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!