of the top societal interests with millions of fans hooked on the entertainment. Ray's recording, like "It's Me Again, Margaret", had previously been recorded. In Margaret's case the writer of the song, Paul Craft, originally recorded the song in 1974 and charted with it but it was not a very big sensation. The Cyclone had been recorded by one of it's writers, Glen Sutton, in 1978 as a B-side of "The Football Card". Ray's recording of "The Ballad of the Blue Cyclone" appears in two parts on the album whereas the single release received major editing for obvious reasons. The single became a chart hit in early 1986...appearing in the Top-30 on the Country Single Sales chart in addition to it's appearance on the main Country Singles chart. The irony is while the single shown sufficient signs of sales and peaked within the Top-30 of Billboard's Country Single Sales chart the airplay didn't match the popularity of the single and so on the main singles chart it peaked outside the Top-40. This wasn't the first nor the last time that a Ray Stevens single became a hit with the public but was not embraced by radio. Ray's comedy album, I Have Returned, continued it's climb up the charts and for the week ending March 15, 1986 it was sitting at number one on the Country Album chart.

This achievement shocked most industry insiders and music critics alike...the idea of a 'comedy album' claiming such a position angered some even though it's sales enabled it to claim that position. It's an illustration of a music industry out of touch with Ray's popularity...a statement like that isn't meant to be an indictment on everyone within the music industry but there are plenty of glaring examples from Ray's career where popularity with record buyers didn't resonate with those in charge of programming radio playlists. The album became Ray's second in a row to receive certification for it's sales. I Have Returned was certified Gold for half a million copies sold. In June of 1986 the fan voted Music City News Country Awards took place. This event, by this time, had taken place annually since the late 1960s and was beginning to receive national exposure thanks to cable TV's expansion. The fan voted awards were the centerpiece of the annual Fan Fair event in Nashville. Ray was nominated and won in the category of Comedian of the Year at the June 1986 awards. He appeared on the cover of Music City News the same year and it was his first win at this awards program and he dominated this Comedian category for nearly a decade. This fan voted awards show soon became a very popular televised event and it allowed Ray to gain even more national exposure to perhaps compensate for the lack of support from radio. Ray's third album for MCA arrived a couple of months after his Comedian of the Year honor...and like the two albums before it...this third album was all-comedy and featured eye catching cover art. I will pick things up in Part Fourteen!

Ray Stevens asks about Love...

In the last week or so Ray Stevens has uploaded several music videos from his 1995 movie, Get Serious!. I've mentioned/included some of the videos in the last couple of blogs. I'm sure most of you have seen this on the actual movie and I'm sure, by now, you've come across it on-line if you've watched any number of his other music videos. This happens to be the official music video of "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?". It's a love song with comical overtones. The video itself features Ray in several roles...and for those who aren't aware of why he's wearing a chicken costume that means you hadn't seen the movie.



That particular song, like most of the songs on the 1995 movie, come from Ray's vast catalog of recordings. "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?" originally came along in 1986, a full nine years before the music video made it's debut.

Ray's uploaded a couple of other clips from the 1995 movie since my previous blog entry. This time around the clips include a little bit more footage from the movie rather than a stand alone music video. A music video of "The Woogie Boogie", a song from 1989, was filmed for the project and it's featured below...



A scene between Ray and fictional Damien Darth was also uploaded. This scene sets up the overall storyline of the entire movie. It begins with a cameo appearance by Chet Atkins (one of several cameo appearances by Ray's music industry friends). Ray enters the scene dressed as Gitarzan as he had just wrapped up shooting the 'music video'...



Get Serious!, for those who didn't know, included the official music video of "Ahab the Arab" which Ray uploaded on You Tube a few years ago. The 1995 music video can be seen HERE. It's obtained more than 260,000 views since it's You Tube debut in July 2009. The description states that the video could be found on the DVD project titled The Complete Comedy Video Collection. At the time, Get Serious! was still only available on VHS and out of print. "Ahab the Arab" closes out the Get Serious! movie. For those who want to add Get Serious! to your collections it's available at the moment at Ray's web-store. Simply visit his web page, www.raystevens.com, and click the Store section.

Ray Stevens: Golden LP Series, Part 23...

