Ray Stevens: Look at this comical Illustration...

A couple days ago Ray Stevens shared a caricature illustration that was drawn by one of his friends, Randy Cullers. The illustration shows Ray seated in front of many suitcases and behind him are people who look similar to Ray and then, off to the right, is a caricature of Ray's dummy, Julio. There's an airplane off to the left and I see windsocks and so the scene takes place just outside the airplane at an airport...coming home from a lengthy tour. The caption of the illustration reads Ray Stevens' Never Ending Purgatory Tour '89. I take that to be an exaggeration. I've never seen Ray's tour itinerary for 1989 to know if it was jam-packed with concert dates but it was probably incredibly lengthy. Are you familiar with Ray's dummy named Julio? Ray, in 1987, recorded a novelty song titled "Sex Symbols". The song was a spoof of the unlikely duo of Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias several years prior. Ray, throughout "Sex Symbols", mispronounces Julio by calling him Julie-o and Ray refers to Don Juan as Don Joo-Ahn. When Ray performed the song in concert and on TV he'd have a dummy of Julio sitting beside him. Ray was still performing this song in his concerts when he was in Branson, Missouri headlining his own theater. A performance of the song is on his 1993 VHS tape, Ray Stevens Live!. I wrote a blog entry awhile back with the video of Ray and the Julio dummy embedded and I've decided to share it again in this blog entry. The song made it's debut on Ray's 1987 comedy album, Crackin' Up. He performed it on Hee Haw and it was released as a single. The B-side of "Sex Symbols" happened to be "The Ballad of Cactus Pete and Lefty". A limited animation music video was produced for the B-side of the single nearly 20 years later. Ray and Buddy Kalb wrote the B-side whereas Buddy himself wrote "Sex Symbols". Ray doesn't perform the song in his concerts anymore. I think the last time he performed the song in concert happened to be while he was in Branson, Missouri. The times I'd seen him in concert it wasn't performed. 

Ray Stevens: Re-issue, Re-Release, Re-Packaging, etc.

This blog entry is sort of like a sequel to a blog entry I wrote several months ago (or perhaps several years ago) where I spotlight re-issues and re-packaged albums released on Ray Stevens. This blog entry is more or less of a technical nature for some. As mentioned in my blog introduction I write about all aspects of Ray's career...meaning that some blog entries are focused on such things as album cover art or the differences between re-issues and re-packaging and so forth. I don't nitpick over the words re-issue, re-release, re-packaging...specifically meaning I don't concern myself with whether or not something should be defined as a re-release or a re-issue. Some people get worked up over calling something a re-issue or a re-release. I use both descriptive words interchangeably. Now, I do make a distinction if something is re-packaged...because a re-packaging features new cover art, usually a different album title, and often songs in different sequential order from the original release. If you're a longtime fan of Ray Stevens then you'll know that there have been a lot of compilation albums released on him...both here in America and overseas throughout the decades. A few of the compilation albums, if you look at the track listings, obviously contain songs from previously released studio albums...but in some cases the compilation consists almost entirely of a previously released studio album with some additional songs added in. An example of that being 1996's Great Gospel Songs. This compilation includes all of the songs found on Ray's 1972 gospel album, Turn Your Radio On, with a few extra inspirational songs added in. Great Gospel Songs would be considered a re-packaging of Turn Your Radio On. 

In the two photo collage above we see cassette copies of the 1987 Ray Stevens album, Crackin' Up. The photo in panel one is the original release with the deep blue, almost purple lettering of Includes the Hit Single above the red lettering of "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex" up against the dark blue background. The cassette copy in my collection is what you see in panel one. My grandfather purchased the cassette the year it was released and I've had it in my collection for more than 30 years. Now, then, the photo in panel two is a re-issue/re-release of Crackin' Up. Note how the coloring below the brick wall is a light brown and "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex" is written in black letters. Also, the album title went from being written in dark blue, cracked letters to white, non-cracked letters. Aside from those graphic differences on the album cover everything else is the same...which is why it's a re-release/re-issue. Now that I've written about a re-issue/re-release and a re-packaging this is another example of what a re-package looks like...

