How is this for irony? I wrote a blog entry this morning about Ray's most recent video upload on You Tube, Politically Speaking: Obama Budget Plan, and within that entry I mentioned that it was the last thing that had been made available on Ray's You Tube channel. I returned to the internet and found out that an hour ago something new had been uploaded to his channel...a follow-up commentary. This time around the commentary centers around his most popular video upload, "Come to the U.S.A.", the illegal immigration song. Like the previous installment, this one is 31 seconds in length as well.
Showing posts with label come to the USA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label come to the USA. Show all posts
May 9, 2013
Ray Stevens speaks of Illegal Immigration...
Good late afternoon fans of Ray Stevens! I just now came across a fairly recent interview that Ray gave regarding the subject of illegal immigration. The interview is about three and a half minutes in length, commercial free of course, and you'll be able to hear Ray give his thoughts on illegal immigration and more specifically "Come to the U.S.A.". The web-page has an embed of the music video for those out there who still haven't seen it yet. To date the video's gotten 6.3 million unique views during it's 3 year life span on You Tube. I've embedded the video once more, too.
You can listen to the interview HERE. If that link doesn't open up to the audio clip then you can always visit the site's main page HERE.
For those who frequent eBay there have been a few obscure items come up for sale on Ray Stevens lately. I've got most of the items but I sometimes like to point out if something becomes available that I've written about. The cassette tape of his 1980 album, Shriner's Convention, is once again being offered for sale. You can read about it HERE. From the same year, 1980, comes a magazine called Country Song Roundup. I've written about this before but it's become available again on eBay. The issue features Ray on the cover with a story tease about how he's more than meets the ear. You can find out about this HERE. Staying in this same time frame we have the LP version of Collector's Series. This project was released on RCA and featured just 8 selections (4 per side).
Ray's RCA catalog, as I've mentioned numerous times, is tragically under-rated and with the exception of at least songs the music's been out of print for more than 2 decades. The LP spotlights the years of 1980, 1981, and 1982 and can be found HERE. The two songs from Ray's RCA period that often show up on compilation releases are "Shriner's Convention" and "The Dooright Family", both from 1980.
You can listen to the interview HERE. If that link doesn't open up to the audio clip then you can always visit the site's main page HERE.
For those who frequent eBay there have been a few obscure items come up for sale on Ray Stevens lately. I've got most of the items but I sometimes like to point out if something becomes available that I've written about. The cassette tape of his 1980 album, Shriner's Convention, is once again being offered for sale. You can read about it HERE. From the same year, 1980, comes a magazine called Country Song Roundup. I've written about this before but it's become available again on eBay. The issue features Ray on the cover with a story tease about how he's more than meets the ear. You can find out about this HERE. Staying in this same time frame we have the LP version of Collector's Series. This project was released on RCA and featured just 8 selections (4 per side).
Ray's RCA catalog, as I've mentioned numerous times, is tragically under-rated and with the exception of at least songs the music's been out of print for more than 2 decades. The LP spotlights the years of 1980, 1981, and 1982 and can be found HERE. The two songs from Ray's RCA period that often show up on compilation releases are "Shriner's Convention" and "The Dooright Family", both from 1980.
March 17, 2011
Ray Stevens hits another Milestone...
Good afternoon all Ray Stevens fans. I've been waiting to make this kind of announcement for several days and now that it's happened it's an announcement I can make...Ray Stevens obtained another million today when his anti-illegal immigration music video, "Come to the USA", surpassed the five million unique view mark. As of now the total is 5,000,074!! The music video was uploaded on You Tube in May 2010 and late last year it had crossed the 4 million mark...making it the highest viewed music video from Ray Stevens...a close second being "We The People". Eventually "We The People" crossed the 4 million mark and currently sits with 4,258,625 unique views but, as you can see, "Come to the USA" had an even stronger impact and has now crossed the 5 million mark. When I checked the play count for "Come to the USA" earlier this morning it was sitting on the brink of 5 million with 4,999,070 views and so I knew it was only a matter of hours before it would reach the 5 million milestone. Doing the math we can see the video got 1,004 views in a little under 4 hours time. Meanwhile, his current TSA music video, "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", has gotten 114,040 unique views.
Those wanting to hear some Irish-inspired songs from Ray Stevens on this St. Patrick's Day look no further than a couple of comedy songs from his past. First there's "The Day That Clancy Drowned" from 1987...a comical tale of a man who works at a brewery but meets his end in a most bizarre fashion. There's no reference to the words Irish or Ireland but Clancy, the name, is of Irish origin. Also, Ray does an Irish vocal impression while playing the part of the preacher at the funeral. The second Irish enhanced song from Ray is 1993's "The Bricklayer's Song", a comical performance which was also recorded by Noel Murphy as well as The Corries in addition to it's writer, Pat Cooksey. In this song Ray recounts the story of an Irishman who had bad luck while laying bricks on a multistory building. In previous recordings by other artists the song was always performed as if it were first-hand recollections of what went on but in Ray's version he plays the part of the storyteller instead of the victim (although in the descriptive lyrics it allows Ray to comically agonize the pain and suffering taking place between the bricklayer, the rope, and that barrel.)
Those wanting to hear some Irish-inspired songs from Ray Stevens on this St. Patrick's Day look no further than a couple of comedy songs from his past. First there's "The Day That Clancy Drowned" from 1987...a comical tale of a man who works at a brewery but meets his end in a most bizarre fashion. There's no reference to the words Irish or Ireland but Clancy, the name, is of Irish origin. Also, Ray does an Irish vocal impression while playing the part of the preacher at the funeral. The second Irish enhanced song from Ray is 1993's "The Bricklayer's Song", a comical performance which was also recorded by Noel Murphy as well as The Corries in addition to it's writer, Pat Cooksey. In this song Ray recounts the story of an Irishman who had bad luck while laying bricks on a multistory building. In previous recordings by other artists the song was always performed as if it were first-hand recollections of what went on but in Ray's version he plays the part of the storyteller instead of the victim (although in the descriptive lyrics it allows Ray to comically agonize the pain and suffering taking place between the bricklayer, the rope, and that barrel.)
January 27, 2011
Ray Stevens: Nostalgia Valley, Part 19...
By the looks of it a great time was had by all who attended the private birthday party for Ray Stevens this past Monday January 24, 2011. There have only been three pictures made available of the party which took place inside his office in Nashville. A link to the pictures is located here. In those three pictures we see the cake and we see Ray reading birthday cards and a close-up of Ray looking at the cake.
Hurricane is a CD that Ray released in 2008 and for whatever reason there was no publicity, promotion, or much support given to it. The title track borrows a lot of inspiration from "The Streak" with a CNN-style on location reporter detailing the events of a hurricane. The somewhat silliness of giving hurricane's a name is poked fun at in the recording. A Jamaican reporter is also on hand as is a witness, curiously sounding like the same unfortunate soul who warned Ethel not to look when the streaker ran by. It's perhaps no coincidence that the image of Ray on the CD comes from "The Streak" music video...an image also used on the cover of Ray's 1992's million selling home video, Comedy Video Classics. The catchphrase in the song, which flies across the CD cover, deals with the absurdity of pigs literally flying all over the place...apparently making extensive use of the expression "when pigs fly!". There are 15 songs on the CD...some are brand new and some are re-recordings. Tracks 1 through 6 and track 11 are original recordings brand new to Ray's catalog of songs while tracks 5 through 10 and track 12 were re-recordings, mostly of material from the mid '80s. "Hurricane" dabbled in spoofing cable news reporters but another song from this CD, "Sucking Sound", is a direct parody of Ross Perot on Larry King's program. The song depicts the viewpoints Perot held during the 1992 Presidential race and compares Perot's predictions about the U.S. economy back then to the current state of the economy and the workforce. The result? Perot's predictions were pretty much on target. Throughout the song Ray does impressions of Perot talking to Larry King.
There's a distinct rural/backwoods theme that runs through the CD...which is something that had been missing on a lot of previous comedy CD's from Ray during this time period. In a lot of the songs on Hurricane the focal point is the rural culture and the independent lifestyle they enjoy with the protagonists in each song being good ol' boy characters.
Track List:
1. Hurricane
2. Sucking Sound
3. The Cure
4. Bubba the Wine Connoisseur
5. Hey Bubba, Watch This!
6. Rub It In
7. Smoky Mountain Rattlesnake Retreat
8. The Camping Trip
9. Makin' The Best of a Bad Situation
10. Stuck On You
11. Down Home Beach
12. Hugo the Human Cannonball
In the above track list I use the bold lettering to indicate the brand new songs so that readers can have a quick reference. The CD is also available as an Mp3 and the great thing about that is a consumer can purchase individual songs...which is what I did. I bought the 7 new songs since I already have the originals of the 5 re-recordings on this collection.
One day, just for completest purposes, I'll purchase the physical copy of the CD.
Unlike Hurricane, I happen to own the LP, cassette, and CD versions of Crackin' Up. I don't necessarily own what I call an individual CD version of Crackin' Up...instead I have a copy of it on CD form that was part of a collection called The Incredible World of Ray Stevens. It's a 3-CD collection...with the third CD being 1987's Crackin' Up. I came across a write-up of this particular comedy album back in 1987 when it was brand new...and the critic complained that the humor on the CD was, and I'm paraphrasing: "too R-rated" and "mired in adult themes and not family friendly". As laughable as those criticisms are the reviewer came across very serious. I've listened to this album for years and know the songs inside and out...there's absolutely nothing "adult oriented" or "r-rated" about the collection. The thing that the critic must have taken objection to is how marital strife and romance was spoofed in several of the songs. "Three Legged Man", for instance, is a story about a man who falls for a married woman (nothing new for country songs) and the hilarious chase that ensues when the man and woman go running through the wilderness with the angry husband hot on their trail.
