Expressing the Ray Stevens fandom, Part 2...

Good Wednesday morning all the Ray Stevens fans out there! This time around we mostly focus on a new video upload of Ray having a great ol' time at a Tea Party rally.

Uploaded on You Tube yesterday by a member named BransonRadioLive comes this video clip of Ray Stevens from the Tea Party rally that was held in Branson, Missouri this past Saturday. The actual date was October 23, 2010. This was also the day that he wrapped up his concert series at the Welk Theater.



Wasn't that great??? I liked the way he addressed the song, "Throw the Bums Out!", by making it clear that there's good and bad politicians...and that the song is dedicated to those bad ones. I liked the joke about the word "politics". I liked the video, of course, and here's hoping Ray continues to appear at various Tea Party-themed rallies for quite some time to come.

The mid-term elections are inching ever so close...next Tuesday will be here before anyone knows it: November 2, 2010. In my opinion We The People, the CD that Ray issued back in the early part of this year, would make a great Christmas gift for the politically-oriented in your family. Actually, one doesn't really have to be a political junkie to be entertained by the songs. Many of the songs on the CD state common sense solutions and it's this "common sense/everyday man" approach that allows the CD to be entertaining and political/patriotic at the same time.

But, I will say that hard-core leftists, liberals, and or progressives probably won't be too happy after giving this CD a listen...I'll go further and say the liberal-progressives probably won't even listen to the CD's opening track all the way through before they start seeing red. So it's best if given to somebody that leans center-right politically. In other words it's the perfect gift for the conservative and Tea Partier in your family.

Let's back up 49 years...yes...that's not a typo! It was 49 years ago that Ray Stevens hit the national Hot 100 for the very first time. 1961 saw the release of a comical song with a rather strange title. We come to call it simply "Jeremiah Peabody" or "Jeremiah Peabody's Green and Purple Pills". The full, complete, official title is "Jeremiah Peabody's Polyunsaturated Quick Dissolving Fast Acting Pleasant Tasting Green and Purple Pills". Ray had been issuing singles since 1957 but this is the first one that hit the Hot 100...even reaching Top-40 status. Next year the single, of course, will celebrate it's Golden Anniversary...50 years of Jeremiah Peabody! The single was released in July of 1961 and reached it's Top-40 peak in September. And so, next year around July 2011, I'll throw a party for the single's Golden Anniversary.

Ray Stevens: The Bill Cody Appearance

This past April 2nd Ray Stevens was a guest on the Bill Cody morning show on WSM radio. The name of the show is technically Coffee, Country, and Cody and Ray was the featured guest during the show's last hour. The show was taped at the Country Music Hall of Fame and it included a small audience. The other guests were Anthony Smith and Donna Fargo...each appearing separately during the 8 and 9am hours respectively. Ray made his entrance during the 10am hour and here's my review of what all happened...

Bill kicked off Ray's portion of the show with the April 1st performance of "Everything Is Beautiful" from Opry Country Classics. During the interview segment Ray spoke about life in Georgia as a kid and Bill asked when Ray arrived in Nashville...January 1962 was the reply. This leads into a discussion of old Nashville compared to modern Nashville and this leads into the song, "Nashville", which Ray wrote while being homesick during a tour in Australia. The song was a country hit for Ray in 1973. Bill asks about The Carousel and Ray explains it was a club once owned by Boots Randolph. Ray talks about Boots, Chet, and Floyd due to the three of them being mentioned in "Nashville".

Ray recites a very brief poem about Congress that has everyone laughing and this leads the conversation into politics and the success of "We The People". The new music video, "Throw the Bums Out!", is talked about followed by the airing of the song. Afterward, Bill makes a joke about Ralph Emery's participation in the music video and Ray jokes about the doctor shovel. Later, Bill brings up "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" and Ray talks about the story behind the song and why he passed up the chance of recording "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" for a movie, which eventually B.J Thomas ended up doing. Ray jokingly said that his recording of "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" went on to sell 12 copies. Bill commented that the song would become a #1 for Johnny Cash; this allows Ray to explain the image factor and how Cash's image made the lyrics much more believable.

Bill brings up Ray's performance of "Running Bear" during Sonny James' induction ceremony at the Hall of Fame a few years ago. Ray and George Lindsay appeared on stage doing an elaborate production of the song during the ceremony...both dressed in Indian clothes. Pictures of this can be found on-line by doing a Google image search of Ray Stevens + Running Bear. During the ceremony, Ray quipped that he too once had a song out on the market about running bare. Ray and Bill continue to talk and this leads up to "Safe at Home", a song that Ray sings in his concerts which he had recorded in 2000 but after 9/11 the song to him gained even more of a meaning. Ray performed the song...hours after performing it on Opry Country Classics the night before.