A re-packaging is when an original studio album is re-released with different cover art and a different title and sometimes added songs or sometimes a song or two is omitted in the re-packaged release. In panel one there's He Thinks He's Ray Stevens, released in 1984. In panel two we have Mississippi Squirrel Revival, released in 1992. The two releases have the same songs, and so no song was omitted, and the songs appear in the same sequential order on both albums...the difference between them being the cover art and album title and that's why the 1992 release is considered a re-packaging rather than a re-issue or re-release.

Ray Stevens sings "I'm My Own Grandpaw"...

Hello all...I was going to write a blog entry about something else that appeared on social media from Ray Stevens within the last several days but while I was writing the blog entry prior to this one Ray uploaded a video performance from CabaRay Nashville of "I'm My Own Grandpaw". Ray had recorded this song for his 1987 novelty album, Crackin' Up. I was not aware, back then, of the song's lengthy history and so I assumed it was a new song Ray had recorded for that album. I was 10 years old going on 11 when the 1987 album was released. "I'm My Own Grandpaw" dates back to 1947 and the novelty duo, Lonzo and Oscar. The two of them, along with Homer and Jethro, were massively popular novelty acts in country music. In fact Homer and Jethro, as well as an assorted list of recording acts in both country and pop, did versions of "I'm My Own Grandpaw". I'm using the spelling as 'grandpaw' because that is how it's spelled on Crackin' Up and it's the spelling used on a lot of releases of the song by other recording acts in an attempt at visual humor. Ray mentions that the story of the song was inspired by anecdotes attributed to Mark Twain that one of the song's writers came across. The song's writers are Moe Jaffe and Dwight Latham.

Ray Stevens: 1988 Nashville Now performance and Interview...

It's me once more...and in my third blog entry of the day I'm focusing on the most recent social media post from Ray Stevens. There have several social media posts from Ray within the last couple of days and I've been playing catch-up which is why there's been multiple blog entries posted by me today. This video clip comes from earlier today and it's Ray's performance of "Gourmet Restaurant" on a May 1988 episode of Nashville Now. The song originated on his 1987 album, Crackin' Up. The video clip shows the performance of the song and the interview with Ralph Emery...I'd love to have seen the other Ray Stevens performance from that episode.

Ray Stevens; 1988

In the interview there's not much discussion about what Ray's currently doing in the studio or experiences he's had on the road...this appearance more than likely was did strictly for publicity purposes given there wasn't a performance of something brand new...but yet we don't know if Ray sang something soon to be released later on in the show or not. Nashville Now ran 90 minutes each weeknight and the guests sang two songs sandwiched between interviews and performances from the other guests. The interview always took place after the guest performed their first song of the night. There weren't any follow-up interviews within the episode. Now, having said all that, Ralph mentions an upcoming album from Ray. I Never Made a Record I Didn't Like hit retail stores in June of 1988, a month after this appearance, so it's hard to tell if Ray later performed a song from that upcoming album or not. Ray spoke of the album's title and it's reference to Will Rogers. Ralph asked Ray if he personally feels he never made a record he didn't like. Ray jokingly remarked that he always likes any song he's recorded...but maybe 2 weeks later he'll have regrets about it. In this 1988 interview Ralph, out of the blue, asks Ray about the song focusing on Barry Manilow...which became a hit for Ray in 1979, nearly 10 years earlier. Ray spoke of the song's title, "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow", and that it was written by Dale Gonyea. The reason Ralph had brought it up is explained in the interview. Ray, by 1988, had long since removed that particular song from his concert set-list and I'm sure he was surprised that Ralph would bring it up...he even looked surprised.

I captured a lot of screen caps from this appearance as I did his 1987 Nashville Now appearance (uploaded on Ray's social media sites last month). The screen cap below is from the May 1988 episode of Nashville Now.

Ray Stevens and Ralph Emery share a laugh; 1988

Ray Stevens: 1987 Nashville Now performance and Interview...

