Harold Ray Ragsdale, known professionally as Ray Stevens, is an American country and pop singer-songwriter and comedian, known for his Grammy-winning recordings "Everything Is Beautiful" and "Misty", as well as comedic hits such as "Gitarzan" and "The Streak". He has worked as a producer, music arranger, songwriter, television host, and solo artist; been inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, and the Christian Music Hall of Fame; and received gold albums for his music sales.
1,837 Seconds of Humor is the debut album of Ray Stevens, released in 1962. The front of the album shows a sheik that rides a camel, which is a reference to Stevens' song "Ahab the Arab." All of the material on the album was written by Ray Stevens and published by Lowery Music Co., Inc. (BMI). The back of the album cover contains an essay of biographical information of Stevens from his youth in his hometown of Clarkdale, Georgia to the time of this album's release and gives brief descriptions of all the songs on the album. Four singles were lifted from the album: "Jeremiah Peabody's Poly Unsaturated Quick Dissolving Fast Acting Pleasant Tasting Green and Purple Pills", "Scratch My Back ", "Ahab the Arab", and "Further More."
This Is Ray Stevens is the second album by Ray Stevens. It was released in 1963 by Mercury Records on the catalog numbers of MG 20828 and MG 60828. Like Stevens' previous album, 1,837 Seconds of Humor, all of the songs were written by Ray Stevens and published by Lowery Music Company, Inc. (BMI). The differences between both albums is that Stevens makes an attempt to prove his artistic versatility on this album by including six comical novelty songs and six ballads of serious music.
"Ahab the Arab" is a novelty song written and recorded by Ray Stevens in 1962. In the song, Arab is pronounced "Ay-rab" to rhyme with Ahab. The hero of the story is Clyde the camel and Stevens has made references to Clyde numerous times throughout his career.
"You Are So Beautiful" is a song written by Billy Preston and Bruce Fisher that was first released in 1974 on Preston's ninth studio album, The Kids & Me. It was also the B-side of his single "Struttin'". Later that same year, English singer Joe Cocker released a slower version of the song on his album I Can Stand a Little Rain. Cocker's version was produced by Jim Price, and released as a single in November 1974. It became one of Cocker's biggest chart hits, peaking at number five on the United States' Billboard Hot 100, and at number four on Canada's Top Singles chart.
"Everything Is Beautiful" is a song written, composed, and performed by Ray Stevens. It has appeared on many of Stevens' albums, including one named after the song, and has become a pop standard and common in religious performances. The children heard singing the chorus of the song, using the hymn, "Jesus Loves the Little Children", are from the Oak Hill Elementary School in Nashville, Tennessee. This group includes Stevens' two daughters. The song was responsible for two wins at the Grammy Awards of 1971: Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for Ray Stevens and Grammy Award for Best Inspirational Performance for Jake Hess. Stevens' recording was the Number 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in the summer of 1970. The song also spent three weeks atop the adult contemporary chart. Many country stations played the song, with it peaking at number 39 on Billboard's chart. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 12 song of 1970. The song includes anti-racist and pro-tolerance lyrics such as "We shouldn't care 'bout the length of his hair/Or the color of his skin."
"Lucille" is a song written by Roger Bowling and Hal Bynum, and recorded by American country music artist Kenny Rogers. It was released in January 1977 as the second and final single from the album Kenny Rogers. It became Rogers' first major hit as a solo artist after leaving the successful country/rock group The First Edition the previous year. An international hit, it reached number 1 on the Billboard Country Singles chart and number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. Overseas, "Lucille" reached the top of the UK Singles Chart in June 1977, the first of Rogers' two number one singles there.
"Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour " is a novelty song by Lonnie Donegan. Released as a single in 1959, it entered the UK Singles Chart on 6 February 1959 and peaked at number three. It was also Donegan's greatest chart success in the United States, reaching number five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1961.
"Crying Time" is a song from 1964 written and originally recorded by the American country music artist Buck Owens. It gained greater success in the version recorded by Ray Charles, which won two Grammy Awards in 1967. Numerous other cover versions have been performed and recorded over the intervening years.
Even Stevens was Ray Stevens' third studio album, released in 1968. It was also his first album for Monument Records as well as his first studio album in five years, though he previously released four singles for Monument, starting with "ABC" in 1965. Before the release of this album, Stevens concentrated on writing and producing songs for other artists.
Gitarzan was Ray Stevens' fourth studio album, released in 1969, as well as his second for Monument Records. Unlike his previous album, Even Stevens, this album is completely in the genres of novelty and comedy. Although this is a true studio album, all of the songs are overdubbed with cheering and applauding of an audience to provide the feeling of a live album. Contents include three of the Coasters' hits, "Mr. Custer," and "Alley Oop." The album also contains re-recordings of his two novelty hits, "Harry the Hairy Ape" and "Ahab the Arab." "Freddie Feelgood " makes its first appearance on an album but is overdubbed with audience noises for this album.
