View source for What'd I Say

{{Short description|1959 single by Ray Charles}}
{{For|the album|What'd I Say (album)}}
{{Distinguish|What I'd Say}}
{{Featured article}}
{{Infobox song
| name       = What'd I Say
| cover      = "What'd I Say" single face label.png
| alt        = 
| type       = single
| artist     = [[Ray Charles]]
| album      = [[What'd I Say (album)|What'd I Say]]
| B-side     = What'd I Say, Pt. 2
| released   = June 1959<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Reviews of This Week's Singles |magazine=Billboard |date=June 15, 1959 |page=33 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WiAEAAAAMBAJ&dq=ray+Charles+what%27d+I+say&pg=PA33}}</ref>
| recorded   = February 18, 1959
| studio     =
| venue      =
| genre      = {{hlist|[[Rhythm and blues]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Campbell|first=Michael|date=2018|title=Popular Music in America: The Beat Goes On|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8A9EDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA203|edition=5th|publisher=[[Cengage Learning]]|page=188|isbn=978-1337560375}}</ref>|[[Soul music|soul]]}}
| length     = 5:10 (Monaural album) <br /> 3:05 (Part 1) <br /> 1:59 (Part 2) <br /> 6:27 (Stereo album)
| label      = [[Atlantic Records|Atlantic]]
| writer     = [[Ray Charles]]
| producer   = [[Jerry Wexler]]
| prev_title = [[Night Time Is the Right Time]]
| prev_year  = 1959
| next_title = [[I'm Movin' On (Hank Snow song)|I'm Moving On]]
| next_year  = 1959
}}
{{Infobox song
| name       = What'd I Say
| cover      = 
| alt        = 
| type       = single
| artist     = [[Jerry Lee Lewis]]
| album      = [[Jerry Lee's Greatest!]]
| B-side     = Livin' Lovin' Wreck
| released   = February 1961
| recorded   = 1961
| studio     = [[Phillips Recording|Phillips Recording Service]], Nashville, Tennessee<ref name="CMWW">{{cite magazine|last=Snoddy|first=Glen|title=Nashville, The Recording Center|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Record-World/70s/72/Record-World-Country-Music-Who%27s-Who-1972_428.pdf|magazine=Country Music Who's Who|publisher=Record World|date=1972|access-date=10 May 2024}}</ref>
| venue      =
| genre      = [[Pop music|Pop]]
| length     = 
| label      = [[Sun Records|Sun]]
| writer     = [[Ray Charles]]
| producer   = 
| prev_title = When I Get Paid
| prev_year  = 1960
| next_title = [[Cold, Cold Heart]]
| next_year  = 1961
}}
{{Infobox song
| name       = What'd I Say
| cover      = 
| alt        = 
| type       = single
| artist     = [[Bobby Darin]]
| album      = Bobby Darin Sings Ray Charles
| B-side     = 
| released   = March 1962
| recorded   = 1961
| studio     =
| venue      =
| genre      = [[Pop music|Pop]]
| length     = 2:15 (Part 1) <br /> 1:43 (Part 2)
| label      = [[Atco Records|Atco]]
| writer     = [[Ray Charles]]
| producer   = Jimmie Haskell
| prev_title = Multiplication
| prev_year  = 1961
| next_title = [[Things (Bobby Darin song)|Things]]
| next_year  = 1962
}}
"'''What'd I Say'''" (or "'''What I Say'''") is an American [[rhythm and blues]] song by [[Ray Charles]], released in 1959. As a single divided into two parts, it was one of the first [[Soul music|soul]] songs. The composition was improvised one evening late in 1958 when Charles, his orchestra, and backup singers had played their entire set list at a show and still had time left; the response from many audiences was so enthusiastic that Charles announced to his producer that he was going to record it.