Hello all!! It's been awhile since I've posted a fan created Ray Stevens blog entry but here I am with a video embed of a 1987 Ray Stevens performance and interview! The performance comes from an October 1987 appearance on Nashville Now, the show that Ralph Emery hosted for 10 years (1983-1993). The set was light colored and lit up and I believe 1987 was the year that this Nashville Now set was introduced. The prior set contained a sort of dark brown as well as light brown paneling and Ralph himself had a beard in those earlier years of the show. In this 1987 appearance, as mentioned, the set is different but not only that the beard is gone and Ralph has just a mustache. This set and Ralph's mustache would remain the look for several years until another set was constructed (a light blue background, grey chairs, and a grey desk) and in those last few years of the series Ralph was clean shaven and began dying his hair. The photo of Ralph on his 1991 Memories memoir is what I'm referring to. However, the series had one final set change before ending it's run in 1993, and that set design returned to a brown/darker color scheme but it wasn't identical to the early '80s design.

Ray Stevens and Ralph Emery, 1987

In this video clip Ray performs "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?" and in the interview segment that follows he speaks about the song. Ralph asks how the song came about...and this leads to one of the song's writers, Margaret Archer, coming onto the set to meet/wave at the studio audience and to those at home watching. Margaret co-wrote the song with Chet Atkins and it was a very popular song for Ray throughout the spring/summer of 1987 while televangelist scandals were popping up left and right in the news cycle. Ralph promotes two of Ray's current releases, Crackin' Up and Greatest Hits, Volume Two. Ralph reads off song titles on the hits album but asks about "Mama's in the Sky With Elvis". Ray tells the story of the song and even recites the first verse and chorus in the interview. I had long thought that Ray put the song on there as an exclusive but according to Ray's interview there was suppose to be a single available in stores of "Mama's in the Sky With Elvis" when that LP was released but "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?" had something of a more extended life than anticipated and it continued to be in-demand and popular in various pockets of the country that it perhaps wouldn't have made sense to move on too early while a current single is still having impact. Ray remarked that, by now, "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?" has reached it's peak as far as single sales go but the album, Crackin' Up, he says continues to sell. That's just a very brief overview of the video clip but, of course, it's a whole lot better to see the video clip for yourselves.

Ray Stevens Single Releases on Vinyl: 1987

The second single release on Ray Stevens in 1987 came along this month, actually. "Three Legged Man" hit the market in August 1987 as the follow-up to April 1987's release, "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?". Unfortunately, for the two additional single releases that year, "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?" would prove to take a life of it's own and overshadow whatever impact the follow-up singles may have generated. "Three Legged Man" tells the comical story of a man who falls for a woman he met...and even after being told the woman is already in a relationship with a man named Peg Leg Johnson. Ray's character is undeterred and he steals the woman and also takes the wooden leg to prevent (he thinks) Peg Leg from chasing them down. To Ray's surprise Peg Leg starts giving chase... "...hopping and flopping..." on one leg trying to keep up. Ray tells of every place he, the two legged woman, and the one legged fool have passed though during the literal cross country foot chase. Finally, though, Peg Leg's exhaustion gets the best of him and he pleas for something of a truce. He relents and says that Ray can keep the woman for himself but in the name of all things decent he'd like to have his leg returned. However, there's a twist ending to the story, that I won't give away in case you hadn't heard the song. The song was penned by Shel Silverstein.

The third single release on Ray Stevens in 1987 came along in December. "Sex Symbols" (from the pen of Buddy Kalb) had actually become a very popular song in Ray's concerts in the months and years after it was released. In fact he performed the song on television for the first time on an episode of Hee Haw...and I think it could have been on an episode he was the guest co-host. I should clarify that it was the first time I had seen him perform the song...he could have performed the song on Nashville Now as well but if so I hadn't seen it. The song's inspiration was an unlikely but massively popular duet by Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias called "To All the Girls I've Loved Before" a couple of years earlier. In "Sex Symbols", Ray performs it as a duet with Julio...but it isn't the famed Latin singer featured with Willie Nelson, though. Ray does a broad vocal impression of Julio Iglesias and whenever Ray speaks to Julio he consistently mispronounces the name as Jewel-E-Oh to which Julio always reminds him "no, no, it's Julio, Julio!!". Throughout the song the 'two' reflect on their popularity with women and they compare themselves to other perceived sex symbols (although Ray deliberately names very unlikely sex symbols for comical effect). As an added touch whenever Ray performed the song on television or in concert he'd always deliver it as a ventriloquist. A dummy of Julio would sit next to him and Ray would operate it's mouth whenever Julio would speak. You can see a performance of the song on the Ray Stevens Live! home video from 1993.

