Ray Stevens: We All Need To Laugh

We all need to laugh especially during this politically unsettling time. For pretty much the last 25 years, 1984-2009, Ray Stevens has issued comedy songs. A lot of the songs weren't huge airplay hits but they spread word-of-mouth. Ray's first two albums for MCA Records, the one you see here entitled He Thinks He's Ray Stevens, plus the follow-up, I Have Returned, were both strong sellers and have since been declared Platinum and Gold respectively. This 1984 album hit late in 1984 and took off in 1985...for most of 1985 it was a consistent sales hit. Later in 1985 and on through much of 1986, I Have Returned kept Ray on the album charts. In fact, I Have Returned hit #1. We all need to laugh...and to laugh without fear of being labeled insensitive or politically incorrect. We all need to laugh...and to laugh at the petty things that may pop up...whether it's laughing at something silly on the evening news or laughing when someone famous gets caught in an embarrassing situation. Too many times people don't laugh...people are too serious and too self-conscious and worry too much about what others will think of them. We all need to laugh!

But there are times when one doesn't feel like laughing. There are times when one doesn't want to make jokes or have fun. There are times when you don't feel like laughing but in order to not be a downer you go ahead and pretend things are fine. Such a scenario is detailed within the lyrics of Ray Stevens' chart hit in 1963, "Funny Man". The song chronicles a man who is known as the life of the party but he finds himself returning to an empty house and falling into anger and regret. Given that this is early 1960's pop music it isn't overly dramatic musically...it lacked a melodramatic arrangement until 1968 when Ray re-recorded the song with a more aged voice, cutting out the high tenor notes he hit in the earlier recording, and making the production more fuller than the original. You can find the 1963 recording on quite a few compilation albums released by Mercury and their subsidiaries. The 1968 re-recording is most often found on the compilations featuring a heavy abundance of Monument or Barnaby material. The 1968 version was recorded for his Even Stevens album.

If you find yourself in misery or if you find yourself laughing at jokes you hear or laughing at something someone else has labeled un-funny you can always seek refuge in Ray Stevens music. There are plenty of albums and songs that offer a listener an escape. See, even though he has been known to sing topical songs, he's also been known to offer escape into a world of comedy and humor...sometimes a world of absurdity where listeners are told of characters who are left up to a listener's imagination to come to a determination of whether a character is nuts or just misunderstood. If all else fails and you think others judge you by your personal tastes and your world views, shrug it off. Be Your Own Best Friend, one of his 1978 albums, carries a soothing message throughout the project. The title track is self-explanatory. It hit the country Top-40...and the album featured several more motivational and soul-searching songs. The highlight of the album, for most fans, is the opening number, "L'amour". I love the song and it's one of my all-time favorites that he recorded. I also like "You're Magic", "Comeback", "Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right", and "With a Smile".

In "With a Smile" we're told that all it takes is a smile and no matter how grouchy or moody others may be, turn their frowns upside down in your head and you've got a smile. This sort of song will more than likely cause some, who prefer listening to songs with much more heavier lyrics, to vomit. So, if you're in that category, "With a Smile" will cause you to frown...but I like the song all the same.