January 4, 2021

Ray Stevens: Freddie's still Funky at 55...

Well, hello once more...in this blog entry we take a look at a novelty song from Ray Stevens that was released 55 years ago in 1966. If you notice I always select even numbered years whenever I go to write a blog entry spotlighting an anniversary of a song or an album. This time around it's even number 55 as in 55 years. "Freddie Feelgood" is one of those songs that I routinely abbreviate it's title. Ray has several novelty songs with extra long titles and so I typically shorten the titles when I'm writing. This time around the full length song title is "Freddie Feelgood and His Funky Little Five Piece Band". I feel that there's no need in writing the song title in it's entirety...those of you that are longtime fans of Ray Stevens oughta know the song I'm referring to and you don't necessarily need to see the song's lengthy title written out. Those of you that are newcomers to Ray's music you'll be able to find video content here or on YouTube by simply searching 'Freddie Feelgood' or 'Ray Stevens + Freddie Feelgood' in the search results. The novelty song is all about a rhythm and blues combo and with the exception of the piano playing Ray vocally mimics all the other instruments in Freddie's band: drums, bass guitar, trombone, and trumpet. The scat singing of Yum-Yum is a highlight as is Ray's vocalization of the trumpet (the instrument Freddie plays). The single made it onto the pop Hot 100 in June of 1966 for a very brief appearance...and it wasn't heard from again until 1969 when it was placed on Ray's Gitarzan comedy album. That particular album had audience laughter and as a result of this the 1966 recording had laughter added to it so it would fit in with the rest of the recordings on that 1969 album. The same was true for another 1966 novelty single from Ray titled "Bagpipes That's My Bag"...it had laughter added to it when it appeared on the 1969 Gitarzan album. Since the early '70s when Barnaby Records purchased the master copies of Ray's Monument recordings nearly all future compilation albums released on Ray Stevens have included the 1969 copy of "Freddie Feelgood" with the laughter. I was raised hearing the copy from Gitarzan and so years later when I heard the single release from 1966 and heard no laughter at all, well, it felt strange not hearing the laughter/applause. 

Ray performed the song on his 1970 summer show and with the help of camera tricks and post-production special effects magic he was able to appear multiple times on the television screen. I'll be embedding the 1970 television performance and the official music video from 1999...


In the screen cap below Ray is seated at one of his various red pianos. The red piano became something of an identity for Ray going back to his years in Branson, Missouri. In fact, 2021 marks the 30th anniversary of his former music theater's grand opening. He performed at the theater for three seasons (1991, 1992, and 1993) and then he rented the theater to a production called Country Tonight. This production remained at Ray's theater throughout the rest of the 1990s and into the mid 2000s. The executives at Country Tonight shut down their program in 2003. Ray spent the remainder of 2003 and 2004 overseeing the theater as construction crews set about removing signage and logo's affiliated with the Country Tonight program. The interior was renovated and, according to Ray's memoir, new carpet was laid down with the goal to have it feel like the The Ray Stevens Theater of the early 1990s with some added features (like a huge remote control gorilla that would raise from the floor).  

Ray's grand re-opening of his Branson theater took place in 2005 and he remained a concert attraction there until the end of the 2006 tourist season...upon which he sold the property to RFD-TV. A decade later, 2016, the property was purchased from RFD-TV by businessmen from Pigeon Forge...but getting back to "Freddie Feelgood" and his funky little 55th anniversary...


Unlike the performance of "Freddie Feelgood" on the 1970 summer show which no doubt tested the abilities of the computer graphics department this 1999 music video was probably a whole lot more easier to make by comparison...but this music video features a lot of neat special effects and quick edits. Ray, for example, appears in front of five differently dressed versions of himself. Even after all this time I still have no idea how they put this music video together. I've never bothered to ask but I'm sure computer whiz's out there no doubt know how the video was put together. Here we have five versions of Ray Stevens dressed in red, side by side, and then in the foreground we have a sixth Ray Stevens in a suit singing the song to us. It's a hilarious music video as one could imagine so I know you're going to enjoy it as you did the summer 1970 video clip!    

No comments:

Post a Comment

Show your appreciation for the music of Ray Stevens...leave a comment...