The first single release from Ray Stevens in 1987 came along, as mentioned, in April. "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?" became a very popular hit that year and one that happened to be very timely as it dealt with the national controversy of scandalous televangelists. In this song (penned by Chet Atkins and Margaret Archer) Ray sings about waking up one morning and upon watching television he's greeted by a man asking for donations. He describes the man's attire and notices the Rolex strapped on the preacher's arm. This causes Ray to wonder if Jesus would be wearing a Rolex when he returns. The social commentary combined with the televangelist scandals went hand in hand and although you're not going to see any chart publications showing the song perched at the top do not let that mislead you in any way. The song was more popular than it's chart standings (something that's a common theme in Ray's career). The controversial subject matter it dealt with created a polarizing atmosphere and it never received the airplay it truly deserved given how popular the song was. In 1988 the song was nominated for a Grammy and if I needed to prove it's popularity even further Ray performed it on The Tonight Show...which wasn't necessarily a hot-bed for country music performers...and by this time Ray had firmly established himself as a country music performer/country comedian. Radio legend, Paul Harvey, dedicated two separate editorial columns to the song which ran in newspapers across the country.

The B-sides of two of the singles I wrote about above were "Cool Down, Willard" and "The Ballad of Cactus Pete and Lefty". "Cool Down, Willard" is the B-side of "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?" while "The Ballad of Cactus Pete and Lefty" appeared as the B-side of "Sex Symbols". In the case of "Cool Down, Willard" we have a very funny song about a farmer who's frustrated that his entire family is obsessed with the weatherman, Willard Scott, of The Today Show. In the song Ray plays the part of the frustrated husband as he complains about all the attention directed at Willard and how it's interfering and destroying his family life. Things are so bad, according to Ray, that nobody helps him with the chores and the women in his life (his wife, his grandmother, and his aunt) spend their day talking and gossiping about all things Willard Scott. Ray gets the chance to do his grandmother voice several times as he relates to us how much his grandmother's flipped out over Willard. "The Ballad of Cactus Pete and Lefty" (written by Ray and Buddy Kalb) is a comical tale of a Western codger and his pet sidewinder, Lefty. It's a spoof of campfire storytelling sessions but in this case it's set in the Old West as Cactus Pete tells of the many adventures he and Lefty have encountered while living in the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico. A running gag in the song is every time Cactus Pete mentions some sort of animal the ever hungry Lefty would shake it's tail in excitement. Like so many Ray Stevens songs the music helps paint a mental picture. Among the adventures recounted is the time Lefty fought an Eagle...described by Cactus Pete in his distinctive gravelly voice, "a baldy headed eagle...".

The B-side of "Three Legged Man" is none other than "Doctor, Doctor Have Mercy On Me" (from the pen of Buddy Kalb). As mentioned earlier this single was released in August 1987 as the second single from Crackin' Up, Ray's album that year. The essence of many Ray Stevens songs is the fact they take on lives of their own...regardless of when they were originally recorded or originally released. "Doctor, Doctor Have Mercy On Me" has always been a favorite of mine and as those of you should know by now it's since been uploaded as a music video on YouTube...some 31 years after it was originally recorded. The video itself, as I learned, was produced in 2013 and had aired on a television series Ray hosted for a retooled version of The Nashville Network (now called Heartland TV). Ray-ality TV was picked up by The Nashville Network in 2013. This 78 episode series was a follow-up to a short-lived subscription based service called Ray Stevens Backstage. It was in service for probably a little over a year, 2009-2011. I have some blog entries in the archives from 2009 spotlighting the subscription-based service and so I know it launched in 2009. The focal point of this service was to spotlight exclusive content and it served as the home for early episodes of his on-line sitcom, We Ain't Dead Yet, which starred Ray and featured many of his close friends and peers in the music business. The series was set in a fictional retirement home called The Encore. Ralph Emery appeared in several episodes as Doctor Wellman...which he plays in the music video of "Doctor, Doctor Have Mercy On Me". After Ray-ality TV aired on The Nashville Network in 2013 it became an on-line series in the spring of 2014 on YouTube. I'm thinking it was put on-line due to the fact that the re-launched Nashville Network had very little subscribers nationally and as a result not many people were able to see Ray's previous series the first time around.