After his run of R&B hits, this song finally broke Charles into mainstream [[pop music]] and itself sparked a new subgenre of R&B titled [[soul music|soul]], finally putting together all the elements that Charles had been creating since he recorded "[[I Got a Woman]]" in 1954. The [[Gospel music|gospel]] and [[rhumba]] influences combined with the sexual innuendo in the song made it not only widely popular but very controversial to both white and black audiences. It earned Ray Charles his first gold record and has been one of the most influential songs in R&B and [[rock and roll]] history. For the rest of his career, Charles closed every concert with the song. It was added to the [[National Recording Registry]] in 2002 and appeared in the 2003 and 2021 versions of ''[[Rolling Stone]]''{{'}}s "[[The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time]]" list: at number 10 in 2003 and at number 80 in 2021.

==Background==
Ray Charles was 28 years old in 1958, with ten years of experience recording primarily [[rhythm and blues]] music for the Downbeat and Swingtime record labels, in a style similar to that of [[Nat King Cole]] and [[Charles Brown (musician)|Charles Brown]]. Charles signed with [[Atlantic Records]] in 1952 where producers [[Ahmet Ertegun]] and [[Jerry Wexler]] encouraged him to broaden his repertoire. Wexler would later remember that Atlantic Records' success came not from the artists' experience, but the enthusiasm for the music: "We didn't know shit about making records, but we were having fun".<ref name="jackson">Jackson, Blair (October 2004). [http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_ray_charles_whatd/index.html "Recording Notes: Classic Tracks: Ray Charles' 'What'd I Say{{'"}}] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070501150655/http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_ray_charles_whatd/index.html |date=2007-05-01 }}, ''Mix'', '''28''' (11), pp. 130, 132</ref> Ertegun and Wexler found that a hands-off approach was the best way of encouraging Charles. Wexler later said, "I realized the best thing I could do with Ray was leave him alone".<ref>Creswell, p. 722.</ref>

From 1954 into the 1960s Charles toured for 300 days a year with a seven-piece orchestra. He employed another Atlantic singing trio named [[the Cookies]] and renamed them [[the Raelettes]] when they backed him up on the road.<ref name=Jackson>{{cite news |access-date=October 16, 2018 |publisher=Thehill.com |last=Jackson |first=Maurice |title=Maurice Jackson: Remembering the Turkish brothers who helped change race relations in America |date=November 1, 2013 |url=https://thehill.com/policy/international/188577-maurice-jackson-remembering-the-turkish-brothers-who}}</ref> In 1954 Charles began merging gospel sounds and instruments with lyrics that addressed more secular issues. His first attempt was in the song "[[I Got a Woman]]", based either on the melodies from the gospel songs, The Southern Tones "It Must Be Jesus" or an uptempo, "I Got a Savior (Way Across Jordan)". It was the first Ray Charles record that got attention from white audiences, but it made some black audiences uncomfortable with its black gospel derivatives; Charles later stated that the joining of gospel and R&B was not a conscious decision.<ref>Evans, p. 71.</ref>

In December 1958, he had a hit on the R&B charts with "[[Night Time Is the Right Time]]", an ode to carnality that was sung between Charles and one of the Raelettes, Margie Hendricks, with whom Charles was having an affair. Since 1956 Charles had also included a [[Wurlitzer electric piano]] on tour because he did not trust the tuning and quality of the pianos provided him at every venue. On the occasions he would play it, he was derided by other musicians.<ref name="evans109">Evans, p. 109.</ref>

==Composition and recording==
{{Listen
|filename = CharlesKnow1.ogg
|title = Opening of "What'd I Say"
|description = The left-handed riffs of "What'd I Say" performed by Ray Charles on the Wurlitzer electric piano.
}}

According to Charles' autobiography, "What'd I Say" was accidental when he improvised it to fill time at the end of a concert in December 1958.<ref>Charles and Ritz, p. 189.</ref><ref>Lydon, p. 153.</ref> He asserted that he never tested songs on audiences before recording them, but "What'd I Say" was an exception. Charles himself did not recall where the concert took place, but Mike Evans in ''Ray Charles: The Birth of Soul'' placed the show in [[Brownsville, Pennsylvania]].<ref>Evans, p. 107.</ref> Shows were played at "meal dances" which typically ran four hours with a half-hour break, and would end around 1 or 2 in the morning. Charles and his orchestra had exhausted their set list after midnight, but had 12 minutes left to fill. He told the Raelettes, "Listen, I'm going to fool around and y'all just follow me".<ref name="charles191">Charles and Ritz, p. 191.</ref>