Good morning all Ray Stevens fans! We're up to studio album 23 in the career of Ray Stevens which brings us to an album chock full of comical recordings from 1986. As mentioned in the previous installment, the spring of 1986 saw the eventual climb to #1 of his 1985 LP on the Country Album chart. The follow-up LP hit in the latter part of the summer in 1986 on it's way to a Top-20 finish on the Country Album chart...it came ever so close to reaching the Top-10. The LP itself entered the Country Album chart in September 1986 and it reached it's peak position rather quickly...spending nearly 30 weeks on the best-selling chart.

This issue of Music City News is for the month of June. This was the first year that Ray Stevens won the fan-voted Comedian of the Year award at the annual awards program. Ray had been a frequent performer and sometimes a co-host on various awards programs affiliated with the Music City News publication but it wouldn't be until the 1986 awards that he captured Comedian of the Year. The awards program was part of what was once called Fan Fair. This event took place for several days in Nashville where artists/labels would set up booths and fans could stroll by and get their pictures taken or get autographs from the artists. Also, fans could purchase merchandise and have their favorite artist autograph it. This tradition was legendary amongst country music fans and historians, having started in 1972, but it's name was changed to CMA Music Fest. Some reports say that the name change was due to negative perceptions that the word 'fan' created...perhaps some thought the word suggested exclusion in some form or another...but anyway, the CMA Music Fest continues to this day every summer.

The 23rd studio album from Ray Stevens, Surely You Joust, contains 10 comical recordings altogether. The LP features a country comedy lover's dream act in that the opening track and second single release, "Southern Air", features Jerry Clower and Minnie Pearl along for the ride as Ray sings about a fictional rural airline that flies in the southern states. In the performance Jerry Clower, a fellow country comic, portrays the captain of the airplane while another legendary country comic, Minnie Pearl, portrays the stewardess. Ray plays the part of the nervous passenger who tells his story of the goings on in "Southern Air". The comical tale flew into the weekly country charts for several weeks in November 1986 and peaked in the Top-65 on the Country Singles chart by year's end but it reached the Top-30 on the Country Single Sales chart. Novelty songs, in general, weren't getting a lot of airplay in any radio format...even the morning radio shows on FM and AM radio had seemingly shunned the novelty song except for rare occasions. I believe it was a testament to Ray's popularity that his singles and his albums were continuing to sell and reach an audience...even if that audience was slowly becoming undesirable among radio programmers. As mentioned, the LP peaked in the Top-20, and remained charted for more than 25 weeks...without the benefit of a major Top-10 or Top-40 hit...and this sort of thing would become commonplace for Ray for the next several years as his music was hitting with consumers but radio, for the most part, would have none of it.

If radio was non-existent then how was Ray able to get his music to consumers? That's where the power of The Nashville Network, a heavy touring schedule, and the syndicated show, Hee Haw, comes into play. In a previous blog entry I mentioned that Ray began making numerous appearances on Hee Haw beginning in the mid '80s. He co-hosted quite a few episodes for a number of years, too, in addition to the many appearances on Nashville Now, the program Ralph Emery hosted on The Nashville Network for 10 years (1983-1993). Ray was able to reach a large segment of consumers by appearing on those shows. Whereas radio tends to single out certain age groups or certain genders, television usually attempted to aim for a more diverse and larger reach. I've often read that there's a saying in the music business that radio courts one set of music consumers while television courts another. It's not like that now but in 1986 there was plenty of evidence to support the idea that most artists who advertised their music through TV appearances were all over the age of 45 and couldn't be heard on the radio anymore. Since people of all ages watch TV the chances were more greater that an over 40 artist could reach an audience that the narrowly confined demographics at radio stations couldn't allow.

The first single release, "The People's Court", is based on television court programs. The song hit the Singles chart the same week that the LP debuted on the Country Album chart. Yes, that's right, before the court programming boom of the mid '90s during and after the O.J. Trial and the advent of cable channels designed to showcase all kinds of legal programs, before all of that there were quite a few court programs on syndicated television seen mostly in the daytime...some in the evenings. The top two were Divorce Court and The People's Court. This single blended both of those programs together...with Ray, at various times, doing an impression of Jim Peck, the low voiced host/interviewer on Divorce Court. The song plays out like an episode of "The People's Court" toward the middle of the performance. In the beginning of the story we hear Ray as a backwoods character in a one-sided conversation with Judge Wapner. Obviously this was completely fictional. In order to appear on the show you'd have to go through a series of qualification steps, of course, but for the purposes of comedy we hear Ray, in character, setting up an appearance for him and his wife to appear and tell the whole country their private issues. It's a satirical comment on reality show fans some 15 or so years before 'reality TV' would define a generation to come. The single charted a bit more modestly on the Country Singles list but it's a hilarious performance. Ray gets to show off his nagging wife character voice at various moments in the recording.