"Cool Down Willard" is a story about how a man's wife and grandmother have flipped for weatherman, Willard Scott. Ray does his popular grandmother vocal impression in this recording. "I'm My Own Grandpaw" dates back to the 1940's if I'm not mistaken...originally a hit for Lonzo and Oscar. I bet the song that really set that particular critic off on a sour note is the song-title, "Sex Symbols"...apparently the word, sex, is something that in his opinion shouldn't grace a Ray Stevens album? Whatever the case, "Sex Symbols" is a very funny song inspired by the unlikely duet pairing of Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias. Ray doesn't do an impression of Willie but he does do an impression of Julio. In concert Ray often performed the song playing the part of a ventriloquist...with dummy Julio sitting on his lap. Julio hasn't appeared much lately...he made a cameo appearance in "The Blue Cyclone" music video in 2000...since then I hadn't seen him show up in anything else.
There were two separate releases of The Incredible World of Ray Stevens. One collection features Crackin' Up as the third CD which is what I own. Another release with the same title shows a different picture of Ray and it contains both his 1987 and 1984 MCA comedy albums and a third CD is a compilation which features a good number of songs from his 1985 and 1986 MCA comedy albums, a couple of songs from the '70s, plus 1988's "Surfin' U.S.S.R". The collection that I own contains 34 songs while the other collection with the same title features 30 songs...10 per CD. The collection I own covers a lot of his '60s and '70s material on the first two CD's with the third one being 1987's Crackin' Up. The collection that I don't own looks like this...
Meanwhile...a few days ago I remarked that Ray's music video, "We The People", was nearing 4.1 million hits on You Tube. It surpassed the 4.1 million mark a couple of days after that particular blog entry. The video has since increased 10,000 additional hits and is sitting at 4,110,304. The other million hitter, "Come to the USA", continues to gain huge numbers each and every day. It's now sitting at 4,781,631 hits! Although the You Tube hit counts will always rise and never remain the same the Top-10 music video uploads from Ray Stevens, as of January 27, 2011, are as follows. The current hit totals are shown in parentheses.
#10: "Everything Is Beautiful" (212,178)
#9: "Thank You" (330,469)
#8: "Caribou Barbie" (352,387)
#7: "God Save Arizona" (619,151)
#6: "Throw the Bums Out!" (655,385)
#5: "The Streak" (660,520)
#4: "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" (800,789)
#3: "Osama Yo' Mama" (854,679)
#2: "We The People" (4,110,304)
#1: "Come to the USA" (4,781,631)
Hurricane is a CD that Ray released in 2008 and for whatever reason there was no publicity, promotion, or much support given to it. The title track borrows a lot of inspiration from "The Streak" with a CNN-style on location reporter detailing the events of a hurricane. The somewhat silliness of giving hurricane's a name is poked fun at in the recording. A Jamaican reporter is also on hand as is a witness, curiously sounding like the same unfortunate soul who warned Ethel not to look when the streaker ran by. It's perhaps no coincidence that the image of Ray on the CD comes from "The Streak" music video...an image also used on the cover of Ray's 1992's million selling home video, Comedy Video Classics. The catchphrase in the song, which flies across the CD cover, deals with the absurdity of pigs literally flying all over the place...apparently making extensive use of the expression "when pigs fly!". There are 15 songs on the CD...some are brand new and some are re-recordings. Tracks 1 through 6 and track 11 are original recordings brand new to Ray's catalog of songs while tracks 5 through 10 and track 12 were re-recordings, mostly of material from the mid '80s. "Hurricane" dabbled in spoofing cable news reporters but another song from this CD, "Sucking Sound", is a direct parody of Ross Perot on Larry King's program. The song depicts the viewpoints Perot held during the 1992 Presidential race and compares Perot's predictions about the U.S. economy back then to the current state of the economy and the workforce. The result? Perot's predictions were pretty much on target. Throughout the song Ray does impressions of Perot talking to Larry King. There's a distinct rural/backwoods theme that runs through the CD...which is something that had been missing on a lot of previous comedy CD's from Ray during this time period. In a lot of the songs on Hurricane the focal point is the rural culture and the independent lifestyle they enjoy with the protagonists in each song being good ol' boy characters.
Track List:
1. Hurricane
2. Sucking Sound
3. The Cure
4. Bubba the Wine Connoisseur
5. Hey Bubba, Watch This!
6. Rub It In
7. Smoky Mountain Rattlesnake Retreat
8. The Camping Trip
9. Makin' The Best of a Bad Situation
10. Stuck On You
11. Down Home Beach
12. Hugo the Human Cannonball
In the above track list I use the bold lettering to indicate the brand new songs so that readers can have a quick reference. The CD is also available as an Mp3 and the great thing about that is a consumer can purchase individual songs...which is what I did. I bought the 7 new songs since I already have the originals of the 5 re-recordings on this collection.
One day, just for completest purposes, I'll purchase the physical copy of the CD.
Unlike Hurricane, I happen to own the LP, cassette, and CD versions of Crackin' Up. I don't necessarily own what I call an individual CD version of Crackin' Up...instead I have a copy of it on CD form that was part of a collection called The Incredible World of Ray Stevens. It's a 3-CD collection...with the third CD being 1987's Crackin' Up. I came across a write-up of this particular comedy album back in 1987 when it was brand new...and the critic complained that the humor on the CD was, and I'm paraphrasing: "too R-rated" and "mired in adult themes and not family friendly". As laughable as those criticisms are the reviewer came across very serious. I've listened to this album for years and know the songs inside and out...there's absolutely nothing "adult oriented" or "r-rated" about the collection. The thing that the critic must have taken objection to is how marital strife and romance was spoofed in several of the songs. "Three Legged Man", for instance, is a story about a man who falls for a married woman (nothing new for country songs) and the hilarious chase that ensues when the man and woman go running through the wilderness with the angry husband hot on their trail. "Cool Down Willard" is a story about how a man's wife and grandmother have flipped for weatherman, Willard Scott. Ray does his popular grandmother vocal impression in this recording. "I'm My Own Grandpaw" dates back to the 1940's if I'm not mistaken...originally a hit for Lonzo and Oscar. I bet the song that really set that particular critic off on a sour note is the song-title, "Sex Symbols"...apparently the word, sex, is something that in his opinion shouldn't grace a Ray Stevens album? Whatever the case, "Sex Symbols" is a very funny song inspired by the unlikely duet pairing of Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias. Ray doesn't do an impression of Willie but he does do an impression of Julio. In concert Ray often performed the song playing the part of a ventriloquist...with dummy Julio sitting on his lap. Julio hasn't appeared much lately...he made a cameo appearance in "The Blue Cyclone" music video in 2000...since then I hadn't seen him show up in anything else.
There were two separate releases of The Incredible World of Ray Stevens. One collection features Crackin' Up as the third CD which is what I own. Another release with the same title shows a different picture of Ray and it contains both his 1987 and 1984 MCA comedy albums and a third CD is a compilation which features a good number of songs from his 1985 and 1986 MCA comedy albums, a couple of songs from the '70s, plus 1988's "Surfin' U.S.S.R". The collection that I own contains 34 songs while the other collection with the same title features 30 songs...10 per CD. The collection I own covers a lot of his '60s and '70s material on the first two CD's with the third one being 1987's Crackin' Up. The collection that I don't own looks like this... 
Meanwhile...a few days ago I remarked that Ray's music video, "We The People", was nearing 4.1 million hits on You Tube. It surpassed the 4.1 million mark a couple of days after that particular blog entry. The video has since increased 10,000 additional hits and is sitting at 4,110,304. The other million hitter, "Come to the USA", continues to gain huge numbers each and every day. It's now sitting at 4,781,631 hits! Although the You Tube hit counts will always rise and never remain the same the Top-10 music video uploads from Ray Stevens, as of January 27, 2011, are as follows. The current hit totals are shown in parentheses.
#10: "Everything Is Beautiful" (212,178)
#9: "Thank You" (330,469)
#8: "Caribou Barbie" (352,387)
#7: "God Save Arizona" (619,151)
#6: "Throw the Bums Out!" (655,385)
#5: "The Streak" (660,520)
#4: "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" (800,789)
#3: "Osama Yo' Mama" (854,679)
#2: "We The People" (4,110,304)
#1: "Come to the USA" (4,781,631)
October 11, 2010
Ray Stevens: Video Single Success, Part 3...
"Come to the USA" continues to rack up the You Tube hits!! As of right now it's gotten 4,112,864 hits since May of this year. There's been something of a resurgence in the hit count of "We The People" as it's now sitting at 3,712,273 hits and it looks as if that music video will eventually cross the four million mark! "Throw the Bums Out!" is already beyond half a million You Tube hits...it's sitting at 539,727 hits. His current music video, "God Save Arizona", is resting at 449,794 hits. Yes...it's nearing half a million hits...and with his concert series being a smashing success in Branson, Missouri's Welk Theater look for this music video to reach half a million perhaps in a matter of weeks going by the pace it's currently in.