Today, of course, Ray's television series is a music/talk show titled Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville and it's locally syndicated on PBS stations nationally. His video site, RayStevens.TV, is subscription based and it's the place to watch all episodes of the CabaRay Nashville television series that have previously aired. His current television series has been in production since 2015. It was originally titled Ray Stevens' Nashville and it aired for two 13 episode seasons on RFD-TV (2015-2016). It moved to local PBS syndication beginning in January 2017 under the new title, Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville. There have been 78 half hour episodes produced of this particular series. Episodes never took place at the actual CabaRay showroom, though, until after it opened it's doors in January of this year. The last nine episodes of it's most recent season (Season Six) took place at the CabaRay showroom. As you all should know Ray and his associates had hoped to have the CabaRay open by the summer of 2017 or at the very least the fall of 2017 but it finally had it's grand opening in January this year.

In closing here's that music video for "Doctor, Doctor Have Mercy On Me"...

Ray Stevens: Doctor, Doctor Have Mercy on Me...

Yes, it's me and I'm posting the blog entry I hinted about in my previous post. In this blog entry I'm spotlighting the recently uploaded music video from Ray Stevens, "Doctor, Doctor Have Mercy on Me". This song goes back a bit in the career of Ray Stevens and was first heard in 1987 on his comedy album, Crackin' Up. That's the album which features Ray dressed as Humpty Dumpty on the cover. I've mentioned the album and this particular song numerous times in blog entries over the last decade but it wasn't until this morning that I knew a music video had been made. Ray once had a series on a retooled version of The Nashville Network titled Ray-ality TV. It was a series that featured a hodgepodge of sketches and clips mostly from his archives but there would be exclusive content as well. This music video (from 2013) happened to be one of the latter. It had never been on-line until Ray uploaded it yesterday evening. I wasn't on-line yesterday evening and so I didn't see the video until this morning when I arrived home from work. Ray re-recorded "Doctor, Doctor Have Mercy on Me" and eventually placed it on a CD titled Laughter is the Best Medicine. That CD remains, to date, the only place you can find the obscure "PSA Song". Anyway...here's the music video for "Doctor, Doctor Have Mercy on Me". The timeless lyrics reflect all of our frustrations. Appearing in the video along side Ray are Sabrina (as the nurse) and the legendary Ralph Emery (as the doctor).

Ray Stevens and Televangelists, A Silver Anniversary...

The year, 1987, 25 years ago...a Silver Anniversary for a certain single from Ray Stevens. "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?" came about in 1987 amidst the various scandals going on in the world of televangelism. One of the song's writers, Chet Atkins, often remarked that the song was written long before televangelists became embroiled in scandals. Obviously, though, the single's release was perfect timing as it's content spoke to a lot of people. The song's writers are Chet Atkins and Margaret Archer and it appears on a variety of Ray Stevens albums. It's home album, as I like to call it, arrived in 1987 and titled Crackin' Up. This particular album from Ray was filled with a lot of nutty comedy...as the title suggests...and "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?" leads off the collection. One of the things that's noticeable about the album now, and was probably just as noticeable in 1987, is that "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?" comes off as more serious than the other tracks even though it's as comical as everything else on the album. Some of the other tracks on this album include songs with titles such as "The Flies of Texas Are Upon You", "Cool Down Willard", "Sex Symbols", and "Three Legged Man". "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?" found it's way onto the 1991 Greatest Hits release from Curb Records in 1991. On the collection it was track 9 while the album's final track was a newly recorded alternate take on "There's a Star Spangled Banner", a song Ray originally recorded with almost entirely different lyrics barely two years earlier in 1989. The original is on Beside Myself. The 1991 version uses the same title, melody, and chorus of the 1989 original but the verses are entirely different. The Curb collection below spotlights almost exclusively on the non-comical recordings with the exception being 1969's "Along Came Jones" and 1987's "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?". A rare inclusion on this collection is his 1975 take on "Indian Love Call", a hit single from Ray that didn't get quite the attention it should've gotten in the ensuing years.