Starting on the electric piano, Charles played what felt right: a series of [[riff]]s, switching then to a regular piano for four choruses backed up by a unique Latin [[conga]] [[tumbao]] rhythm on drums. The song changed when Charles began singing simple, improvised unconnected verses ("Hey Mama don't you treat me wrong / Come and love your daddy all night long / All right now / Hey hey / All right"). Charles used gospel elements in a [[twelve-bar blues]] structure.<ref name="stephens"/><ref>Stewart, Alexander (October 2000). {{"'}}Funky Drummer': New Orleans, James Brown and the Rhythmic Transformation of American Popular Music", ''Popular Music'', '''19''' (3) pp. 293–318.</ref> Some of the first lines ("See the gal with the red dress on / She can do the Birdland all night long") are influenced by a [[boogie-woogie]] style that [[Ahmet Ertegun]] attributes to [[Pinetop Smith|Clarence "Pinetop" Smith]], who used to call out to dancers on the dance floor, telling them what to do through his lyrics.<ref name="evans109"/> In the middle of the song, however, Charles indicated that the Raelettes should repeat what he was doing, and the song transformed into a [[call and response]] between Charles, the Raelettes, and the horn section in the orchestra as they called out to each other in ecstatic shouts and moans and blasts from the horns.<ref name="stephens">{{cite journal|first=Robert W.|last=Stephens|date=Spring 1984|title=Soul: A Historical Reconstruction of Continuity and Change in Black Popular Music|journal=The Black Perspective in Music|volume=12|issue=1|pages=21–43|doi=10.2307/1214967|jstor=1214967}}</ref>

The audience reacted immediately; Charles could feel the room shaking and bouncing as the crowd was dancing. Many audience members approached Charles at the end of the show to ask where they could purchase the record. Charles and the orchestra performed it again several nights in a row with the same reaction at each show. He called [[Jerry Wexler]] to say he had something new to record, later writing, "I don't believe in giving myself advance notices, but I figured this song merited it".<ref name="charles191"/>

The Atlantic Records studio had just purchased an [[Multitrack recording|8-track recorder]], and recording engineer [[Tom Dowd]] was familiarizing himself with how it worked. On February 18, 1959,<ref>Schinder & Schwartz, p. 51.</ref> Charles and his orchestra finally recorded "What'd I Say" at Atlantic's small studio. Dowd recalled that it did not seem special at the time of recording. It was second of two songs during the session and Charles, the producers, and the band were more impressed with the first one at the session, "Tell the Truth": "We made it like we made all the others. Ray, the gals, and the band live in the small studio, no overdubs. Three or four takes, and it was done. Next!"<ref>Lydon, p. 157.</ref> In retrospect, Ahmet Ertegun's brother [[Nesuhi Ertegun|Nesuhi]] credits the extraordinary sound of the song to the restricted size of the studio and the technologically advanced recording equipment used; the sound quality is clear enough to hear Charles slapping his leg in time with the song when the music stops during the calls and responses.<ref name="evans109"/> The song was recorded in only a few takes because Charles and the orchestra had perfected it while touring.<ref>Ertegun, p. 118.</ref>

Dowd, however, had two problems during the recording. "What'd I Say" lasted over seven and a half minutes when the normal length of radio-played songs was around two and a half minutes. Furthermore, although the lyrics were not obscene, the sounds Charles and the Raelettes made in their calls and responses during the song worried Dowd and the producers. A previous recording called "[[Money Honey (Clyde McPhatter song)|Money Honey]]" by [[Clyde McPhatter]] had been banned in Georgia and Ahmet Ertegun and Wexler released McPhatter's song despite the ban, risking arrest.<ref name="evans110">Evans, p. 110.</ref> Ray Charles was aware of the controversy in "What'd I Say": "I'm not one to interpret my own songs, but if you can't figure out 'What I Say', then something's wrong. Either that, or you're not accustomed to the sweet sounds of love."<ref name="charles191"/>