Obviously with material centered around politics and social issues it's not only the Ray Stevens fans who are talking about him but it's others who are either surprised but enjoy the political shift or it's at the opposite extreme from those who are not only surprised but are irritated by the political messages. It's not a big secret, though, that any negative feedback he's gotten is dwarfed by the positive feedback he's gotten. The negative comments on message boards and other forums are the kind that tend to get the most attention because of how combative and insulting in nature those kinds of comments are but in reality the majority agree with Ray's political direction and the messages in the songs.
Ray's current concerts are split up into two parts: political/patriotic and classics. This means that the first half of the show concentrates on his political songs and the pro-America and pro-military songs he's recorded and the second half of the show focuses on his classics from the '60s, '70s, and '80s and these would be the songs that the general public, who may not pay a lot of attention to the latest happenings in Ray's career, will be more familiar with. Even so, Ray has commented that he feels his success on You Tube with his music videos over the course of the last 9 months is a big reason why people are showing up at his concerts today.
Someone in the blogosphere remarked that the average age demographic of Ray's concert series is post 50...of course this must have been a sarcastic reference to an older generation that populate a lot of the venues in Branson, Missouri but there have actually been pictures surface of his audience make-up and I saw quite a few young people there. When I saw him in concert there were a lot of younger people there and middle aged people in addition to the over 50 crowd. I truly believe that Ray's music transcends age and all a person needs to do is give it a chance and once they do they'll be hooked for life.
I've not come across any reviews or any blogs that gave much of a line-up of what he sings and I think a lot of this is due to how fast the show goes by. I'd seen some commentary by those who've attended his Welk concerts and they've said that the show flies by. I have no reason to not believe such a statement because in the two times I'd seen him in concert the show flew by super quick! When I saw him he did a 90 minute concert...lots and lots of comedy and joke telling took place. This was well before We The People came along and so he was not thought of as a political entertainer and he wasn't openly associated with any political party as he is now.
Obviously with material centered around politics and social issues it's not only the Ray Stevens fans who are talking about him but it's others who are either surprised but enjoy the political shift or it's at the opposite extreme from those who are not only surprised but are irritated by the political messages. It's not a big secret, though, that any negative feedback he's gotten is dwarfed by the positive feedback he's gotten. The negative comments on message boards and other forums are the kind that tend to get the most attention because of how combative and insulting in nature those kinds of comments are but in reality the majority agree with Ray's political direction and the messages in the songs.
Ray's current concerts are split up into two parts: political/patriotic and classics. This means that the first half of the show concentrates on his political songs and the pro-America and pro-military songs he's recorded and the second half of the show focuses on his classics from the '60s, '70s, and '80s and these would be the songs that the general public, who may not pay a lot of attention to the latest happenings in Ray's career, will be more familiar with. Even so, Ray has commented that he feels his success on You Tube with his music videos over the course of the last 9 months is a big reason why people are showing up at his concerts today.
Someone in the blogosphere remarked that the average age demographic of Ray's concert series is post 50...of course this must have been a sarcastic reference to an older generation that populate a lot of the venues in Branson, Missouri but there have actually been pictures surface of his audience make-up and I saw quite a few young people there. When I saw him in concert there were a lot of younger people there and middle aged people in addition to the over 50 crowd. I truly believe that Ray's music transcends age and all a person needs to do is give it a chance and once they do they'll be hooked for life.
I've not come across any reviews or any blogs that gave much of a line-up of what he sings and I think a lot of this is due to how fast the show goes by. I'd seen some commentary by those who've attended his Welk concerts and they've said that the show flies by. I have no reason to not believe such a statement because in the two times I'd seen him in concert the show flew by super quick! When I saw him he did a 90 minute concert...lots and lots of comedy and joke telling took place. This was well before We The People came along and so he was not thought of as a political entertainer and he wasn't openly associated with any political party as he is now.
October 5, 2010
Ray Stevens: Video Single Success, Part 2...
Hello all the Ray Stevens fans out there! There have been a couple of new write-up's on Ray Stevens published over the last several days since my last blog entry. As I had assumed, there have certainly been a good number of write-up's on Ray Stevens since his return to Branson, Missouri last month. A few of those began to trickle out late last month and a couple more have since emerged. On Ray's Facebook page he's added some news about how they'll be taping segments of his concert for an upcoming DVD and he's added a picture of himself and his associates on their way from Branson to Nashville during a break in the concert performances. One of the write-up's is about an upcoming CD of songs set in church or songs with a religious overtone. The CD is called A Funny Thing Happened In Church Today and it's lead-off track is "Mississippi Squirrel Revival". The CD's picture sleeve of Ray is taken from the 1992 music video of that song where he's standing in front of the First Self-Righteous Church. The CD is a compilation of material, as mentioned, which either take place in a church or have a religious overtone. You can read about the latest happenings in the news section of Ray's web-site located here...
Ray Stevens News
Ray's anti illegal immigration music video, "Come to the USA", continues on it's amazing climb. The hit count on You Tube for this music video is currently resting at 4,061,587. Less than a day ago the music video had 4,050,000 hits meaning that over 10,000 additional hits have been achieved for the video. The thing is the music video is 4 months old...and the fact that it's still pulling in those kinds of numbers is phenomenal. Now, of course, we can't forget the music video that started this You Tube success: "We The People" is steadily climbing all these months later...the recent tally is 3,689,970 hits. This music video's been available on You Tube for 9 months now. Time flies!!!
His current music video, "God Save Arizona", is sitting at 434,159 hits. It's been available on You Tube for just 2 months and I predict the hit count to go past half a million by the end of October. "Throw the Bums Out!" has already reached that half a million mark as it currently sits at 529,923 hits. Another music video, "Osama Yo' Mama", is sitting at 628,642...this video was uploaded on You Tube by Ray a year ago but the actual video had been available on DVD and home video since 2002. His 1992 music video of "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" has gotten 502,430 You Tube hits. "The Streak", also taped during that same era, has gotten 395,349 hits. When Ray started his You Tube channel they uploaded 7 of the 8 music videos that were featured on Comedy Video Classics, a 1992 home video collection that sold millions of copies through television commercials and magazine advertisements. Interestingly, the music video not uploaded on You Tube was "Help Me Make It Through the Night".
His salute to the military, "Thank You", has gotten 260,071 hits while the Sarah Palin song, "Caribou Barbie", has received 270,209 hits. So far the only music video associated with his 22-song We The People collection to not crack the 100,000 mark is "The Global Warming Song" which is sitting at 56,739 hits.
Ray Stevens News
Ray's anti illegal immigration music video, "Come to the USA", continues on it's amazing climb. The hit count on You Tube for this music video is currently resting at 4,061,587. Less than a day ago the music video had 4,050,000 hits meaning that over 10,000 additional hits have been achieved for the video. The thing is the music video is 4 months old...and the fact that it's still pulling in those kinds of numbers is phenomenal. Now, of course, we can't forget the music video that started this You Tube success: "We The People" is steadily climbing all these months later...the recent tally is 3,689,970 hits. This music video's been available on You Tube for 9 months now. Time flies!!!
His current music video, "God Save Arizona", is sitting at 434,159 hits. It's been available on You Tube for just 2 months and I predict the hit count to go past half a million by the end of October. "Throw the Bums Out!" has already reached that half a million mark as it currently sits at 529,923 hits. Another music video, "Osama Yo' Mama", is sitting at 628,642...this video was uploaded on You Tube by Ray a year ago but the actual video had been available on DVD and home video since 2002. His 1992 music video of "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" has gotten 502,430 You Tube hits. "The Streak", also taped during that same era, has gotten 395,349 hits. When Ray started his You Tube channel they uploaded 7 of the 8 music videos that were featured on Comedy Video Classics, a 1992 home video collection that sold millions of copies through television commercials and magazine advertisements. Interestingly, the music video not uploaded on You Tube was "Help Me Make It Through the Night".
His salute to the military, "Thank You", has gotten 260,071 hits while the Sarah Palin song, "Caribou Barbie", has received 270,209 hits. So far the only music video associated with his 22-song We The People collection to not crack the 100,000 mark is "The Global Warming Song" which is sitting at 56,739 hits.
September 30, 2010
Ray Stevens...Hot as an Arizona desert!!!
There's been a flurry of news/write-up's on Ray Stevens over the last day and a half it seems like. On September 29th Ray's web-site updated it's news section to provide information about the success in Branson, Missouri at the Welk Theater. Today they added a new article writing up the phenomenal success his music videos on You Tube have been experiencing. To date, all of his music videos have tallied over 10,000,000 hits. Two of those videos, "Come to the USA" and "We The People", account for a good chunk of that grand total which will always be ever changing. You can read those news articles from the 29th and 30th of September in the "What's New" section at his official web-site located here...
Ray Stevens News
A second write-up/interview with a local Missouri newspaper called The Joplin Globe was issued today...details in the link below...
Jopling Globe Ray Stevens write-up
By Dave Woods, New media and marketing manager
The Joplin Globe
Thursday Sep 30, 2010, 12:21 PM CDT
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The full article/interview, as I mentioned, is located within in the URL link above. It's a lengthy article and one I didn't want to paste and copy in this blog so check it out for yourselves. Among other things, Ray gives his opinions about political correctness and the way the phrase politically incorrect is abused with reckless abandon. Although I'm sure Ray feels like he shouldn't have to defend any song that he's written and or recorded and I'm sure a lot of us fans also feel that Ray doesn't have to defend any of his songs...but it's still great to see Ray speak up for his songs, particularly those certain songs that get clobbered by the political correct advocates of today...advocates who I say instinctively look to stir up trouble and create hostility where there ordinarily wouldn't be any.