Get The Best of Ray Stevens was the third hits album released on Ray in 1987. The first, of course, was Greatest Hits and the sequel, Greatest Hits, Volume Two, shown below. This Get The Best of Ray Stevens was sold on television and it contains 2 vinyl albums worth of material. The commercial for the collection ran a little more than a minute and I saw it a few times but wish I could see the commercial again. Amazingly, though, in this era of You Tube it hasn't resurfaced. "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?" isn't featured on this collection due to the fact that this album was issued earlier in 1987 prior to the single's release. Nevertheless this 20 song collection is a wonderful stroll through musical lane. The collection features his bluesy, slow tempo version of "Furthermore" from 1984 instead of the uptempo version he did in 1962.

Greatest Hits, Volume Two pulled 8 songs from Get The Best of Ray Stevens and added then current single, "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?", as track 1 and a newly recorded song, "Mama's in the Sky With Elvis", as track 5. For the longest time this was one of the only collections in print that featured his 1979 hit "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow" as all of his Warner Brothers recordings (with the exception of "In The Mood") had long been out of circulation by 1987. "In The Mood", recorded as a band of chickens and released as the Henhouse Five Plus Too in 1976, is on this Volume Two release. In fact, that recording and "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow" are the only recordings Ray did for Warner Brothers that appear on compilation albums in spite of the fact that he had quite a few more hit singles with the label than just two recordings. As I've often said, if you don't own the original vinyl albums that Ray released on Warner Brothers in the late '70s as I do and if you still haven't purchased the digital downloads of a trio of 1995 releases spotlighting his Warner Brothers material then you're going to be out of luck at hearing the material because there's always the possibility that one day the songs will become unavailable all over again. Two of those 1995 releases, currently available as Mp3 digital downloads at Amazon, are: Do You Wanna Dance? and The Serious Side of Ray Stevens. A third release from Warner Brothers in 1995, Cornball, for whatever reason has never been released as a digital download.

One of the things that the internet allows is to travel back in time and read vintage news articles. I often do this sort of thing in my never ending research about Ray Stevens, his music, and his career. Here's a Google item, a reprint of a 1987 news article from the Gainesville Sun that appeared in their May 31, 1987 issue. The article was written by Joe Edwards and is one of those syndicated articles that are often printed in multiple newspapers. The article is a write-up of "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?" and it includes quoted commentary from Ray about the song, religion, and televangelists. The song can be found on the 1993 collection below which is simply titled, Collection.

This CD was a little bit more ambitious in that it features 14 tracks instead of the standard 10-11 songs per release. The project features "Surfin' U.S.S.R." and "I Saw Elvis In a U.F.O.", from 1988 and 1989 respectively. Neither single reached the country charts but over the course of time both songs have become popular recordings in his career due to their exposure on You Tube and in the case of "I Saw Elvis In a U.F.O." the exposure it got at his Branson, Missouri theater in the early '90s. "Santa Claus Is Watching You" is featured on this collection, too. This recording, from 1985, became popular by way of music video exposure and the fact that it was featured on his #1 Gold album, I Have Returned. "Surfin' U.S.S.R." became a music video, too, and was seen by the millions of people who purchased Comedy Video Classics in 1992 and 1993. On Ray Stevens Live!, the 1993 home video, it includes a performance of "I Saw Elvis In a U.F.O.". The performance explains why the song became such a fan favorite in concert. The last time I saw Ray in concert he performed "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?" and it was great! The song was nominated for a Grammy in 1988 and he performed it on several non-country music oriented television shows in addition to the obvious country programs on The Nashville Network and the syndicated Hee-Haw series. The song also managed to get mentioned on Paul Harvey's radio program and in his columns during the televangelist scandals of the late '80s.

Examining 1987's Ray Stevens...