A third single release from Surely You Joust appeared with little to no fanfare in late 1986, early 1987. "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?" was actually a whimsical love ballad and it became a long time fixture at his concerts and it was even made into a music video...twice...but more on that much later in this LP series. In this single, Ray asks all sorts of questions to a woman that's dumped him for someone else. There are humorous sound effects at various moments and Ray's vocalization is upbeat, too, as he asks if the man's talents are a match for his own peculiar gifts. In other words it's a clever way of asking the woman if the new man in her life is any better of a person just because he may have more book learning and muscles and more money. Ray performed this song, if I'm not mistaken, on two separate appearances on Hee Haw...once in 1986 when it was still an album track and again in 1987 after it had been released as a commercial single. The single didn't chart which ended a mini-streak at six. His previous six single releases, dating back to December 1984, had all reached the Country Singles chart. Elsewhere on the LP we have three hilarious stories relating to the outdoors. "Smoky Mountain Rattlesnake Retreat" tells the story of a couple on vacation who mistakenly enter a church that handles rattlesnakes and the chaos that ensues. The couple were looking for a bible camp retreat but end up in the middle of all things rattlesnake. "The Camping Trip" tells the story of a camping adventure and all the headache and mayhem that takes place. It starts out quite peaceful and optimistic but soon it turns into a horror story triggered by a tremendous downpour and the muddy and bloody aftermath. A grizzly bear gets into the act! "Camp Werethahekahwee" is downright demented. It paints a wholesome all-American image as we hear of parents that send their son off to summer camp. The music sounds as if you're at a camp ground. As I told you many blog entries ago, Ray Stevens is a master at arranging music. The comic twist comes at the end of the song, though.

The original health food craze is a focal point in "Fat" where Ray sings about being hugely overweight. Along the way we're told of the various incidents and accidents that his weight have caused on total strangers. There's a clip on You Tube of Ray performing this song on an episode of Nashville Now from around the time this LP was originally released. You should really check it out.

In "Bionie and the Robotics" we hear a very unusual recording, even for Ray Stevens. In this song, with the help of a vocoder, Ray sings half of the song as if he were a robot or a cyborg. Ray had recently appeared on The Fall Guy, which starred Lee Majors. The previous decade saw Majors star as The Six Million Dollar Man where he played cyborg Steve Austin. I don't think it cost six million dollars to make Ray's 1986 recording, though. "Bionie and the Robotics" is an all robotic rock band. The name, Bionie, I assume is a pun on the word 'bionic'. In spite of the robotic sound effects you'll be able to, in time, decipher much of what the robot is saying. I have a difficult time understanding what some of the shorter words happen to be. I think the official lyrics would go a long way at deciphering the robotic language but so far there's not been any official lyrics supplied anywhere.

The album's closing track, "Dudley Dorite of the Highway Patrol", is in reality Ray's musical biography. In the song Ray sings about being pulled over by an over zealous highway patrolman. Ray has apparently been declared Public Enemy #1 in this small town. The fictional characters from several of Ray's previously released songs apparently exist in real life and much to Ray's horror they're out for revenge. They feel he's made their lives a laughing stock. It's an entirely surreal story blending reality and fiction...one that seems as if it could've made for a good Twilight Zone episode.

All in all the 1986 LP ranks up there with his best comedy releases. Ray continued his successes into 1987 with several high profile television appearances and a super-hot single that was too hot to handle for some given it's topicality and controversial undertone. What could I be referring to?? What sort of single could generate even an ounce of controversy from Ray Stevens? What sort of Ray Stevens album would some music critics decry as R-rated and unsuitable for children? You'll find out the answers to all the above in the next Golden LP Series installment!!

Ray Stevens speaks about Minnie Pearl...