Dowd solved the recording issues by mixing three versions of the song. Some call-outs of "Shake that thing!" were removed, and the song was split into two three-and-a-half minute sides of a single record, titling the song "What'd I Say Part&nbsp;I" and "What'd I Say Part&nbsp;II". The recorded version divides the parts with a false ending where the orchestra stops and the Raelettes and orchestra members beg Charles to continue, then goes on to a frenzied finale. Dowd later stated after hearing the final recording that not releasing the record was never an option: "we knew it was going to be a hit record, no question."<ref>Creswell, p. 721.</ref> It was held for the summer and released in June 1959.<ref name="jackson"/><ref>Lydon, p. 158.</ref>

== Personnel ==
The following musicians played on the session for "What'd I Say".<ref>Peter Grendysa and Robert Pruter, ''Atlantic Rhythm and Blues 1947-1974'' booklet notes (CD edition), Atlantic Records, 1991</ref>
* [[Ray Charles]] – piano, [[Wurlitzer electronic piano]], lead vocals
* [[David "Fathead" Newman|David Newman]] – tenor saxophone, alto saxophone
* [[Hank Crawford|Bennie Crawford]] – alto saxophone, baritone saxophone
* [[Edgar Willis]] – double bass
* [[Milt Turner]] – drums
*[[The Raelettes]] – backing vocals

==Reception==
{{Listen
|filename = CharlesKnow2.ogg
|title = "What'd I Say" Part&nbsp;II sample
|description = The call and responses between Charles, the Raelettes, and the orchestra that caused it to be banned from radio stations, but also propelled it to much wider audiences.
}}

''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' magazine initially gave "What'd I Say" a tepid review: "He shouts out in percussive style&nbsp;... Side two is the same."<ref name="lydon164">Lydon, p. 164.</ref> The secretary at Atlantic Records started getting calls from distributors, however. Radio stations refused to play it because it was too sexually charged, but Atlantic refused to take the records back from stores. A slightly sanitized version was released in July 1959 in response to the complaints, and the song hit number 82. A week later it was at 43, then 26. In contrast to their earlier review, ''Billboard'' several weeks later wrote that the song was "the strongest pop record that the artist has done to date".<ref name="lydon164"/> Within weeks "What'd I Say" topped out at number one on ''Billboard'''s [[Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks|R&B singles chart]], number six on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]].<ref>{{cite book |title= Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year=2004 |publisher=Record Research |page=195}}</ref> "What'd I Say" was Ray Charles' first gold record.<ref name="fong">[[Ben Fong-Torres|Fong-Torres, Ben]] (January 18, 1973). [https://web.archive.org/web/20101008051633/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/14639/80187 The Rolling Stone Interview: Ray Charles] ''Rolling Stone''. Retrieved on May 11, 2009.</ref> It also became Atlantic Records' best-selling song at the time.<ref name="evans110"/>

"What'd I Say" was banned by many black and white radio stations because of, as one critic noted, "the dialogue between himself and his backing singers that started in church and ended up in the bedroom".<ref name="evans111"/> The erotic nature was obvious to listeners, but a deeper aspect of the fusion between black gospel music and R&B troubled many black audiences. Music, as was much of American society, was also [[racial segregation|segregated]], and some critics complained that gospel was not only being appropriated by secular musicians, but it was being marketed to white listeners.<ref name="evans111">Evans, p. 111.</ref> During several concerts in the 1960s, the crowds became so frenetic and the shows so resembled [[revival meeting]]s while Charles performed "What'd I Say" that the police were called in, when the organizers became worried that riots might break out.<ref>Lydon, pp. 195, 204.</ref> The moral controversy surrounding the song has been attributed to its popularity; Charles later acknowledged in an interview that the beat was catchy, but it was the suggestive lyrics that attracted listeners: "&nbsp;'See the girl with the diamond ring. She knows how to shake that thing.' It wasn't the diamond ring that got 'em."<ref name="fong"/> 

"What'd I Say" was Ray Charles' first crossover hit into the growing genre of [[rock and roll]]. He seized the opportunity of his immense newfound success and announced to Ertegun and Wexler that he was considering signing with ABC-Paramount Records (later renamed [[ABC Records]]) later in 1959.<ref>Charles and Ritz, pp. 194–195.</ref> While he was in negotiations with ABC-Paramount, Atlantic Records released an album of his hits, titled ''[[What'd I Say (album)|What'd I Say]]''.