Bill brings up "Mr. Businessman", Ray's pop hit from 1968, and Ray tells the story behind the song and afterward Bill played it to wrap up the show. A final promo for Ray's upcoming We The People full-length CD was also aired by Bill. Ray has put together a commercial for the project and here is the You Tube video. As you can see, it has a telephone number you can call if you don't want to order on-line. You can order from Ray's own web-site store as I did or the URL link provided on the screen. I think multiple URL addresses were created to avoid the possibility of web-page crashing!? Have your volume up when watching the commercial!

Ray Stevens: The We The People Album...

I still refer to full-length CD's as albums. Ray Stevens picked April Fool's Day to release his much anticipated political/patriotic album centered around "We The People". The album, also called We The People, features 22 songs and 4 music videos. It is a CD and DVD package. April 1st is also the day that my Ray Stevens items arrived in the mail. Here you see me wearing the We The People t-shirt and the hat. On the back of the shirt is the tender message: "Throw the Bums Out!". April 1st is also the day that Ray appeared on WSM radio's Opry Country Classics program. Ray sang four songs and told the story behind the song, "Misty". The show was 2 hours but Ray's segment was the final 15 minutes or so. Ray sang "Mississippi Squirrel Revival", "Misty", "The Streak", and "Everything Is Beautiful". Ray is scheduled to appear on Bill Cody's radio program on April 2nd. The show airs on WSM radio as well...and it's a morning show. 5:30am-10am central time, 6:30am-11am eastern time. Bill's show is being taped on location at the Hall of Fame's Ford Theater and from the information that I found the special guests will be featured during the 7am-10am central, 8am-11am eastern time frame. In other words, guests won't start to appear until after the first hour and a half has passed. Donna Fargo as well as Anthony Smith are the other special guests in addition to Ray Stevens. I'm predicting the April 2nd appearance on Bill's show to have emphasis on the We The People project that was released earlier today.

The track list features some brand-new songs and some previous recordings that fit in with the political/patriotic theme. The songs in bold italics are those that were recorded specifically for this collection...

We The People
Caribou Barbie
Stand Up
Three Fractured Factions
Dear Andy Griffith
The Global Warming Song
Let's Roll
Solar Powered Song
Fly Over Country
We Are the Government
The Fallen Ones
Come To the USA
If 10% Is Good Enough For Jesus
Kings and Queens
Obama Nation
Throw the Bums Out
Sucking Sound
Safe at Home
Thank You
Pledge of Allegiance / The Star Spangled Banner
Mr. Businessman
Midnight in Baghdad

The four music videos that appear on the DVD are...

We The People
Caribou Barbie
Throw the Bums Out
Thank You

You can purchase this CD/DVD package at Ray's web-site in the link below...the collection will be on display in the top left side of the screen with a "buy now" link underneath.

raystevens

Ray Stevens: Opry Country Classics

This Thursday, April Fool's Day, Ray Stevens will be the spotlight artist on WSM radio's program, Opry Country Classics. The show will feature eight guests and host, Larry Gatlin. Well, technically, there will be more than eight guests when you count the number of people in the Opry Square Dance group. April Fool's Day usually marks the time where comedy in country music and novelty songs in general are spotlighted or promoted in some way or another. This spotlight is mostly relegated to classic country radio stations and, or, public radio stations. Top-40 country radio stations don't participate in the fun.

A couple of entertainers in country music known for comical material appear on Opry Country Classics this April 1st. Mike Snider will be featured as will Ray Stevens. The show airs from 8-10pm Eastern time and 7-9pm Central time on 650 WSM radio. I am assuming that the program will also be streamed on-line at WSM's web-site. I hope so! If it isn't streamed on-line I think I'll plan a 2 hour drive somewhere Thursday night and listen to the show in my car. I can pick up WSM much better in my car radio in the evening and night hours...for whatever reason my portable radio can't pick the station up that well. Here is the line-up for Opry Country Classics for April 1st:

7pm-9pm Central; 8pm-10pm Eastern

Larry Gatlin: Host

Spotlight Artist: Ray Stevens

Other guests will include: Jeff Bates, Jim Ed Brown, Helen Cornelius, Jack Greene, Opry Square Dancers, Mike Snider, and The Wrights.