One of the funniest songs that Ray Stevens recorded during the second half of the 1980's was "Sex Symbols". I'm quite sure a lot of people who hear the song or have seen him perform the song in concert are well aware of the duo partnership that's being spoofed. "Sex Symbols" for those unaware is a song that comments on the sexual appeal of several male celebrities but for comedic purposes there's also playful mentions of celebrities not exactly considered sex symbol material. Ray sings the song as a duet between himself and a man named Julio...now, by giving out that bit of information you now know that the song is spoofing the unlikely but successful vocal partnership of Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias. For the record, though, Ray doesn't imitate Willie Nelson...so for those curious and wish to seek out the song for yourselves it won't feature him impersonating Willie. Ray does a broad impression of Julio, though! In concert Ray would sing the song as if he were a ventriloquist...with a dummy of Julio sitting on his lap. An in concert performance of the song can be found on Ray Stevens Live, the home video he released in 1993. "Sex Symbols", as you can see from the image, was released in 1987. Although the song was pretty popular in concert and it received a lot of exposure through television appearances during that era it didn't make the national music charts. The inclusion of "Sex Symbols" as well as "I'm My Own Grandpaw", "Three Legged Man", and "Cool Down Willard" on the 1987 Crackin' Up album led some narrow minded critics of the time to label the album R-rated and unsuitable for the family. Can you believe such nonsense? I wouldn't have believed it either if I hadn't myself seen a few of the critic's reactions to the album.

First off, Ray never to my knowledge made any statements that his albums would be family friendly and lack any kind of adult-themes. Secondly, why would critics rate an album based upon pre-existing expectations? Too many times music critics tend to have this vision of what an album is suppose to sound like or be like and if the album doesn't measure up to their standards then they trash the album in their reviews. All of Ray's comedy albums are different from one another. 1987's Crackin' Up is way different than 1986's Surely You Joust, for example. 1991's #1 With a Bullet is vastly different than 1997's Hum It or 1985's I Have Returned. I think that critics get this sound or this expectation in their minds before they listen to something and if it's different than what they expected they tend to dislike it...even if the material is still top-notch and funny.

It's hard to imagine boisterous and bouncy novelty songs, which Crackin' Up is abundant with, could ever be labeled "graphic", "adult-oriented", or "R-rated". Such over-the-top adjectives are misleading and could cause a potential customer to think that the album is filled with smut and four letter words, etc etc. The bottom line is critics need to be more responsible with how they critique.

The songs I mentioned are harmless and witty...silly as well...Ray, I don't believe, had any subliminal messages at all when deciding to record those songs. The only song that one could consider hard-hitting or pointed is the opening track, "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?", which skewered televangelists and the concept of millionaire preachers. That particular song was the main focal point of the year for Ray...and the 1987 album was assembled to, I assume, cash-in on the Rolex single. It wasn't long after that single was issued and had become a hit that MCA released Greatest Hits, Volume Two which featured the song as the opening track.

"Three Legged Man" is a comical song about a man who runs off with another man's wife. The wife's husband happens to have a peg leg...and in an effort to create havoc the man steals the husband's peg leg in the early morning darkness. As the song goes on we're told of the adventures of the couple as they flee from the one legged husband in hot pursuit...meanwhile, the one legged husband has some news of his own to deliver once he catches up with the cheating duo. "Cool Down Willard" has some fun with Willard Scott, the weatherman. In that song Ray sings of how his wife, grandmother, and his aunt all have a thing for Willard and they all congregate every weekday morning to catch his weather reports and marvel at his clothes and hair. To make matters worse, the wife spends most of her day shopping and talking on the telephone with her friends bragging about how wonderful Willard is. Does this sound like a song that's adult-oriented or graphic? Did critics consider the swiping of a peg leg to be graphic? What's with those kinds of critics?

"I'm My Own Grandpaw" had been around since the 1940's...Ray's version obviously is produced and arranged with a much more modern sound. The song tells the story of how a complicated family tree is planted. A man ends up becoming married to his step-grandmother after his wife becomes the mother of his mother. It's a very funny tale of step-children and step-parents and how, through marriage, a family tree can exist relating everyone to one another. Some critics have analyzed the song line by line...I'm referring to the original by Lonzo and Oscar...in an attempt to show that the song stays within the boundary of legalized marriages. The intentional omitting of the word, step, in front of brother, sister, mother, and father is where the humor comes from.

All in all Crackin' Up is a very funny album filled with a lot of nutty, silly songs living up to it's title. The album is NOT this adult-oriented, R-rated smut fest that critics would have you believe. Other albums from Ray Stevens in 1987 include...

Greatest Hits
Greatest Hits, Volume Two
Get The Best of Ray Stevens {television advertised double album}