There's just a slight correction needed that I'd like to point out about the interview...a couple more gospel songs became hits as well: "A Mama and a Papa" and "All My Trials" became Top-10 hits on the Adult-Contemporary chart in the summer and fall of 1971 but since the chart isn't considered what they call a "main chart" and instead is seen as secondary, it's long been common practice to quote the chart placings on the main charts instead of the secondary ones. "Turn Your Radio On" reached the Country Top-20 in early 1972.
The latest music video released a month ago, "God Save Arizona", is sitting at 416,041 hits. A month generally breaks down to 4 or 4 and a half weeks...on country radio, for example, 4 weeks is considered relatively brand new because music charts are published weekly. On You Tube, though, 4 weeks can be considered quite lengthy depending on who you ask due to the fact that a music video gets hits at all times of the day and night and the hits that music videos or any video upload obtains are generated by hundreds of people on their computer day after day after day, etc. etc.
Just like in the old days where sales of singles pretty much dictated which songs got the most airplay on radio this same kind of thing is happening on You Tube where the more hits a video gets in a relatively short amount of time dictates just how popular the video is with video watchers. His previous music video, "The Global Warming Song", was issued 3 months ago and it's gotten 55,699 hits so far. Now, compare that to the 416,041 hits of "God Save Arizona" issued just a month ago. The timing, of course, means a whole lot as well. Global warming really isn't a high priority or a hot topic in the news even though it's a subject matter a lot of people have an opinion on. The music video most surely will get more hits as time goes by particularly if global warming becomes some sort of rabid obsession with people. Still, it's a funny music video and it skewers global warming as only Ray Stevens can...so check the music video out if you hadn't seen it yet. The news banner that runs along the screen is hilarious.
Personal commentary...
I wish that "We Are the Government" were to be made into a music video! The song is on Ray's current We The People CD. Even if the song never becomes a music video I'll continue to champion it and hype it because it's very, very funny. The mid-term elections are coming up in November and with this being the last day of September that leaves just one month, October, before election day rolls around. The song, I think, would strike a chord with the mid-term elections being right around the corner. No matter what happens in November we'll still have the Obama administration at least until January 2013 when I predict he'll have been voted out of office in November 2012. However, even though he'll continue to remain in office through 2012, if the Republicans and conservatives and Tea Party candidates all pull big victories this November the Obama administration will not have the influence as it currently has with a majority of Democrats in Congress. This is why this upcoming mid-term election is crucial at stopping the direction that the Obama policies want to take the country into.
Ray Stevens News
A second write-up/interview with a local Missouri newspaper called The Joplin Globe was issued today...details in the link below...
Jopling Globe Ray Stevens write-up
By Dave Woods, New media and marketing manager
The Joplin Globe
Thursday Sep 30, 2010, 12:21 PM CDT
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The full article/interview, as I mentioned, is located within in the URL link above. It's a lengthy article and one I didn't want to paste and copy in this blog so check it out for yourselves. Among other things, Ray gives his opinions about political correctness and the way the phrase politically incorrect is abused with reckless abandon. Although I'm sure Ray feels like he shouldn't have to defend any song that he's written and or recorded and I'm sure a lot of us fans also feel that Ray doesn't have to defend any of his songs...but it's still great to see Ray speak up for his songs, particularly those certain songs that get clobbered by the political correct advocates of today...advocates who I say instinctively look to stir up trouble and create hostility where there ordinarily wouldn't be any.
There's just a slight correction needed that I'd like to point out about the interview...a couple more gospel songs became hits as well: "A Mama and a Papa" and "All My Trials" became Top-10 hits on the Adult-Contemporary chart in the summer and fall of 1971 but since the chart isn't considered what they call a "main chart" and instead is seen as secondary, it's long been common practice to quote the chart placings on the main charts instead of the secondary ones. "Turn Your Radio On" reached the Country Top-20 in early 1972.
The latest music video released a month ago, "God Save Arizona", is sitting at 416,041 hits. A month generally breaks down to 4 or 4 and a half weeks...on country radio, for example, 4 weeks is considered relatively brand new because music charts are published weekly. On You Tube, though, 4 weeks can be considered quite lengthy depending on who you ask due to the fact that a music video gets hits at all times of the day and night and the hits that music videos or any video upload obtains are generated by hundreds of people on their computer day after day after day, etc. etc.
Just like in the old days where sales of singles pretty much dictated which songs got the most airplay on radio this same kind of thing is happening on You Tube where the more hits a video gets in a relatively short amount of time dictates just how popular the video is with video watchers. His previous music video, "The Global Warming Song", was issued 3 months ago and it's gotten 55,699 hits so far. Now, compare that to the 416,041 hits of "God Save Arizona" issued just a month ago. The timing, of course, means a whole lot as well. Global warming really isn't a high priority or a hot topic in the news even though it's a subject matter a lot of people have an opinion on. The music video most surely will get more hits as time goes by particularly if global warming becomes some sort of rabid obsession with people. Still, it's a funny music video and it skewers global warming as only Ray Stevens can...so check the music video out if you hadn't seen it yet. The news banner that runs along the screen is hilarious.
Personal commentary...
I wish that "We Are the Government" were to be made into a music video! The song is on Ray's current We The People CD. Even if the song never becomes a music video I'll continue to champion it and hype it because it's very, very funny. The mid-term elections are coming up in November and with this being the last day of September that leaves just one month, October, before election day rolls around. The song, I think, would strike a chord with the mid-term elections being right around the corner. No matter what happens in November we'll still have the Obama administration at least until January 2013 when I predict he'll have been voted out of office in November 2012. However, even though he'll continue to remain in office through 2012, if the Republicans and conservatives and Tea Party candidates all pull big victories this November the Obama administration will not have the influence as it currently has with a majority of Democrats in Congress. This is why this upcoming mid-term election is crucial at stopping the direction that the Obama policies want to take the country into.
June 18, 2010
The new Top-10 CD from Ray Stevens...
The news broke the other day when Billboard magazine updated their weekly music charts showing that the latest CD from Ray Stevens, We The People, has debuted in the Top-10 of the Comedy Album chart. The CD, as you readers are aware, is no stranger to the Top-10 on Amazon's various charts. Those Amazon statistics were generally based on pre-orders and as I guessed in one of my previous blogs the reason why the CD hadn't appeared in Billboard magazine was because the CD hadn't officially been released yet. June 8th was the official date the CD became available while June 14th will be the official release date of the Mp3. So, this week the CD debuted on Billboard's Comedy Album chart. This is a secondary music chart and I say this because a lot of mainstream music critics in both pop and country may not hype or talk about the CD very much in spite of it's Top-10 debut. This goes for mainstream country publications like Country Weekly as well. I know the CD wasn't promoted at country radio but Ray Stevens for the last 30 years or so has clearly been associated with country music and country comedy so I'm curious why his CD didn't make an appearance on the Country Album chart this week. I'm sure it must have something to do with chart policies. This collection features a 22 song CD and a DVD of 4 music videos. The 4 music videos are: "We The People", "Caribou Barbie", "Thank You", and "Throw the Bums Out!". There is no music video of "Come to the USA" for those of you who just discovered this collection in recent weeks or may discover it in the future. The reason is because this collection was released on April 1st through his web-site and there wasn't any "Come to the USA" music video put together at that time.
When the Arizona illegal immigration bill was introduced and it became a huge news story Ray decided to make a music video of a song they already had on the collection, namely "Come to the USA". It made perfect sense given that the song was about illegal immigration. But anyway, the CD's April release is why that particular music video, issued in late May, isn't on the DVD in this collection...but the song is...it's track 12 on the CD.
Congratulations, again, on the Top-10 debut of We The People.
June 15, 2010
Ray Stevens: The power of words...
Hello all Ray Stevens fans! This blog entry is pretty much an essay/commentary on how words, or lack thereof, can shape the image or public perception of a singer or a song. In this blog you'll all discover how the omission of a single word can completely change the perception of a music video...specifically "Come to the USA" by Ray Stevens...
If any of you out there are as much of a fan of Ray Stevens as I am then perhaps some of you have come across blogs that accuse Ray and his immigration music video of being anti-immigration. If ever there was an example of irresponsibility it's when bloggers knowingly leave out crucial words in an attempt to give credibility to their arguments. In this case it's the liberal bloggers who intentionally leave out the very important word: illegal. When the various liberal blog sites say that Ray's song is anti-immigration it supports their argument that people who agree with Arizona's law are racists. However, the liberal argument is pointless simply because illegal immigration is the issue...whereas the liberals want to make it a race issue...
You see, it doesn't make a person look like a racist when you use the phrase anti-illegal immigration...and that's why you rarely see that phrase used on liberal blog sites. By removing illegal from the anti-illegal immigration phrase it makes a person look racist. To date that's been their agenda and that's why time and time again bloggers with a liberal and progressive agenda use the phrase anti-immigration instead of anti-illegal immigration. Their removal of that one single yet powerful word, illegal, is a crucial omission on their part and in my opinion they knowingly omit the word because it supports their racist theories.
The "Come to the USA" music video is getting ever so close to 2.5 million hits. The specific numbers as of this writing are 2,491,123.