This is an image of a poster but it could pass for the image of Ray's 1988 comedy album, I Never Made a Record I Didn't Like. I wrote about this album before...it's the album that features his hilarious version of Michael Jackson's song, "Bad". This is also the album that features "Surfin' USSR" and it's also the album that features "Old Hippie Class Reunion". If any of you are a member of Ray Stevens Backstage as I am you're very familiar with Ray's on-line sit-com, We Ain't Dead Yet. On this show several catch-phrases from the hippie song can be heard during segments where a couple of hippies sit around making commentary on society and of their own misadventures. The hippies sit in the dark where their faces aren't seen too good. Ray's 1988 comedy album is one of my favorites...it has high-brow, low-brow, and mainstream comedy along with parody and irony. Songs included on the 1988 album are...

1. Surfin' USSR
2. The Booger Man
3. Mama's in the Sky With Elvis
4. Language, Nudity, Violence, and Sex
5. Bad
6. The Day I Tried To Teach Charlene MacKenzie How To Drive
7. Blood and Suede
8. Ethelene the Truckstop Queen
9. I Don't Need None of That
10. Old Hippie Class Reunion

"Throw the Bums Out!" is now up to 57,152 hits on You Tube. Although it isn't a competition, this is several hundred more hits than "Caribou Barbie" which currently sits at 56,321. To be specific, 831 hits separate both music videos. Each of these music videos were released around the same time..."Caribou Barbie" was released 11 days prior to "Throw the Bums Out!". The attention grabbing title of "Throw the Bums Out!" of course has helped it gain more ground on "Caribou Barbie". I'm sure Ray doesn't mind at all that his two new music videos are both having strong reaction on You Tube.

Ray Stevens: Pop Goes the Country

Welcome once again to the journey...this time around I'm playing the part of a salesman as I shine the light on a couple of DVD collections that feature the one and only Ray Stevens. The first collection I want to spotlight is Pop Goes the Country, Volume 15. A web-site is selling a 20 volume DVD collection of the famed country music series which ran in syndication from 1974 through 1982. Ray is among the many guests featured on Volume 15. Those who are not familiar with the series, it was hosted by Ralph Emery for six years, 1974-1980. Singer Tom T Hall became the new host in 1980 and he continued in this role through the end of the series in 1983. Jim Varney became a series regular during the final season. Ray's performances on Volume 15 include: "You Are So Beautiful", "Save Me From Myself", and "Shriner's Convention". The time span for those three songs are 1976, 1977, and 1980 but I do not know if the DVD will feature clips from those years or if it's an episode from 1980 and Ray's singing all three of those songs.

Ray is also a featured performer on Pop Goes the Country, Volume 17. It is on this collection of performances that you'll see Ray perform "You've Got the Music Inside", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", "The Streak", "Everything Is Beautiful", and an obscure duet with host Tom T Hall on "It's Hard To Be Humble". I do not own these DVD collections...yet. Once I get them in my possession I'll be able to write more about them. If you want to order them for yourselves all you have to do is do an internet search for "Classic Country DVD" or classiccountrydvd.com and once there you'll be able to navigate through the site easily. The DVD titles will be listed off to the left of the page as there are more DVD collections available besides Pop Goes the Country but since this is my Ray Stevens blog page I'm of course only spotlighting the DVD's with significant Ray Stevens participation.

After all this talk about classic Ray Stevens from the late '70s and early '80s let's jump 30 plus years into the future to the present year, 2010. Ray continues to heat up the You Tube airwaves with his series of political music videos. His most recent, "Throw the Bums Out!", is nearing 50,000 hits in it's first 6 days on-line. "Caribou Barbie" at the moment has more than 52,000 hits in it's first 17 days on-line. These You Tube play counts will continue to rise and so I'll lay off from reporting the totals for awhile. Those two music videos have a combined total right now of 99,259 hits. When you put it into perspective, this means that over the course of 2 weeks Ray Stevens has gotten close to 100,000 video hits...and that's just counting those two music videos. The big one, "We The People", is currently in the 2.8 million range and it also continues to get strong play on You Tube. It's 150,000 or so hits away from topping 3,000,000! As I said in my previous blog, it's exciting to see all of this Ray Stevens activity!!

Ray Stevens: Throw The Bums Out!!

