Ray Charles "I've Got A Woman" (Atlantic 1050, December 1954)
The very first song Elvis Presley laid down at his first session for RCA, on January 10, 1956 in Nashville, was a cover of the smash Charles single. His dynamic recording would get slotted as the third cut on Side 1 of his debut album for the label, released two months later.
Image: courtesy of the great website, elvisrecords.com
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Elvis Presley "I Got A Woman" Elvis Presley (RCA Victor LPM-1254, March 24, 1956)
Elvis, Scotty and Bill had been tearing up concerts with their version of the song for the past year, and at least one attempt is made to cut it at Sun Records in early 1955. Sadly, that tape is now lost.
With Scotty Moore, D.J. Fontana and Bill Black, Dallas, TX - Saturday, September 3, 1955
Image: courtesy of A Boy From Tupelo (Follow That Dream, August 16, 2012)
Charles evidently did not like the Presley arrangement at all, and considered the young singer an opportunist. It seems possible, though, the royalty checks for Elvis' 1956 RCA recording might have assuaged Ray's discomfort just a tad.
Ray Charles on "The Mitch Thomas Show," WPFH-TV, Channel 12 (Wilmington) - circa Sep-Oct 1955
Photo: PBS documentary "Black Philadelphia Memories" (WHYY-TV Wilmington, NC - Wednesday, August 4, 1999)
It was one of the first televised dance shows for black teen-agers.
But what of the two master recordings?
Each is a stunning example of popular music at its innovative best. Charles was 24 when he made his record, Elvis just two days past the age of 21.
I asked a good friend, a professional musician and music teacher who never paid close attention to either release, to give both a thorough listen.
Below is what he had to say.
It's more than a little enlightening, in fact it's brilliant, and I hope you enjoy learning something NEW about these landmark recordings!
One main difference between the versions is the mood, and you could describe this difference in terms of where the vocals sit on the main beat.
It feels to me as though Ray is a little behind the beat, just a hair, and very soulfully so. Whereas Elvis doesn’t feel soulful to me at all.
On the contrary, I feel that Elvis is right up over and on top of and in front of the beat. As though his raw energy is bursting out of the confines of the song, he’s charging out of it, it’s not strong enough to contain him.
As an example, listen to the second verse of each cut (the one with "… early in the morning ... just for me …"). Note how Elvis handles the transition from about 45 seconds to 55 seconds. He literally cannot stop – his drive and power are too much.
Now contrast that with Ray’s version. Ray also builds each line of that verse higher and higher, and more powerfully each time, but listen to his restraint and control. Especially choice is his "oh yeah" at ~1:20 that leads to the solo.
So you’re looking at a question, essentially, of two sides of male sexuality expressed in voice. Elvis is raw and forthright, explosive, powerful, strident, and take-no-prisoners. Ray is impassioned, passionate, subtle, smooth, seductive, and grounded in the self-confidence that comes from mastery and control.
Neither is more "powerful", per se, than the other. They are night and day, moon and sun. It is a fascinating contrast.
I would be interested to know the respective ages of the artists when these tracks were cut, and where they were in their careers. To me, it almost sounds as though Elvis is proving something, that – in a way – he’s trying to fu'ck the whole world in the ear (and I mean that in a very good way, lest you misunderstand).
By the same token, it seems to me that Ray sounds more established, as though he doesn’t have anything to prove. And yet I know nothing about the historical context here – it could be just the other way around, of course, and their deliveries are merely reflections of their unique artistic character and not intrinsically tied to their material circumstances at the time.
Next, I note the call-and-response character of Ray’s cut. Note the horns that answer Ray’s every line. Those three beautiful, melted gold horn blasts help give it some of the bounce that seems so laid back, even though the track is quite fast.
Elvis’ version, however, is much rawer. Those three horn blasts are entirely missing. Notably, in their place there is a very subtle but unmistakable three beat percussion hit that drops in and out throughout the track, tack tack tack. But other than that, there is nothing but space. Elvis is playing faster, too. Not radically faster, but notably so. Maybe 5-10 bpm quicker.