If any of you out there are as much of a fan of Ray Stevens as I am then perhaps some of you have come across blogs that accuse Ray and his immigration music video of being anti-immigration. If ever there was an example of irresponsibility it's when bloggers knowingly leave out crucial words in an attempt to give credibility to their arguments. In this case it's the liberal bloggers who intentionally leave out the very important word: illegal. When the various liberal blog sites say that Ray's song is anti-immigration it supports their argument that people who agree with Arizona's law are racists. However, the liberal argument is pointless simply because illegal immigration is the issue...whereas the liberals want to make it a race issue...
You see, it doesn't make a person look like a racist when you use the phrase anti-illegal immigration...and that's why you rarely see that phrase used on liberal blog sites. By removing illegal from the anti-illegal immigration phrase it makes a person look racist. To date that's been their agenda and that's why time and time again bloggers with a liberal and progressive agenda use the phrase anti-immigration instead of anti-illegal immigration. Their removal of that one single yet powerful word, illegal, is a crucial omission on their part and in my opinion they knowingly omit the word because it supports their racist theories.
The "Come to the USA" music video is getting ever so close to 2.5 million hits. The specific numbers as of this writing are 2,491,123.
June 13, 2010
"Come to the USA" suggests Ray Stevens, Volume Three...
Today, June 13, marks the 1 month anniversary of "Come to the USA", the latest music video from Ray Stevens. In my last blog entry I made note of how the music video was 5 days shy of becoming a month old. The hit count for the music video has risen in the last 5 days as well...jumping to 2,442,871 hits. A few days ago Ray gave an interview on a radio show hosted by a man named Bob Rivers. Well, it was more than a few days ago...it was back on June 9th. The interview was very funny and Ray spoke about various political issues as well as the We The People CD, of course. The interview is still available, I think, at Bob Rivers' web-site. The interview starts about mid-way through the audio Podcast. The segment opens up, though, with a playing of "Come to the USA". Google Bob Rivers and you're guaranteed to find his web-site and once you enter it search around for Ray Stevens on the June 9, 2010 episode.
Is it just me or has their been a slacking off of insults and name-calling over Ray's music video lately? It might have to do with the big news item being the BP oil spill and not illegal immigration...even though illegal immigration is and will be a top issue this coming midterm election cycle...as will ObamaCare. Lack of media attention doesn't mean an issue is no longer relevant as some out there would have you believe.
It's my belief that no matter what's negatively said about Ray's recent streak of political music videos that rational thinking listeners will get the humor and in the case of "Come to the USA" I believe in time rational thinking people will not go off half-cocked and irrationally throw the 'racist' label so freely as some did a few weeks ago. The fear about Arizona's illegal immigration law isn't necessarily a fear of racial profiling...more or less it's a fear among the liberals and progressives that a majority of the country AGREE with the Arizona law, which poll after poll clearly indicates. You readers may be wondering: why do they fear that a majority of America agrees with Arizona? In my opinion it's because the left-wingers are politicizing the law and from their point of view it doesn't look too good when a majority of the country agree with a law that they say advocates racial profiling. In other words, a majority of the country seeing nothing wrong with the illegal immigration law clearly shows, in my mind at least, how much in the minority the left and the progressives really are nationwide.
Is it just me or has their been a slacking off of insults and name-calling over Ray's music video lately? It might have to do with the big news item being the BP oil spill and not illegal immigration...even though illegal immigration is and will be a top issue this coming midterm election cycle...as will ObamaCare. Lack of media attention doesn't mean an issue is no longer relevant as some out there would have you believe.
It's my belief that no matter what's negatively said about Ray's recent streak of political music videos that rational thinking listeners will get the humor and in the case of "Come to the USA" I believe in time rational thinking people will not go off half-cocked and irrationally throw the 'racist' label so freely as some did a few weeks ago. The fear about Arizona's illegal immigration law isn't necessarily a fear of racial profiling...more or less it's a fear among the liberals and progressives that a majority of the country AGREE with the Arizona law, which poll after poll clearly indicates. You readers may be wondering: why do they fear that a majority of America agrees with Arizona? In my opinion it's because the left-wingers are politicizing the law and from their point of view it doesn't look too good when a majority of the country agree with a law that they say advocates racial profiling. In other words, a majority of the country seeing nothing wrong with the illegal immigration law clearly shows, in my mind at least, how much in the minority the left and the progressives really are nationwide.
June 8, 2010
The New Ray Stevens CD...
Hello Ray Stevens fans! Although this material has been available on-line since mid April the We The People CD officially goes on sale today on Amazon, citing just one on-line store of course. I had openly expressed puzzlement a few blogs ago when I wondered why the CD hadn't charted on any of the various Billboard music charts...given how popular the CD is with on-line consumers. I then wondered if it's because the CD's official release day isn't until today, June 8th. We shall see next week when the charts are updated on-line. If this CD doesn't show up on any weekly album chart then there's something suspicious going on in my opinion. I say that given how popular the CD was with pre-orders and how much notoriety it's gotten among bloggers and other on-line resources that if it doesn't hit the charts as a result of it's sales and exposure then we can all come to our own conclusions why it didn't. As far as Amazon goes it's been charted on their best selling list for country CD's a total of 24 days which works out to 3 weeks and 3 days: 21 days is 3 weeks plus 3 more days equals 24. As of this hour the CD is ranked #11 among country music CD's. The Mp3's official release isn't until a week from today, June 15th, even though customers have been able to purchase the digital download CD for awhile, too. I'm not holding my breath when it comes to the national charts, though, because earlier in the year when Ray's "We The People" Mp3 single was released to coincide with the music video, the digital single reached the Top-5 on Amazon's various best seller lists but yet it never entered any of Billboard's digital charts...so I hope nobody gets disappointed if Ray's full-length CD doesn't rank in the national music charts but I'm hoping that it will. The "We The People" music video continues to gather hits as it now sits at 3.2 million. The specifics are 3,207,718! "Come to the USA" is also close to another milestone. It's at 2,294,517 well on it's way to 2.3 million hits. This music video is 5 days shy of being just a month old.
June 5, 2010
Come for the Laughs with Ray Stevens...
As one of the biggest Ray Stevens fans around I love the continued success of his latest music video on You Tube. "Come to the USA" has now risen to 2,136,682 hits and I caught a commercial for the We The People CD collection on Fox News Channel. Ray has a commercial uploaded on You Tube which runs over 2 minutes in length...the commercial that I saw during Glenn Beck's program Thursday was completely different from the one on You Tube. I uploaded the longer commercial in a previous blog. The shorter commercial that's been airing on Fox News Channel starts off with Ray singing a piece of "If 10% Is Good Enough For Jesus" as Ray does a voice-over talking about the collection and the over 3 million views of "We The People". The You Tube commercial has gotten 31,900 hits and "We The People" is getting close to 3.2 million hits.
One of the other great things is the continued success of the CD on Amazon. The CD as well as the digital Mp3 version has been jumping around in the Top-50 of the country and pop music lists as well as the Top-10 in the Mp3 comedy release list since April. As of this writing it's in the Top-10 among best selling country music CD's at #8 and #61 among pop music CD's. The Mp3 counterpart shows the digital CD at #4 among best selling comedy releases and #23 among country music releases. As I always remind readers: these numbers fluctuate every hour. A #4 one hour can be a #45 the next and then back up to #17, etc etc. The object of the game, as is the case with anything that's on a popularity chart, is to stay as high on the best seller lists as possible or remain among the Top-100 as much as possible. In other words be a consistent seller. Amazon ranks everything it sells. There are lots of CD's on there with sales ranks in the thousands, for example.
One of the other great things is the continued success of the CD on Amazon. The CD as well as the digital Mp3 version has been jumping around in the Top-50 of the country and pop music lists as well as the Top-10 in the Mp3 comedy release list since April. As of this writing it's in the Top-10 among best selling country music CD's at #8 and #61 among pop music CD's. The Mp3 counterpart shows the digital CD at #4 among best selling comedy releases and #23 among country music releases. As I always remind readers: these numbers fluctuate every hour. A #4 one hour can be a #45 the next and then back up to #17, etc etc. The object of the game, as is the case with anything that's on a popularity chart, is to stay as high on the best seller lists as possible or remain among the Top-100 as much as possible. In other words be a consistent seller. Amazon ranks everything it sells. There are lots of CD's on there with sales ranks in the thousands, for example.
June 3, 2010
Ray Stevens at 2 million and climbing...
As a lot of us Ray Stevens fans have anticipated...it's finally happened! "Come to the USA" has vaulted past the two million mark on You Tube. The specific hit count for the music video is 2,040,255 and climbing! The video had gotten over a million hits prior to it's exposure on Megyn Kelly's Fox News program back on June 1st and was a couple hundred thousand hits away from hitting the two million mark...and since then the video has indeed reached the two million plateau. However, as a consequence(?) of the high profile exposure, which included a live interview with Ray, the predictable claws from the liberals and progressives who dominate much of the on-line blogosphere have shown their razor sharp presence. Over the course of the last few days one left-wing blog site after the other has jumped on the Megyn Kelly interview with Ray and, predictably, the liberal bloggers savaged the interview and the music video with the typical liberal ammunition: when all else fails call someone a racist.
