Hello all you fans of Ray Stevens!!! Happy July 4th... but there are several ways of saying it. Happy 4th of July!! Happy Independence Day!! Yes, I know the day is half-over but I'm pretty sure those who come across this July 4th blog entry will be reading it days, weeks, or months later when you find it among online search results. The 4th of July, Memorial Day, and Veterans Day are the three days in a calendar year where the military and patriotic music and patriotic entertainment in general take center stage nationally. So now we're here on Independence Day. The United States is celebrating it's 247th birthday. The country was born on July 4, 1776.
I was born during the country's bicentennial in 1976. No, I wasn't born on July 4th but I happened to have born a number of months later. I won't say the month in 1976 but it was after July 4th and before December 31st.
Throughout the career of Ray Stevens you have no doubt heard him sing a lot of patriotic songs from time to time...songs about America and songs about the nation's military. In 1987 Ray was chosen to perform during the half-time show at the Liberty Bowl. The half-time show had a patriotic theme and among the performances was Ray's rendition of "America the Beautiful". This was a full two years before the debut of "There's a Star Spangled Banner" in 1989...written by Ray and collaborator, Buddy Kalb, the song is about an American P.O.W. in Beirut who tries to cling onto hope through his belief in the strength of America's values and the toughness of it's military. The emotional ballad made it's debut as track five on the 1989 album, Beside Myself. Ray and Buddy re-wrote much of the song two years later during the 1991 Gulf War and turned the subject matter of the song from a Beirut P.O.W. into a song about the flag, itself, by describing all of the war zones and battle fields the American Flag has seen over the centuries. This updated rendition of "There's a Star Spangled Banner" first appeared on the Curb Records Greatest Hits album in 1991. The 1991 recording isn't on YouTube...I've searched for it and can't find it. They do have the 1989 recording and here's the audio track...
Fast forward more than 10 years and we find ourselves in the early 2000s. In the latter half of 2001, in response to the 9/11 attacks on America, Ray and Buddy Kalb wrote the novelty song "Osama Yo' Mama". Curb Records issued it as a CD single, at first, with Ray's rendition of "United We Stand" as the B-side. The novelty song eventually was certified a Gold single in the first half of 2002. In the heavy patriotic mood sweeping the country in the latter half of 2001 and for several years afterward a lot of country music entertainers through their music and through personal appearances at fund raisers encouraged people to support the military...especially the soldiers who were being put in harm's way all over the Middle East. The patriotism reached something of a peak around 2004/2005...but in 2004 Ray delivered "Thank You", a patriotic salute to all the Armed Forces. The song was released as a music video, a CD single, and eventually a full length album, also titled Thank You, was released.
Patriotism and a longing for a return to America's core values...in addition to the underlying feelings taking shape in 2009/2010 surrounding the expansion of the Government bureaucracy into our personal lives set the stage for "We The People" in November 2009. The single spawned a music video...and the music video seen by millions on YouTube, in the blink of an eye, put Ray right in the middle of various culture wars and he found himself being invited to many fundraisers and political events. Ray blended patriotism and political comedy for several years in the early 2010's. Ray issued We The People in 2010 and Spirit of '76 in 2011. The 2010 album, We The People, featured all kinds of songs where patriotism and political commentary took center stage. The 2010 album also featured some previously recorded songs...such as "Let's Roll"...which had debuted on his 2004 Thank You album. Here is the audio track...
After you read this blog entry don't walk away with the feeling that these songs that I'm spotlighting are the only patriotic songs Ray recorded. I'm randomly spotlighting...it isn't meant to be a complete look at the patriotic themed songs from his career. In more recent years we have "Wrapped in the Flag" from the pen of Buddy Kalb. That one was released last year...it features Ray playing the piano and Larry Black narrating a story of a man that loves his country and how, in his early years, he was teased about the patriotism and people laughed it off and remarked how much he's wrapped up too much in the flag. The title has a twist ending...and you'll need to listen closely to the narration...
Today, Ray released the instrumental of "The Star Spangled Banner". It's the keyboard playing that accompanied Larry Black's narration of "Wrapped in the Flag" but in the video clip released this morning we hear just the keyboard playing. As you may know, during the recording process, Ray uses multiple tracks which means that instruments or vocals can easily be added or removed during the production of a recording. Since the keyboard is the main focal point in the clip released this morning it's been turned up in volume for "The Star Spangled Banner" audio track. In "Wrapped in the Flag" the keyboard was appropriately shifted to the background and the volume turned down slightly during Larry Black's narration.
Closing out this July 4th blog entry is the 1987 performance of "America the Beautiful" by Ray Stevens at the Liberty Bowl half-time show. It was an incredibly cold night and Ray is decked out in a very large fur coat. Bits of snow and the cold temperature are visual highlights. From December 29, 1987 here's Ray Stevens performing at the Liberty Bowl half-time show...