Of course they weren’t playing to metronomes (thank God), so we can interpret this correctly I think as another sign of Elvis’ energy and enthusiasm, contrasted with Ray’s restraint and self-mastery. Even though both tracks are very quick and uptempo, Elvis would be the jackrabbit in the race, and Ray the smooth, sexy turtle.
Another thing I note about the production is the mic placement and treatment, or lack thereof. Ray is up close, as though he’s really just sharing secrets with you, his friend. Ray’s voice is raw and untreated. I hear nothing on it at all. So brave, so beautiful. Elvis, on the other hand, seems to have a slapback echo on his voice. He’s also further back in the mix. I don’t feel the intimacy of Ray’s take.
On the contrary, I feel like I’m at a party and he’s playing. And he’s smoking hot and we’re all dancing, but there he is, up on the stage, and he is the sun and he is afire, but we are not together. He is separate. Whereas with Ray, I feel we are on the same level somehow. I feel a strange intimacy, as though it really is the two of us and he’s filling me in about his life and his love.
Finally, the solos are as different as could be. The sax on Ray’s cut betrays a profound working knowledge of harmony and melody, and is so tasty it really is out of this world. But listen to how the chords under the solo are entirely different. This progression would not sound out of place on a Louis Armstrong cut, actually. They come out of nowhere and you’re so enraptured by the tone of the sax that you don’t quite realize that it’s an entirely new chord progression here. And it never repeats. This is an incredibly powerful and very subtle trick and comes from superior musicianship at every level. True mastery, of course, is rarely noticed.
The solo on Elvis’ cut is radically different, displaying none of the subtle musical tricks of Ray’s original. The chord progression keeps pretty much the same chords as in the verses, but what it lacks in musicianship it makes up for in raw energy and feeling. It is almost a frenzy of a solo, like a train that is barreling down the tracks and just when you think it’s going to tip and crash… They bring it all to a stop with tremendous precision and control, and the snare-kick break that, honestly, goes right to the heart of every person with ears and a heart.
This is where Elvis’ musicianship and showmanship come into play. What a great way out of that solo. It is killer, straight to the heart. (Incidentally, note the two piano mis-hits as the breakdown section winds up back to the main bit.) So when they return to the main bit, the cool relief of being "safe" again washes over you and floods your brain with endorphins. We are back "home", musically speaking.
This is what music is, of course – it’s a tenuous, trying dance in which a composer establishes a comfort zone ("home"), pushes you out of it, and then brings you back. So you feel "ahhhhhhhh!" when you return. That’s all Mozart does, really, when you boil it down. And it is exactly what is happening here, with Elvis:
1) Powerful train picking up speed
2) Train barreling down the track
3) Dear God, save us from the train that is almost out of control
4) Dead stop – hey, we know now who’s in control
5) Sweet return to "home"
6) Delicious outro of all deliciousness
And of course I should discuss the outro. Here, Elvis comes to a full stop again. And he tacks on this incredibly tasteful outro from left field. And it brings the song to close in such a perfect way that, even all these decades later, I can hear the panties hitting the floor.
To backtrack a bit, Ray’s song introduces a new secret chord progression for the solo, and then comes the breakdown section, which serves as breathing room for a spell. It is different, of course, from Elvis’ version, because it doesn’t benefit as much from the overabundant speed – and therefore contrast - of the full stop. Still, it is a welcome change and exists, I believe, just to sweeten the return to the final verse. Ray’s song fades out and has nothing even remotely approaching Elvis’ more theatrical, stage-y take on things.
In a way, it seems as though Ray is going to continue ambling along his way, whereas Elvis has in essence fu'cked you good and hard and proper, and now it is done, and there is no question he’s done, good night.
Those are the differences I hear in the tracks. To sum up:
1) Beat – slightly lagging behind the beat vs. way all on top of it
2) Mood – restrained, mature sexuality vs. confident young braggadocio
3) Production differences – call and response arrangement, mic placement, vocal treatment, intimacy vs. performance
4) Differing musical choices for solo and outro
That’s about all I got for now. Thanks for the tunes – they’re great.
What a time for music!
Thanks to FECC member Bill Tanner for the inspiration.
BONUS RAY
Billboard - January 29, 1955
Can you see how many songs Elvis performed or recorded by these artists, he loved the Atlantic label!\
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