Everything Is Beautiful was Ray Stevens' sixth studio album, released in 1970, as well as his first for Barnaby Records. After making regular appearances on The Andy Williams Show during the show's eleventh season, Stevens left Monument Records in early 1970 and signed with Barnaby . The album was rush-released to capitalize on the success of the single of the same name, which was the album's sole single. Cover versions include "Get Together," "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head," John Denver's hit "Leaving on a Jet Plane," "A Time for Us," Bob Dylan's song "She Belongs to Me," and two of the Beatles' songs.
Boogity Boogity was Ray Stevens' eleventh studio album, released in 1974, as well as his sixth for Barnaby Records. For this album, Stevens returns to the genres of novelty and comedy. The album was released to capitalize on the success of his hit single "The Streak", which was inspired by the fad of streaking during that time period. Stevens' two songs, "Freddie Feelgood " and "Bagpipes That's My Bag," were taken from his album Gitarzan and were reissued on this album. The front of the album cover shows Stevens running in a blur, seemingly in the nude, and also contains the phrases "Woosh!!" and "Don't look Ethel!" the latter of which is part of the lyrics to the primary single of the album.
"Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" is a song written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach for the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It won an Oscar for Best Original Song. David and Bacharach also won Best Original Score. The song was recorded by B. J. Thomas in seven takes, after Bacharach expressed dissatisfaction with the first six. In the film version of the song, Thomas had been recovering from laryngitis, which made his voice sound more abrasive than in the 7-inch release. The film version featured a separate vaudeville-style instrumental break in double time while Paul Newman performed bicycle stunts.
Ray Stevens' Greatest Hits is a collection of songs that Ray Stevens previously recorded for Barnaby and Monument Records from 1968 to 1971. This marks the first album appearance of Stevens' novelty hit single "Bridget the Midget ." This collection contains two more singles from Barnaby while the rest are recordings for Monument. "Gitarzan" is the album version that begins with noises of an audience. "Harry the Hairy Ape" and "Ahab the Arab" are not the original recordings but re-recordings that were made for Monument. "Mr. Businessman" is the album version.
Turn Your Radio On is Ray Stevens' eighth studio album and his third for Barnaby Records, released in 1972. Unlike Stevens' previous album releases, this album shows Stevens' spiritual side and was his first album of gospel. The fourth track, "Let Your Love Be a Light unto the People", was written by Stevens' brother, John Ragsdale. The sixth track, "Have a Little Talk with Myself", was taken from Stevens' album of the same name. The album includes four singles, three of which were issued before the album's release: "A Mama and a Papa", the traditional gospel song "All My Trials", the title track, and "Love Lifted Me".
Misty was Ray Stevens' twelfth studio album as well as being his seventh and final for Barnaby Records. It was released in 1975. This album contains primarily cover versions of various songs that were popular from the 1920s to the 1950s, though there are two original songs for the album as well. Four singles were lifted from the album: the title track, "Indian Love Call," "Young Love," and "Mockingbird Hill".
The Feeling's Not Right Again is a collection of previously recorded songs by Ray Stevens, released in 1979. All of the selections were chosen from his studio albums that were recorded for Warner Bros. Records. Stevens had a total of five singles released by Warner Bros., but only three are featured on this collection; the rest of the selections are album tracks. The first track, "I Need Your Help Barry Manilow," is a novelty single that made its first album appearance on this collection; both it and the title track are homages to singer-songwriter Barry Manilow, and the album's cover art is itself a spoof of Manilow's album Tryin' to Get the Feeling. "I Need Your Help Barry Manilow" was a minor hit for Stevens, narrowly missing the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 and reaching #11 on the adult contemporary music charts.
The Very Best of Ray Stevens is a collection of 12 previously released singles that were hits for novelty/country artist, Ray Stevens; it was released in December 1975 by Barnaby Records. While this collection has more emphasis on Stevens' hits for Barnaby, it also contains three from the label of Monument Records and two from Mercury Records. The version of "Mr. Businessman" is the single release. "Gitarzan" is the album version that begins with an audience cheering and applauding. "Ahab the Arab" is the original recording that was released by Mercury.
All-Time Greatest Hits is a collection of 23 songs that were previously recorded by Ray Stevens, released in 2001. Like many collections of Stevens' music, it concentrates 99% on recordings that were made for the record labels of Monument and Barnaby. The one exception is the first track, "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon," an unsuccessful hit that was released in 1960 by the NRC label. "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon" makes its first album appearance on this collection. The rest of the selections were recorded between the years of 1966 to 1975.