Here's a video clip of Ray Stevens that became available a couple of days ago. In the clip he speaks of Minnie Pearl and tells of the time he recorded "Southern Air" which, in addition to featuring Ray as the singer/storyteller, it also featured Pearl as an amorous stewardess and Jerry Clower in the role of the Pilot. The recording was issued in 1986 and in the clip below you'll see what looks to be a print ad promoting the song. If that's the case then it's the first time I'd seen a print ad for that particular recording. However, the illustration could be something that was done to commemorate the pairing of three legendary comics and not meant for public display. Whatever the case, it's a cute illustration. The song can be found on Surely You Joust, the 10 song comedy album from 1986 on MCA. I learned a couple of things when I watched the video clip.

Ray also goes on to tell about how he had the idea of having Minnie sing songs that went against her public image and that only two songs were ever finished...but have never been released.

I don't know when the video was put together but it became available on July 12 and seeing that Ray has on the latest hat being offered for sale in his on-line store, promoting the Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music, the video must have been taped at some point between April and July.

Ray Stevens: Retrospective 25...

In this particular blog entry titled Retrospective 25 I'm spotlighting events that took place in the career of Ray Stevens in 1986...25 years ago.

What exactly was happening in the career of Ray Stevens in 1986? Well, for one thing, he was riding high on a wave of newly found popularity...a situation that just happened to be something of a recurring theme in his overall career. Every so often, while retaining his core fan base, he often becomes discovered by an entirely different audience...then, once they become enmeshed within his core fan base he's discovered by other people...on and on, down through history, this sort of ebb and flow effect has enabled Ray (in my opinion) to endure for decade upon decade in spite of the fact that music critic after music critic has long pronounced "the novelty song" a surefire way to kill a career rather than prolong it. 1986 is the year that Ray enjoyed his first and only #1 album...the album in question is I Have Returned and it wasn't an immediate chart success. Over the course of half a year, starting in the latter part of 1985 and into the spring of 1986 the album slowly climbed up the country album list week after week. It ultimately reached #1. A previous album (released late in 1984) reached the country Top-5 in early 1985. In the image above it's the cassette version of 1986's Surely You Joust.

Are there any other Ray Stevens fans out there who are overcome by giddiness, excitement, and full-blown euphoria after a vinyl album of Ray's arrives in the mail? How about having those same feelings if you come across a vinyl album of Ray's at a flea market? I'll expand this further by asking if any Ray Stevens fans have those feelings once they see the flip side of the album jacket...revealing imagery and, or, art work that is new to the eye. When the vinyl album arrived in the mail of Surely You Joust, Ray's 1986 album, I knew of the image beforehand but didn't know it come from the flip side of the album jacket. When I first saw the image of Ray hoisted in the air by a crane in a junkyard I assumed it was a rarely seen publicity picture for magazine or newspaper usage...little did I know that it's origins were from the actual vinyl album. The picture comes from January 4, 2008...a few weeks after it arrived in the mail from some on-line seller at eBay. I already had the cassette copy...it had been my grandfather's originally. He bought it new in 1986.

In the first image the cassette version shows three songs listed: "Southern Air", "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?", and "People's Court". The project was released at a time in country music where there were all sorts of clashes going on between various style trends. In times past country radio, as a whole, attempted to equally promote all the various sub-genres of country music within it's musical umbrella. In 1986 and moving forward country radio began to slowly remove certain styles of country music as well as artists of a certain age from the airwaves and replace them with brand new artists emerging on the country scene that tended to fit marketing strategies or a preferred sound. In addition to this country radio began to increase airplay exposure of acts that had been in the business a few years and had been overshadowed by long established acts.

As I'm sure most are aware, Ray Stevens has both a Facebook and Twitter page in addition to his official web-page. I, too, have a Twitter page but I rarely post personal thoughts there. I basically post links to Ray Stevens videos or news stories about Ray or I re-tweet messages from Ray's page. I sometimes provide links to any number of blogs that I've written or ones that I've come across by others.

I came across a blog today that mentioned the one you're reading now...

Unfortunately, though, the blog entry was written way back in April of this year! The reason why I wasn't aware of it until now is because the search engine I normally use didn't include that particular blog in their search results. I sometimes switch search engines from time to time to compare how detailed one search engines results are in comparison to another. It was while I was temporarily switched to a different search engine that I came across the April 2011 blog entry. The blogger said that my blog page on Ray Stevens is probably the best reference site on the internet. The blog I'm referring to is called R S Crabb Music Review & Top Ten Site. The entry is called On the Subject of Ray Stevens.

Let's Discuss Ray Stevens, Part 22...