==Legacy==
{{quote box |width=30em | align=right |quote=In an instant, the music called Soul comes into being. Hallelujah!|source=—[[Lenny Kaye]]}}

Michael Lydon, another of Charles' biographers, summarized the impact of the song: {{"'}}What'd I Say' was a monster with footprints bigger than its numbers. Daringly different, wildly sexy, and fabulously danceable, the record riveted listeners. When 'What'd I Say' came on the radio, some turned it off in disgust, but millions turned the volume up to blasting and sang 'Unnnh, unnnh, oooooh, oooooh' along with Ray and the Raelets. [It] became the life of a million parties, the spark of as many romances, and a song to date the Summer by."<ref name="lydon164"/>

The song was also influential in the United Kingdom. [[Paul McCartney]] was immediately struck by the song and knew when he heard it that he wanted to be involved in making music.<ref>Lydon, pp. 164–165.</ref> [[George Harrison]] remembered an all-night party he attended in 1959 where the song was played for eight hours non-stop: "It was one of the best records I ever heard."<ref name="evans111"/> While [[the Beatles]] were developing their [[The Beatles in Hamburg|sound in Hamburg]], they played "What'd I Say" at every show, trying to see how long they could make the song last and using the audience in the call and response, with which they found immense popularity. The opening electric piano in the song was the first [[John Lennon]] had ever heard, and he tried to replicate it with his guitar. Lennon later credited Charles' opening of "What'd I Say" to the birth of songs dominated by guitar [[riff]]s.<ref name="evans112">Evans, p. 112.</ref> <!--Bill Dahl at [[allmusic.com]] states that the left-hand riff opening the song "has been lifted too many times to count".-->

When [[Mick Jagger]] sang for the first time with the band that would become [[the Rolling Stones]], he performed a duet of "What'd I Say". [[Eric Burdon]] from [[the Animals]], [[Steve Winwood]] of [[the Spencer Davis Group]], [[Brian Wilson]] of [[the Beach Boys]], and [[Van Morrison]] counted the song as a major influence on why they became interested in music and incorporated it into their shows.<ref>Evans, pp. 112–113.</ref><ref>Morrison, Van (April 15, 2004). [https://web.archive.org/web/20080312185042/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5939211/the_immortals__the_greatest_artists_of_all_time_10_ray_charles The Immortals&nbsp;– The Greatest Artists of All Time: 10) Ray Charles], ''Rolling Stone''. Retrieved on May 12, 2009. </ref> Music historian Robert Stephens attributes the birth of [[soul music]] to "What'd I Say" when gospel and blues were successfully joined; the new genre of music was matured by later musicians such as [[James Brown]] and [[Aretha Franklin]].<ref name="stephens"/> "In an instant, the music called Soul comes into being. Hallelujah!" wrote musician [[Lenny Kaye]] in a retrospective of Atlantic Records artists.<ref>Ertegun, p. 125.</ref>

In the late 1950s, rock and roll was faltering as its major stars dropped from public view. [[Elvis Presley]] was drafted, and [[Buddy Holly]] and [[Eddie Cochran]] died in 1959 and 1960 respectively. Music and culture critic [[Nelson George]] disagrees with music historians who attest the last two years of the 1950s were barren of talent, pointing to Charles and this song in particular. George writes that the themes in Charles' work were very similar to the young rebels who popularized rock and roll, writing