It's been quite an interesting week in Congress and all things politics. As you all know ObamaCare became law this week. This has predictably set off an entire segment of the country who were opposed to the legislation from the very beginning. The thing that often gets lost in all the political talk is nobody in his or her right mind approved of the health care industry's policies and practices. This is the single most thing everyone, I think, can agree on. The specifics of this legislation is where all of the anger and the division resides. The supporters of this law argue that "millions of people will now have health care" while the opponents argue that this is another step toward socialism and Government control over the private sector. I agree with the opposition. I, too, think that this ObamaCare is another step toward socialism. It's just such a shame that health care reform, which all political parties agree needed to be addressed, was used as a stepping stone for a complete overhaul of the health care system where the Government will have much more control than they should have. Another sad part of this whole process is Republicans are painted as "evil" and "inhumane" because ObamaCare, in the minds of liberals and Democrats, is essentially 'health care reform'. They're painting the Republicans into being a party that isn't for health care reform since the Republicans opposed ObamaCare. This insidious accusation is played up in the liberal blog world and on certain cable television channels where certain hosts sympathize with liberal thinkers. The truth is, Republicans also wanted health care reform, but the Democrats created the ObamaCare bill which is so extreme and mired in socialist language that Republicans had no choice but to oppose it. If people want the truth, that's it. There's too many negatives in ObamaCare and taxpayers will find this out rather quick. In other words, the negatives of ObamaCare far outweigh the positives.

The most recent hits for Ray Stevens latest music videos on You Tube are as follows...

We The People: 2,849,658
Thank You: 95,006
Caribou Barbie: 50,602
Throw The Bums Out!: 38,598

"Throw the Bums Out!" has gotten more hits/feedback in it's first few days than "Caribou Barbie", surprising enough. I have some theories as to why. Caribou Barbie is a well-known derogatory nick-name for Sarah Palin...and I think those who do not like her have no intention or desire to watch anything that has to do with her. On the other hand, "Throw the Bums Out!" is much more ambiguous until someone watches the video to see what it's all about. That's just one of my theories. Another theory is "Caribou Barbie" was over-shadowed...it was uploaded on You Tube on March 11th and then less than two weeks later, on March 22, Ray uploaded "Throw the Bums Out!". As I touched upon in a previous blog entry, the culmination of the House passing ObamaCare on March 21 obviously hastened the release of "Throw the Bums Out!". Ray has the best of both worlds, though, as all three of his political music videos are continuing to do well and his patriotic one, "Thank You", is nearing 100,000 hits. Last year, on July 15, 2009 Ray uploaded his 2002 music video "Osama Yo' Mama" onto You Tube. Since it's upload date it's gotten 171,076 hits. For those who've never seen that music video you should definitely check it out at You Tube and leave your comments.

The cassette tape I'm holding was released in 1990 on the Curb Records label. I've spotlighted it before but I feel like spotlighting it again. It's a collection of ten comedy songs that Ray recorded through the years. The collection as mentioned was released in 1990 and at the time what one might refer to as the only recent recording found on here is 1987's "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?". The object of the collection was to reintroduce Ray's classic songs but this time on a new record label and the start of a new decade: the 1990's. The picture used is from 1984...it was a publicity picture that was circulated in magazines promoting the single, "It's Me Again, Margaret". You can click the image for a bigger inspection. The album was certified Gold several years after it's release. I do not have an exact year, though.

1. The Streak; 1974
2. Shriner's Convention; 1980
3. Would Jesus Wear a Rolex; 1987
4. Mississippi Squirrel Revival; 1984
5. Gitarzan; 1969
6. It's Me Again, Margaret; 1984
7. Ahab the Arab; 1969 re-recording
8. In the Mood; 1976
9. Freddie Feelgood; 1966
10. Bridget the Midget; 1970

Ray Stevens spotlights those Congressional Bums...

It's truly fantastic being a Ray Stevens fan...although my enthusiasm hardly, if ever, has diminished through the years it's always kicked into high gear, obviously, whenever something new comes out concerning Ray. A week ago Ray gave us the music video entitled "Caribou Barbie" and as of now it's pulling in strong hits at You Tube. As of this blog entry, that music video is sitting at 42,824 hits. His military music video, "Thank You", is sitting at 91,577 hits. The big one, "We The People", enjoys 2,818,489 hits. Ray has since given us a new music video...it, too, is highly political. This time around he offers a battle-cry in the form of "Throw The Bums Out!". The song itself is catchy and it's music arrangement I'm wanting to say is rooted in jazz, perhaps flavoring traditional pop music. Whichever musical flavor one defines it as being, it immediately catches the ear before the lyrics are even sung...and what about those lyrics??!

The lyrics drive home a sentiment that a lot of people, a lot of frustrated and annoyed people, seem to share. It's timely in that it comes in the aftermath of the House of Representatives passing ObamaCare by a vote of 219-212. It passed by a mere 7 votes. The song's title should become a theme for the mid-term elections this November. The campaigns during election years often kick off in the late spring/early summer and they run non-stop through the fall...picking up even more momentum by election day in November...and so by the summer of 2010 expect to see a lot of rallies become even more intensified with a sizable majority of the voting public on a mission to Throw the Bums Out!