Although we're a few months shy, 2011 marks the 25th anniversary of I Have Returned reaching the #1 spot on the country album chart. The comedy album from Ray Stevens was released late fall 1985 and it started a slow climb to #1. One of the key factors in Ray's longevity is the way he can prolong just about any song, album, or home video/DVD and get all that he can from each project. This album, released in 1985, reached the country album chart in October of 1985...and it didn't reach it's peak until March 1986. See, I wasn't exaggerating when I said that it was a slow climb to #1...a 5 month climb specifically. This is not usual for most albums, of course. Typically an album debuts in or around it's peak position...most albums by country artists today routinely debut in the Top-10. A lot of singers have albums that debut at #1 as well...it's highly unusual for a CD to debut on the album chart and then reach it's peak 5 months later. Prolonged publicity and prolonged attention spans just aren't commonplace in today's music scene...unless you're Ray Stevens and therefore have the talent and ability to prolong your music for months at a time...racking up considerable longevity in the process.

Turning 25 this year is his 1986 comedy album, Surely You Joust. The name of the album, of course, is a pun on the phrase "surely you jest". The Knight in Shining Armor is a reference to King Arthur. Ray had been appearing in costume as historical figures on his first two comedy albums on MCA: 1984's He Thinks He's Ray Stevens has Ray in costume as Napoleon while 1985's I Have Returned, shown above, shows Ray in costume as General MacArthur...and this time around we have Ray in costume as King Arthur. Ray's Clyde the Camel logo is prominently on display. On this particular album there were a few urbane comedy recordings, if that's the proper word? There were still large aspects of country comedy and the rural life on this album...particularly in the album's first two tracks: "Southern Air" and "The People's Court".

Incidentally, "Southern Air" is a trio recording. It features Ray along with Jerry Clower and Minnie Pearl. "The People's Court" features a rural couple who decide they've had enough of one another and it's time to go on TV and tell the world all the problems they have with each other. Ray uses his famed grandmother vocal impression for the wife, Myrna Louise. As Arlow, the husband, Ray speaks in a thicker rural accent. The picture on the left is the seldom seen flip-side image of Ray's 1986 album. A few of Ray's albums would feature different poses on the flip-side taken during the same photo session. This, of course, caused the flip-side of his album covers to be as highly entertaining and eye-catching as the front sides were. "Makin' the Best of a Bad Situation" and "Smoky Mountain Rattlesnake Retreat" conveyed a southern feeling as well.

Hi-tech gadgetry and computers were the main focus on "Bionie and the Robotics", an incredible recording where Ray sings most of the song as if he were a robot. "Fat" is a song about a man who feels as if he's so overweight to the point where he can hardly fit in his car among other things. It's a very funny recording and a slice of social commentary in that it pokes fun at the health-conscious. A performance of Ray singing this song when it was brand new, in 1986, can be found on You Tube. The 1986 album also features "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?" and it's also available on You Tube from the same 1986 TV appearance. Unfortunately the interview segment from the TV show isn't uploaded...I had asked the uploader if he had the interview segment, too, but I never got a reply. This album closes with "Dudley Dorite of the Highway Patrol", a song detailing Ray being pulled over for speeding and the eventual nightmare that ensues when he learns that characters he's sang about in previous recordings actually exist and are mad at him. Dudley Dorite turns out to be Bubba, a character from "Shriner's Convention"...Dorite's deputy is Coy, also from that same song. It goes on and on from there. The track list...

1. Southern Air- w/Jerry Clower and Minnie Pearl
2. The People's Court
3. Bionie and the Robotics
4. Makin' the Best of a Bad Situation
5. Fat
6. Can He Love You Half as Much as I?
7. Smoky Mountain Rattlesnake Retreat
8. The Camping Trip
9. Camp Werthahekahwee
10. Dudley Dorite of the Highway Patrol

Moving on...

I have no idea who Al Campbell is but this description accompanies the #1 With a Bullet CD on a variety of on-line music stores...

quote: "#1 with a Bullet collects ten tracks recorded during Ray Stevens' tenure with Curb Records in the late '80s and early '90s, including the original versions of "Teenage Mutant Kung Fu Chickens," "Working for the Japanese," and "Power Tools." This collection is a good bargain for the budget-conscious, but does not feature any of his classic novelty tunes from the '60s and '70s. ~ Al Campbell."