I think I know why this CD hasn't appeared in Billboard yet...because it's officially on pre-order until next week. Although the Mp3 digital album has long been available...going back to early April...I think Billboard's policy states that a CD has to be officially released. If this is the case I hope the CD makes some appearances on the various sales charts...according to it's high sales rankings on Amazon over the last several weeks it should find a home somewhere on the national music charts...at least that's what I'm hoping. Although we, as fans, know how successful the CD is the music insiders tend to wait until something shows up in Billboard magazine before they'll give it any spotlight. A CD that contains songs that have become super-viral video hits on You Tube in theory should make a splash on the charts?? Amazon shows the Mp3 version isn't officially released until June 15 while the CD shows June 8 as it's release date. Meanwhile the tracks from the Mp3 version have been available for purchase since April and Ray's music store at his web-site have been selling the CD since April as well.
Here's another look at the You Tube commercial for Ray's latest CD...it includes "Come to the USA" but it wasn't a music video when the commercial was made and so it isn't highlighted...
The track-list includes the following:
1. We The People: 3.1 million video hits on You Tube
2. Caribou Barbie: You Tube viral video
3. Stand Up
4. Three Fractured Factions
5. Dear Andy Griffith
6. The Global Warming Song
7. Let's Roll
8. Solar Powered Song
9. Fly Over Country
10. We Are the Government
11. The Fallen Ones
12. Come to the USA: 2 million video hits on You Tube
13. If 10% Is Good Enough for Jesus
14. Kings and Queens
15. Obama Nation
16. Throw the Bums Out!: You Tube viral video
17. Sucking Sound
18. Safe at Home
19. Thank You: You Tube viral video
20. Pledge of Allegiance/Star Spangled Banner
21. Mr. Businessman
22. Midnight In Baghdad
The four music videos on the bonus DVD are:
1. We The People
2. Thank You
3. Caribou Barbie
4. Throw the Bums Out!
I think I know why this CD hasn't appeared in Billboard yet...because it's officially on pre-order until next week. Although the Mp3 digital album has long been available...going back to early April...I think Billboard's policy states that a CD has to be officially released. If this is the case I hope the CD makes some appearances on the various sales charts...according to it's high sales rankings on Amazon over the last several weeks it should find a home somewhere on the national music charts...at least that's what I'm hoping. Although we, as fans, know how successful the CD is the music insiders tend to wait until something shows up in Billboard magazine before they'll give it any spotlight. A CD that contains songs that have become super-viral video hits on You Tube in theory should make a splash on the charts?? Amazon shows the Mp3 version isn't officially released until June 15 while the CD shows June 8 as it's release date. Meanwhile the tracks from the Mp3 version have been available for purchase since April and Ray's music store at his web-site have been selling the CD since April as well. Here's another look at the You Tube commercial for Ray's latest CD...it includes "Come to the USA" but it wasn't a music video when the commercial was made and so it isn't highlighted...
The track-list includes the following:
1. We The People: 3.1 million video hits on You Tube
2. Caribou Barbie: You Tube viral video
3. Stand Up
4. Three Fractured Factions
5. Dear Andy Griffith
6. The Global Warming Song
7. Let's Roll
8. Solar Powered Song
9. Fly Over Country
10. We Are the Government
11. The Fallen Ones
12. Come to the USA: 2 million video hits on You Tube
13. If 10% Is Good Enough for Jesus
14. Kings and Queens
15. Obama Nation
16. Throw the Bums Out!: You Tube viral video
17. Sucking Sound
18. Safe at Home
19. Thank You: You Tube viral video
20. Pledge of Allegiance/Star Spangled Banner
21. Mr. Businessman
22. Midnight In Baghdad
The four music videos on the bonus DVD are:
1. We The People
2. Thank You
3. Caribou Barbie
4. Throw the Bums Out!
June 2, 2010
Ray Stevens: The We The People Album, Part 5...
Hello all Ray Stevens fans!! The success of We The People continues as the physical CD has rebounded on Amazon's hourly sales rankings. While the collection has remained a solid Top-100 entry since becoming available on Amazon his appearance June 1st on Fox News caused the already popular collection to soar back into the Top-10 among top selling country CD's. Even more impressive is the CD breaking into the pop music list...as of this writing it's among the 50 best-selling pop music CD's this hour. Checking the Mp3 version of the CD it shows that Ray's in the Top-5 among comedy releases and among the Top-50 in country releases. Now, don't forget, when people purchase the CD version they also get a bonus DVD of four music videos. Potential buyers keep in mind that this collection was released a month before "Come to the USA" was uploaded onto You Tube and so it isn't part of the bonus DVD. "Come to the USA" to my knowledge wasn't going to be a single but the illegal immigration topic became such a major news item that a music video of the song became such an obvious choice. The music video was uploaded on May 13 and as of this writing it's obtained 1,964,479 hits. The music video's on the bonus DVD are: "We The People", "Caribou Barbie", "Throw the Bums Out!", and "Thank You".One of the things that most of you may be aware of is the misrepresentation that "Come to the USA" often gets from johnny-come-lately critics and bloggers who aren't really interested in factual reports but are instead mostly interested in generating traffic for their web-site or stirring up anger. One blogger, or writer, depending on how one thinks of theirself, didn't remark that Ray Stevens is a country-pop singer or a country comedy singer or a novelty singer. No, one of these writers out there called Ray a "controversial singer". That's the first time I'd ever seen that label attached to Ray Stevens...of all people. He may make certain segments of a political viewpoint sick to their stomach but by no means does that make him "controversial". Ray's latest songs spark debate, of course...but he's only "controversial" in the eyes of those who disagree with him and the more success he has with his political music videos the angrier the opposition becomes. Whenever a blogger or music critic decides to label Ray Stevens, of all people, as "controversial" it actually can be seen as an indirect political statement on their part.
May 25, 2010
Ray Stevens and those Viral Videos
Here's a glimpse of the plays that Ray Stevens' music videos on You Tube have obtained so far. As most longtime readers are aware I'm only factoring in the videos from "We The People" onward...
1. Come to the USA: 1,224,334
2. Throw the Bums Out!: 188,686
3. Caribou Barbie: 113,143
4. Thank You: 136,157
5. We The People: 3,106,658
Ray's been busy over the last several days...earlier today he participated in an interview on the Steve Gill radio program. A few days ago the first verse and chorus of "Come to the USA" music video was played on Bill O'Reilly's television show. There is a write-up featured on Ray's web-page in the News section and it's about the viral video success that Ray's been enjoying. In reality he's always had some success on You Tube...nearly all of the music videos that he's uploaded have at least a hundred thousand hits or more...but it wasn't until "We The People" and the millions of hits that the video enjoyed that more focus was given to Ray's on-line music videos.
So we come to the most recent video, "Come to the USA". I'm not above bragging...I was one of the people wishing that the song would become a music video when I heard it for the first time and to see it become a music video a couple of weeks ago was wonderful. I had this gut instinct that if it were released that it would possibly become as big of a viral video as "We The People" and from the looks of things that's indeed what may happen. For those who may have forgotten...the "We The People" music video achieved over 2,000,000 hits in a month's time. "Come to the USA" has been uploaded for almost 2 weeks and has 1,224,334 hits so far. Will history repeat itself? It certainly looks that way!
The fact that Ray's had million hit success with two music videos in the span of five months time, without the help of a major record label pushing the video's popularity, is an even bigger story. The fact that all of this viral video success has come without a mainstream advertising campaign is something more for critics to analyze. As was the case with "We The People", the cable television publicity and talk-radio publicity for "Come to the USA" didn't happen until the video reached nearly a million hits. It's tempting for the critics to say that the videos are only popular because they've been exposed on a Fox News program but the truth is the videos were highlighted on O'Reilly's show after they became sensations on the internet.
By-passing the conventional method of advertising is not something new to Ray Stevens. Think back to the early and mid 1990's...Ray was selling millions of home videos thanks to magazine, newspaper, and television commercials. Today it's almost the same scenario...Ray is getting his music out there by way of You Tube and in some cases millions of people are tuning in.
1. Come to the USA: 1,224,334
2. Throw the Bums Out!: 188,686
3. Caribou Barbie: 113,143
4. Thank You: 136,157
5. We The People: 3,106,658
Ray's been busy over the last several days...earlier today he participated in an interview on the Steve Gill radio program. A few days ago the first verse and chorus of "Come to the USA" music video was played on Bill O'Reilly's television show. There is a write-up featured on Ray's web-page in the News section and it's about the viral video success that Ray's been enjoying. In reality he's always had some success on You Tube...nearly all of the music videos that he's uploaded have at least a hundred thousand hits or more...but it wasn't until "We The People" and the millions of hits that the video enjoyed that more focus was given to Ray's on-line music videos.
So we come to the most recent video, "Come to the USA". I'm not above bragging...I was one of the people wishing that the song would become a music video when I heard it for the first time and to see it become a music video a couple of weeks ago was wonderful. I had this gut instinct that if it were released that it would possibly become as big of a viral video as "We The People" and from the looks of things that's indeed what may happen. For those who may have forgotten...the "We The People" music video achieved over 2,000,000 hits in a month's time. "Come to the USA" has been uploaded for almost 2 weeks and has 1,224,334 hits so far. Will history repeat itself? It certainly looks that way!
The fact that Ray's had million hit success with two music videos in the span of five months time, without the help of a major record label pushing the video's popularity, is an even bigger story. The fact that all of this viral video success has come without a mainstream advertising campaign is something more for critics to analyze. As was the case with "We The People", the cable television publicity and talk-radio publicity for "Come to the USA" didn't happen until the video reached nearly a million hits. It's tempting for the critics to say that the videos are only popular because they've been exposed on a Fox News program but the truth is the videos were highlighted on O'Reilly's show after they became sensations on the internet.