<blockquote>By breaking down the division between pulpit and bandstand, recharging blues concerns with transcendental fervor, unashamedly linking the spiritual and the sexual, Charles made pleasure (physical satisfaction) and joy (divine enlightenment) seem the same thing. By doing so he brought the realities of the Saturday-night sinner and Sunday-morning worshipper—so often one and the same—into raucous harmony.<ref>George, p. 70.</ref></blockquote>

"What'd I Say" has been covered by many artists in many different styles. [[Jerry Lee Lewis]] found particular success with his rendition in 1961, which peaked at number 30 and spent eight weeks on the charts.<ref>Whitburn, Joel (2003). "Lewis, Jerry Lee", ''Joel Whitburn's top pop singles 1955–2002'', Billboard. {{ISBN|0-89820-155-1}}</ref> The following year, [[Bobby Darin]]'s version reached #21 in [[CHUM Chart|Canada]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://chumtribute.com/62-04-23-chart.jpg| title=CHUM Hit Parade - April 23, 1962}}</ref> Elvis Presley used the song in a large dance scene in his 1964 film ''[[Viva Las Vegas]]'' and released it on the B-side of the [[Viva Las Vegas (song)|title song]]. [[Cliff Richard]], [[Eric Clapton]] with [[John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers]], [[Rare Earth (band)|Rare Earth]], Eddie Cochran, [[Nancy Sinatra]], and [[Sammy Davis Jr.]], all put their own style on the song.<ref>Evans, p. 113.</ref>  Charles noticed, later writing "I saw that many of the stations which had banned the tune started playing it when it was covered by white artists. That seemed strange to me, as though white sex was cleaner than black sex. But once they began playing the white version, they lifted the ban and also played the original."<ref name="charles191"/>

Charles spoofed this double standard on the television comedy show ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' in 1977. He hosted an episode and had the original band he toured with in the 1950s to join him. In one skit, he tells a producer that he wants to record the song, but the producer tells him that a white band named the '[[The Young Caucasians|Young Caucasians]]', composed of beaming white teenagers, are to record it first, which they do on the show, in a chaste, sanitized, and unexciting performance. When Charles and his band counter with their original version, [[Garrett Morris]] tells them, "Sorry. That'll never make it."<ref>Lydon, p. 330.</ref>

Charles closed every show he played for the rest of his career with the song, later stating, {{"'}}What'd I Say' is my last song onstage. When I do 'What'd I Say', you don't have to worry about it—that's the end of me; there ain't no encore, no nothin'. I'm finished!"<ref name="jackson"/>