It's an embarrassing description, if you happen to be dedicated/loyal fans of Ray Stevens, because of the way the CD is being erroneously detailed. The writer of the description apparently thinks that #1 With a Bullet is a compilation CD due to his remark that the CD "collects 10 tracks recorded during Ray Stevens' tenure with Curb Records in the late '80s and early '90s". Ray was still on MCA in the late '80s. He didn't join Curb until early 1990. The closing remark is also an example of how the descriptive language from the writer implies that he thought this CD was a compilation when he states that it doesn't contain any of Ray's classic novelty songs from the '60s and '70s.

The fact of the matter is #1 With a Bullet wasn't a compilation CD. It's considered a studio CD. The difference between a compilation and studio CD is that a compilation features previously recorded material from the past while a studio CD features newly recorded songs. The title of the CD clearly must have confused Campbell but then if he had did just a little bit of research on the CD he wouldn't have written a description that lacks accuracy. This description, as I mentioned, accompanies this CD on most on-line music stores...leaving some to think that the material on the CD was previously released at some point. This studio CD, released in 1991, turns 20 this year...something I remarked on in a previous blog.

Later this year will mark the 15th anniversary of Get Serious becoming available in retail stores. The actual month, 15 years ago in 1996, was December. Get Serious had been available exclusively through direct-mail as well as Ray Stevens' fan club during late summer 1995 through late summer 1996. The home video had sold more than 200,000 copies, qualifying it for Double-Platinum certification, prior to it's retail distribution during the 1996 Christmas season. The home video movie would eventually become a multi-week chart hit on Billboard's weekly video chart...spending nearly 30 weeks as one of the best-selling home videos in the country. This is the same chart where Ray spent months at #1 with Comedy Video Classics in 1993 and into 1994 as well as Ray Stevens Live! throughout 1994. Get Serious made it's chart debut late January 1997 and would remain consistently ranked among the top-sellers in home video through July 1997. Due to the passage of time and the fact that this home video movie has long been unavailable it's caused a lot of people to have no idea that it exists. The home video movie was advertised on TV in 1995...though mostly confined to The Nashville Network...but it also shown up on other television channels as well. It didn't receive the massive advertising that Comedy Video Classics and Ray Stevens Live! had received but Get Serious did get it's fair share of publicity at the time of it's release. I'd say the home video stopped being manufactured by MCA at some point in 1998 and since that time it's become obscure.

Here's another review I've written of the movie and it contains spoilers. Spoilers, for those unaware, is review jargon indicating that within the review there will be commentary that may reveal climatic moments and so for those who don't want to know a lot about the film before they see it for themselves they may hold off on reading a review that contains spoilers...so, here's the Get Serious review complete with several spoilers...

The plot of the movie was built around political correctness but it also spoofed the music industry as well...at a time when consolidation in the music industry was becoming far too frequent. In Ray's movie he records for Integrity Records but it's soon bought by a Japanese conglomerate named SoSumi Records. A scene in the movie shows construction workers literally chain-sawing the Integrity Records sign from the front lawn and replacing it with the glossy looking SoSumi Records, complete with Japanese music playing in the background. The new label is pronounced "So Sue Me".

The Paul Lynde-sounding Damien Darth, the record executive, wants to make too many unnecessary changes...the big change is trying to make Ray Stevens "get serious" and stop all the comedy songs and video making. Ray, at first thinking it's a joke, is soon horrified that the executive is serious with the suggestions. Ray refuses...which causes friction between him and the executive. In revenge the record executive and his underlings hatch a plot to ruin Ray's career by hiring fake protesters to accuse Ray of being politically incorrect. They figure with an artist as clean-cut as Ray Stevens the only way they can harm him is accuse him of being politically incorrect.

During the rehearsal of the "Ahab the Arab" music video the actress playing Fatima complains about supposedly sexist lyrics. The actress, of course, was hired by the record executive to protest the song. Moments later, the actress is seen talking to TV reporters outside the studio and fueling the fire about political incorrectness in Ray's songs.

The plot thickens as a group of people, rounded up by Dudley Dorite and therefore have no connection to the record executive, decide to band together and protest Ray's comedy as being insensitive...this group of people happen to have the same names of characters that have appeared in various Ray Stevens songs: Harv Newland, Sister Bertha, Clyde, etc etc. and their main complaint is character defamation.

Longtime fans of Ray will no doubt realize that his 1986 recording, "Dudley Dorite of the Highway Patrol", plays a big part in this movie's sub-plot. In fact, Dudley Dorite is one of the main characters in the movie. Dudley's played by Ray's frequent songwriting partner, Buddy Kalb.