By-passing the conventional method of advertising is not something new to Ray Stevens. Think back to the early and mid 1990's...Ray was selling millions of home videos thanks to magazine, newspaper, and television commercials. Today it's almost the same scenario...Ray is getting his music out there by way of You Tube and in some cases millions of people are tuning in.
May 24, 2010
Ray Stevens and a Million Cacti...
Let's all congratulate Ray Stevens' latest accomplishment. His latest music video, "Come to the USA", has vaulted past the million hits mark on You Tube in 11 days. This puts the music video in the elite company of another Ray Stevens music video, "We The People", which itself is sitting at 3.9 million hits and climbing. The specific play count for "Come to the USA" as of this writing is 1,038,146. Now you all can understand why I title this particular blog entry the way I do.
Q: Is this the first time Ray has ever recorded a song with an Arizona or southwestern backdrop?
A: No...Ray has recorded a couple of other songs highlighting this part of the United States. One song in particular is called "The Ballad of Cactus Pete and Lefty". The song is about a codger and his pet sidewinder, Lefty. Throughout the song Cactus Pete tells us about his various adventures in the desert with Lefty. One of the running gags in the song is the Maraca sound effect which indicates Lefty's communicating with his master. Every time Cactus Pete mentions animals we hear a Maraca which indicates Lefty's excitement. This prompts Cactus Pete to remind Lefty to settle down. The song can be found on Ray's 1987 album, Crackin' Up. Ray made a music video of this song a couple of years ago...it was an animated music video. It can be found on the Cartoon Carnival, Volume One DVD that Ray has for sale in his on-line store. A second song with a southwestern flavor is "How Much Does It Cost to Fly To Albuquerque?". That particular song is from the Hum It album from 1997 and it's an exaggerated spoof on airline companies. Ray plays the part of a singer who's interested in doing a concert in New Mexico and he calls up the travel agent who proceeds to give Ray all sorts of headache about prices and deals, etc etc.
Ray's We The People album is currently ranked in the Top-30 on Amazon's sales list of country music CD's. As far as comedy Mp3 digital albums are concerned the album is ranked in the Top-5 this hour.
Q: Is this the first time Ray has ever recorded a song with an Arizona or southwestern backdrop?
A: No...Ray has recorded a couple of other songs highlighting this part of the United States. One song in particular is called "The Ballad of Cactus Pete and Lefty". The song is about a codger and his pet sidewinder, Lefty. Throughout the song Cactus Pete tells us about his various adventures in the desert with Lefty. One of the running gags in the song is the Maraca sound effect which indicates Lefty's communicating with his master. Every time Cactus Pete mentions animals we hear a Maraca which indicates Lefty's excitement. This prompts Cactus Pete to remind Lefty to settle down. The song can be found on Ray's 1987 album, Crackin' Up. Ray made a music video of this song a couple of years ago...it was an animated music video. It can be found on the Cartoon Carnival, Volume One DVD that Ray has for sale in his on-line store. A second song with a southwestern flavor is "How Much Does It Cost to Fly To Albuquerque?". That particular song is from the Hum It album from 1997 and it's an exaggerated spoof on airline companies. Ray plays the part of a singer who's interested in doing a concert in New Mexico and he calls up the travel agent who proceeds to give Ray all sorts of headache about prices and deals, etc etc.
Ray's We The People album is currently ranked in the Top-30 on Amazon's sales list of country music CD's. As far as comedy Mp3 digital albums are concerned the album is ranked in the Top-5 this hour.
May 23, 2010
As Hot As an Arizona desert...Funny Man Ray Stevens!!
Ray Stevens is as hot as an Arizona desert right now!!! Since my last blog entry on the 20th of May, the Ray Stevens illegal immigration music video, "Come to the USA", has quickly accumulated over half a million hits on You Tube. The current hit count, as of now, is 831,103 in 10 days time. It only needs 168,897 hits to enable the music video to achieve million play status. The reason why I use the word 'only' is because with the way the video has been racking up the play totals it shouldn't take long for the video to cross the million play promiseland. One would think a video that can rack up more than 300,000 hits in 2 days time can certainly amass over 165,000 in no time at all. Should the video hit a million it would be Ray's second video on You Tube to accomplish this. The first music video of Ray's to accomplish this was "We The People", which set the Ray Stevens train in full gear back in December 2009. That music video, as you all I assume are aware of, went on to reach a million hits on You Tube and then it reached two million hits...and then a couple of months later it had obtained three million hits. The official play total as of now is 3,087,110.
In between "We The People" and "Come to the USA" there were three music videos released and each of them all obtained viral status but neither of them hit the stratosphere of "We The People". The first of three music videos arrived in early 2010 and it was a military video, "Thank You". This video has gotten 129,119 hits so far. The next upload from Ray was a song about Sarah Palin, "Caribou Barbie". This video has a hit count of 101,635. After ObamaCare was signed into law Ray uploaded a reply: "Throw the Bums Out!". This politically charged music video has received 159,098 hits so far.
After Ray issued his new album, We The People, he uploaded a commercial...and this commercial has gotten 17,386 hits.
When illegal immigration became the hot news item...specifically during Arizona's drafting of a bill that eventually became law concerning illegal immigration...all of the sudden, for Ray Stevens, it was like a member of the defense in a football team having a pick 6. In football terms a "pick 6" is slang for an interception returned for a touchdown. Anyway, by sheer coincidence, Ray had recorded a song about illegal immigration for his recently released We The People album. While listening to the album I was being entertained by the various songs and then I heard "Come to the USA" and thought to myself that it's just another hilarious recording from Ray. Little did any of us Ray fans know how the subject matter of illegal immigration would become so huge in the weeks following the album's release in early April. So, without any warning, Ray found himself with a hit on his hands out of pure coincidence and a music video soon followed.
"Come to the USA", as I pointed out in a couple of other blog entries, was issued as a music video due to the timeliness of the subject matter and it's payed off big time with nearly a million hits on You Tube and the We The People album sitting high in the Top-20 on the Amazon sales lists.
In between "We The People" and "Come to the USA" there were three music videos released and each of them all obtained viral status but neither of them hit the stratosphere of "We The People". The first of three music videos arrived in early 2010 and it was a military video, "Thank You". This video has gotten 129,119 hits so far. The next upload from Ray was a song about Sarah Palin, "Caribou Barbie". This video has a hit count of 101,635. After ObamaCare was signed into law Ray uploaded a reply: "Throw the Bums Out!". This politically charged music video has received 159,098 hits so far.
After Ray issued his new album, We The People, he uploaded a commercial...and this commercial has gotten 17,386 hits.
When illegal immigration became the hot news item...specifically during Arizona's drafting of a bill that eventually became law concerning illegal immigration...all of the sudden, for Ray Stevens, it was like a member of the defense in a football team having a pick 6. In football terms a "pick 6" is slang for an interception returned for a touchdown. Anyway, by sheer coincidence, Ray had recorded a song about illegal immigration for his recently released We The People album. While listening to the album I was being entertained by the various songs and then I heard "Come to the USA" and thought to myself that it's just another hilarious recording from Ray. Little did any of us Ray fans know how the subject matter of illegal immigration would become so huge in the weeks following the album's release in early April. So, without any warning, Ray found himself with a hit on his hands out of pure coincidence and a music video soon followed.
"Come to the USA", as I pointed out in a couple of other blog entries, was issued as a music video due to the timeliness of the subject matter and it's payed off big time with nearly a million hits on You Tube and the We The People album sitting high in the Top-20 on the Amazon sales lists.
May 20, 2010
Ray Stevens...Comedy Legend...
Don't mind that crazed, obsessed look...I was hamming it up for the camera. I do tend to go a bit overboard when it comes to Ray Stevens, though...but that picture is strictly for laughs. I wrote about this collection a couple of blog's ago and on Wednesday this CD arrived in the mail. The collection, titled 12 Hits, was released back in 2002 and it's on the Varese Sarabande label. I already have those songs and that's why I never purchased the collection when it was new. However...I began to wonder if someone may have written liner notes for the release and so I sent away for it. The price was super cheap in my opinion...after all the CD is 8 years old. After opening up the CD my suspicions were confirmed...it does feature an essay about Ray's career. The credits show that the liner notes were written by someone named Howard Evets. I know this may sound incredibly obnoxious, arrogant, or egotistical but whenever I read liner notes on Ray Stevens I always play like I'm the editor...looking for omissions, errors, or unfair comments. If I spot any of that in the liner notes I usually warn potential consumers whenever I write a review of a CD. I do that to allow the more dedicated fans of Ray to be alerted ahead of time because they, like myself, are easily annoyed if an essayist or author goes too far.