It was ranked tenth on ''[[Rolling Stone (magazine)|Rolling Stone]]''{{'}}s list of "[[The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time]]", with the summary, "Charles' grunt-'n'-groan exchanges with the Raeletts were the closest you could get to the sound of orgasm on Top Forty radio during the Eisenhower era".<ref>''Rolling Stone'' (December 9, 2004). Retrieved on May 11, 2009. {{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6595855/whatd_i_say |title=What'd I Say : Rolling Stone |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |access-date=2009-05-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080714130209/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6595855/whatd_i_say |archive-date=July 14, 2008 }}</ref> In 2000, it ranked number 43 on [[VH1]]'s ''100 Greatest Songs in Rock and Roll'' and number 96 on VH1's ''100 Greatest Dance Songs'', being the oldest song in the latter ranking.<ref>"Stones' Satisfaction Top Rock Anthem", ''The Ottawa Citizen'' (January 8, 2000), p. E11.</ref><ref>[http://www.billboard.com/news/gaynor-survives-to-become-vh1-s-greatest-876178.story#/news/gaynor-survives-to-become-vh1-s-greatest-876178.story Gaynor 'Survives' To Become VH1's Greatest Dance Song], Billboard.com. Retrieved on October 7, 2009.</ref> The same year it was chosen by [[National Public Radio]] as one of the 100 most influential songs of the 20th century.<ref name="npr">[https://www.npr.org/programs/specials/vote/list100.html The 100 most important American musical works of the 20th century], National Public Radio (February 21, 2000). Retrieved on November 1, 2009.</ref> The song was inducted into the [[Grammy Hall of Fame]] also in 2000.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.grammy.com/awards/hall-of-fame-award#w|title=GRAMMY Hall Of Fame &#124; Hall of Fame Artists &#124; GRAMMY.com|website=grammy.com}}</ref> [[Bruce Conner]]'s 1962 [[collage film]] ''[[Cosmic Ray (film)|Cosmic Ray]]'' uses a live recording of "What'd I Say" as its soundtrack.<ref>Crow, p. 38.</ref> A central scene in the 2004 biopic ''[[Ray (film)|Ray]]'' features the improvisation of the song performed by [[Jamie Foxx]], who won an [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Academy Award]] for his portrayal of Charles.<ref>Goldstein, Patrick (November 3, 2004). "The Soul of 'Ray'; Capturing the spirit, if not Each Event, of the Late Musical Legend's Amazing Life", ''The Los Angeles Times'', p. E.1.</ref><ref>Horn, John; King, Susan (February 28, 2005). "The Oscars: 'Million Dollar Baby' Delivers a 1-2-3-4 Punch; Eastwood, Swank, Freeman and the film win", ''The Los Angeles Times'', p. A.1.</ref> For its historical, artistic, and cultural significance, the [[Library of Congress]] added it to the U.S. [[National Recording Registry]] in 2002.<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/nrpb-masterlist.html The Full National Recording Registry] Library of Congress. Retrieved on May 12, 2009.</ref> The [[Rock & Roll Hall of Fame]] featured it as one of [[500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll]] in 2007.<ref>[http://rockhall.com/exhibits/one-hit-wonders-songs-that-shaped-rock-and-roll/ Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll] Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2007). Retrieved on May 12, 2009.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Bibliography==
{{Refbegin}}
* [[Ray Charles|Charles, Ray]] and [[David Ritz|Ritz, David]] (1978). ''Brother Ray: Ray Charles' Own Story'', The Dial Press. {{ISBN|0-8037-0828-9}}
* Creswell, Toby (2006). ''1001 Songs: The Greatest Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories, and Secrets Behind Them'', Thunder's Mouth Press. {{ISBN|1-56025-915-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Crow |first=Thomas |year=2023 |title=The Artist in the Counterculture |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-23616-2}}
* [[Ahmet Ertegun|Ertegun, Ahmet]] (ed., 2001). ''"What'd I Say?": The Atlantic Story: 50 Years of Music'', Welcome Rain Publishers. {{ISBN|1-56649-048-0}}
* Evans, Mike (2007). ''Ray Charles: The Birth of Soul'', Omnibus Press. {{ISBN|978-1-84449-764-5}} 
* [[Nelson George|George, Nelson]] (1988). ''The Death of Rhythm & Blues''. Pantheon Books. {{ISBN|0-394-55238-5}}
* Larson, Thomas (2004). ''The History of Rock and Roll'', Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company. {{ISBN|0-7872-9969-3}}
* Lydon, Michael (1998). ''Ray Charles: Man and Music'', Riverhead Books. {{ISBN|1-57322-132-5}}
* Schinder, Scott; Schwartz, Andy (2007). ''Icons of Rock: An Encyclopedia of the Legends Who Changed Music Forever''. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. {{ISBN|978-0-313-08190-3}}.
{{Refend}}

==External links==
* [https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19764/m1/ Hear Ray Charles] describe the origins of this song (track 5).

{{Ray Charles}}
{{Elvis Presley singles}}
{{Jerry Lee Lewis}}
{{Johnny Cash}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1959 songs]]
[[Category:1959 singles]]
[[Category:Songs written by Ray Charles]]
[[Category:Ray Charles songs]]
[[Category:Elvis Presley songs]]
[[Category:Jerry Lee Lewis songs]]
[[Category:Checkmates, Ltd. songs]]
[[Category:Song recordings produced by Jerry Wexler]]
[[Category:Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients]]
[[Category:United States National Recording Registry recordings]]
[[Category:Atlantic Records singles]]
[[Category:Obscenity controversies in music]]
[[Category:The Crickets songs]]