Mid-way through the movie Ray is reunited with a former lover, Charlene MacKenzie. Eventually Ray is arrested, taken to court, and later put inside a dungeon...literally. He encounters a family who've been chained up in the dungeon for decades.

Later, Charlene breaks Ray out of jail and the two of them embark on a long journey evading Dudley Dorite and his group in addition to the record executive and his group. By movie's end the record executive has become more and more sinister...to the point of madness. I believe this is a spoof on how controlling record executives and those in the music industry generally are when it comes to the roster of artists on the various record labels. Damien Darth becomes so obsessed with controlling Ray's music direction AND life by this point. The irrational, corrupt psychiatrist Sickmind Fraud enters the action around this time, too. Obviously a play on the name, Sigmund Freud.

Sickmind apparently spends most of his day riding a toy horse and making passes at his nurse...which is what we see him do in his first scene. Ray portrays Sickmind...with a heavy Americanized German dialect. Also, Sickmind is dressed as Napoleon...and now you all understand why Ray's dressed the way he is on the home video's cover. Sickmind later sings "I Used To Be Crazy"...one of the last music videos in the movie. The song originated in 1989 on Ray's excellent Beside Myself album and in that recording Ray sings the song in his own voice...but in this 1995 re-recording he sings it in character as Sickmind Fraud.

In addition to the conventional movie there are 10 all-new music videos interwoven throughout:

1. Gitarzan
2. The Woogie Boogie
3. Shriner's Convention
4. Dudley Dorite of the Highway Patrol
5. We Don't Take Nuthin' Off Nobody**
6. The Dooright Family
7. Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens*
8. Can He Love You Half as Much as I?
9. I Used To Be Crazy
10. Ahab the Arab

(*)- "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" was one of the new recordings did exclusively for the movie. It's performed as a duet with his co-star, Connie Freeman, the actress playing the part of Charlene MacKenzie. The two of them are hiding in a chicken coop, dressed in chicken costumes, and upon discovery by Deputy Coy they try to escape but not before they perform that song-and-dance number.

(**)- "We Don't Take Nuthin' Off Nobody" is a partially performed recording/music video. The full-length recording of the song is available on the Get Serious soundtrack. Ray sings the song in character as Luther, the head of the family that's been chained up in a dungeon for decades because they refused to pay an inexpensive bill. Luther has a thick southern accent in addition to long hair and a long beard.

The movie, being a comedy, ends on a happy note with Ray being cleared of all charges and all accusations with the record executive being put in his place. The movie features cameo appearances by a string of performers associated with country comedy and country music in general: Charlie Chase, Chet Atkins, Johnny Russell, George Lindsey, Williams & Ree, and James Gregory. Jerry Clower is a supporting player...his appearances are sprinkled throughout the movie. An actor named Tim Hubbard portrays the easily confused Deputy Coy. Ray's brother, John Ragsdale, plays the role of Clyde and can also be seen as an Indian in the "Woogie Boogie" video as well as playing a member of The Sultan's army. Buddy Kalb plays the part of Dudley Dorite/Bubba as well as a Woogie Indian and The Sultan. Michael Airington portrays the power hungry, obsessive record executive Damien Darth. Ray not only plays himself but he also portrays an Indian, a Calcutta rug salesman, a Judge, Luther, Gitarzan, Coy and Bubba in the "Shriner's Convention" music video, Daddy Dooright, Sickmind Fraud, and of course, "Ahab the Arab".

Get Serious can often be found on eBay...so for those fans of Ray Stevens who want the only movie he's ever made I encourage you to seek out the movie. It's highly entertaining and satiric in places. If you pay close attention in the opening scenes where Ray's inside the offices of the record company you'll no doubt notice all those Gold and Platinum albums and singles on the wall awarded to Ray Stevens through the years. They're all legitimate. In one scene you can clearly see the Platinum certification plaque for his 1987 MCA album, Greatest Hits. There's also a plaque displaying several Gold singles side by side indicating the various millions of copies a single had sold. Back then, Gold certification was 1,000,000 copies and higher...there wasn't any certification for music that sold half a million as there is today. It wasn't until 1976 that the Platinum certification was introduced for sales of 1,000,000 and higher. Gold certification then became indicative of 500,000 {half a million} in sales.