Usually you don't come across liner notes that make the singer look bad but there are rare instances where a writer's finished project looks forced and uninteresting and you can tell the writer didn't necessarily want to promote the singer or the album. This is why I favor the idea of liner notes being written by fans/admirers of the singer...this way the writer is approaching the project in such a way that his or her words will connect with the target audience: the fans. In some cases a record label releasing a project will employ their own person to write liner notes...whether that person really likes the artist or not. Thankfully on this CD there's liner notes written by someone who apparently did their homework on Ray's career but there was not much attention given to quite a few songs on this CD. As a result, this sort of patched together essay makes the liner notes come off as a mini-biography, where key points in an artist's career is highlighted. I prefer liner notes to include some sort of extensive positive commentary, from the note writer, about the featured songs...and perhaps some information about the songs. For example...there was no mention of Ray winning two Grammy awards for a couple of songs contained in this collection...the two songs being "Everything Is Beautiful" and "Misty". There was also no mention of "Gitarzan", "Everything Is Beautiful", and "The Streak" being multi-million selling singles. Given the liner notes were written at some point in 2001 or even 2002 when the CD was issued there was no reference to Ray's phenomenal sales of home videos in the early to mid '90s and there was no reference to Ray's hit single and music video back in early 2002, "Osama Yo' Mama". The 12 Hits CD was released on September 10, 2002 which as you all know was a day before the 1st year anniversary of 9/11. So, it's a little odd to me that the liner notes didn't really bridge the gap between the classic hits on this CD and the contemporary goings-on of Ray Stevens at the time. However, the writer did give a nod to Ray's ability to remain in the public eye and come up with inventive ways of attracting legions of fans no matter how many times critics may want to write him off as nothing more than a novelty act.
What exactly are those 12 Hits on this CD??? Here's what you get...
1. Ahab the Arab: 1969 re-recording
2. Harry the Hairy Ape: 1969 re-recording
3. Unwind: 1968
4. Mr. Businessman: 1968
5. Isn't It Lonely Together: 1968
6. Gitarzan: 1969
7. Along Came Jones: 1969
8. Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down: 1969
9. Everything Is Beautiful: 1970
10. Turn Your Radio On: 1971
11. The Streak: 1974
12. Misty: 1975
Bridging the gap from discussion of classic Ray Stevens recordings to discussion of contemporary Ray Stevens recordings we find ourselves once again inserting the topic of illegal immigration into the mix. "Come to the USA" continues to rake in the hits. As of now it's sitting at 287,709 plays in a week's time. Even more impressive is the music video is the recipient of five 'honors'. Honors are given whenever a video performs at an exceptionally high level. Information on how to get We The People, which contains "Come to the USA", can be obtained at Ray's web-site.
May 19, 2010
Ray Stevens on Illegal Immigration!
Welcome one and all to my latest fan-created blog entry on Ray Stevens. I couldn't think of a title for this blog entry...I already used a couple of similar sounding titles already when writing about Ray's illegal immigration song. At this very moment the fire's raging and Ray is reaping the rewards of his latest smash hit music video, "Come to the USA". I did a general overview of Ray's music at Amazon's web-site and quite a few of Ray's CD's from the past have risen high among best-sellers in the "comedy music" area. No doubt the exposure of Ray's current music video is fueling that fire...also, the on-going success of his previous four music videos continue to help promote his CD's. I'm going to throw some numbers at you all so you'll be able to get a glimpse of how hot Ray Stevens is at the moment...
Ray's 1990 album, Lend Me Your Ears, is charting in the Top-60 of the country comedy list at Amazon. That 1990 album was re-released in CD format in 2005. Doing even better than that, on that same list, is the CD version of Ray's 1987 album titled Crackin' Up. That particular release is in the Top-10 among best sellers. Ray's 1993 release, Classic Ray Stevens, is sitting in the Top-20 among best sellers in the country comedy format. The Box Set collection from 2006 is sitting way high...#3 among country comedy releases. It's also ranked in the Top-30 best sellers when it comes to box set collections of all formats.
Here's some other Ray Stevens titles that are among the Top-100 best sellers of country comedy at Amazon: His All Time Greatest Comic Hits, 1997's The Best of Ray Stevens on the Rhino label, 1987's Greatest Hits, and several more.
The current Ray Stevens album, We The People, is charting in the Top-20 of comedy Mp3 albums. The CD counterpart earlier today was in the Top-100.
As if all of those stats weren't eye-popping enough it's with great pleasure to relay to all of you that his current music video, "Come to the USA", has obtained a whopping 148,116 hits in nearly a week's time on You Tube. The video was uploaded on May 13th. Some of the other activity from Ray's other music videos are as follows...and as you can see, "Come to the USA" has already surpassed "Throw the Bums Out!" in viewer hits in nearly a week's time. The numbers will continue to grow but here's a glimpse...
Throw the Bums Out!: 116,755 hits
Caribou Barbie: 83,964 hits
Thank You: 118,150 hits
We The People: 3,054,962 hits
The illegal immigration debate continues to be a hot item and Ray's hit music video captures all of the frustration and annoyance a lot of us have when it comes to America's reluctance to secure it's borders from illegal immigrants who want to come here not to "find work" or "find a better life", that's the liberal argument. Instead, statistics show the majority of those who come into America illegally by crossing the United States-Mexico border enter the country for illegal behavior...most common is drug smuggling and some say anti-American sentiment spawned from envy to full-blown insane jealousy of our way of life is another reason why the borders should be much more secure.
As Ray Stevens points out at the end of the music video...there's nothing wrong with immigration...just as long as it's done legally...
Here's that blazing hot "Come to the USA" music video one more time...
Ray's 1990 album, Lend Me Your Ears, is charting in the Top-60 of the country comedy list at Amazon. That 1990 album was re-released in CD format in 2005. Doing even better than that, on that same list, is the CD version of Ray's 1987 album titled Crackin' Up. That particular release is in the Top-10 among best sellers. Ray's 1993 release, Classic Ray Stevens, is sitting in the Top-20 among best sellers in the country comedy format. The Box Set collection from 2006 is sitting way high...#3 among country comedy releases. It's also ranked in the Top-30 best sellers when it comes to box set collections of all formats.
Here's some other Ray Stevens titles that are among the Top-100 best sellers of country comedy at Amazon: His All Time Greatest Comic Hits, 1997's The Best of Ray Stevens on the Rhino label, 1987's Greatest Hits, and several more.
The current Ray Stevens album, We The People, is charting in the Top-20 of comedy Mp3 albums. The CD counterpart earlier today was in the Top-100.
As if all of those stats weren't eye-popping enough it's with great pleasure to relay to all of you that his current music video, "Come to the USA", has obtained a whopping 148,116 hits in nearly a week's time on You Tube. The video was uploaded on May 13th. Some of the other activity from Ray's other music videos are as follows...and as you can see, "Come to the USA" has already surpassed "Throw the Bums Out!" in viewer hits in nearly a week's time. The numbers will continue to grow but here's a glimpse...
Throw the Bums Out!: 116,755 hits
Caribou Barbie: 83,964 hits
Thank You: 118,150 hits
We The People: 3,054,962 hits
The illegal immigration debate continues to be a hot item and Ray's hit music video captures all of the frustration and annoyance a lot of us have when it comes to America's reluctance to secure it's borders from illegal immigrants who want to come here not to "find work" or "find a better life", that's the liberal argument. Instead, statistics show the majority of those who come into America illegally by crossing the United States-Mexico border enter the country for illegal behavior...most common is drug smuggling and some say anti-American sentiment spawned from envy to full-blown insane jealousy of our way of life is another reason why the borders should be much more secure.
As Ray Stevens points out at the end of the music video...there's nothing wrong with immigration...just as long as it's done legally...
Here's that blazing hot "Come to the USA" music video one more time...
May 16, 2010
Ray Stevens: Nostalgia Valley, Part 9...
Why, yes, you all are correct! In case you're wondering this is my third or fourth blog entry dedicated to the new Ray Stevens music video hit, "Come to the USA". The video is spreading like fire...much in the same rapid rate of "We The People" in late 2009/early 2010. Time will tell if "Come to the USA" rakes in the million plus hits of "We The People" but in the short term the latest music video has obtained 14,683 hits in 2 days time. Not only that...the latest music video has been added to hundreds of You Tuber's "Favorites" and has, to date, obtained 234 viewer ratings...227 "like" the video and a humorless 7 "dislike" the video. I predict as time goes by the likes will continue to out-number the dislikes simply because illegal immigration is a major problem and rational thinking Americans agree that it's a problem that's been ignored for far too long. I feel illegal immigrants give legal immigrants a bad reputation. I'm sure others feel that same way, too. I will also go out on a limb and say legal immigrants have no problems with the police arresting those who are in the country illegally. Wouldn't it be hilarious if the President, for example, is giving a speech and he makes the claim that Arizona's law will mean doom and gloom for "all immigrants" and some immigrants stand up and say something like: "That's such a lie, Mr President! We're here legally...we've got nothing to worry about."
If I do say so myself this is a great picture of Ray Stevens. An on-line friend of mine sent me this picture...it's taken from a 1980 performance. As you can partially see, Ray was amidst his Urban Cowboy phase where almost every country singer at one time or another wore cowboy clothes and cowboy hats. There were some hold-out's of course by several artists you just couldn't picture wearing a cowboy hat...artists like Conway Twitty, George Jones, Charley Pride, and Glen Campbell are just a few that never wore hats while on stage. Ray never wore a cowboy hat, either, until this trend swept country music. I often compare Ray's stage appearance during this era with Johnny Lee. It was easy to visually confuse the two from a distance if one happened to be a casual fan of country music. However, that's where the similarities ended. Johnny has a distinct voice as does Ray. 
I purposely like to mix and blend the contemporary Ray Stevens with the vintage Ray Stevens. I feel that by doing this it allows those who know of Ray for comedy music videos and country comedy in general to become exposed to a more serious side of Ray Stevens. In Ray's current series of topical songs, each featuring a hefty dose of political humor, some of the people who discover those music videos on You Tube may not even know about Ray's incredible catalog of music...stretching back to the late 1950's. So...that is why in this "Nostalgia Valley" series of blogs I deliberately focus on the vintage and the contemporary Ray Stevens.
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