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Charted: #6 in July 1959
Performed By: Ray Charles
As the United States began the second half of the twentieth century, there was an inherent sense that the country was in a period of transition. Both economically and socially, change was on the horizon. With the end of World War II, the conflict that had bound all Americans together, regardless of race, had been resolved, and individual citizens were suddenly free to resume personal interests without guilt. More introspective members of our society took this opportunity to question the moral direction of our nation, but unfortunately, a polarization of the races and social classes once again overwhelmed the country. The arts, particularly music, held up a mirror to our society and reflected the current state of affairs.
Big band music, which had been so popular during the war with both "uptown" black society and "midtown" white society, had lost its sense of direction. Attention was suddenly being placed on the vocalists, and as a result, the accompaniment often softened to mush. White middle-class fears of communism and a new, independent-minded black society simultaneously emerged. Since they both threatened the status quo, any cross-cultural performance took on the appearance of being subversive. Thus totally segregated (and unhampered) by Middle American restrictions and xenophobia, black music was free to flourish while white popular music languished in the "safety" of its own self-imposed limitations. With a few exceptions, the pop music charts ignored the innovative trends of black music and instead reflected a propensity for such superficial nonsense as "(How Much is That) Doggie in the Window" and "Music! Music! Music!"
Meanwhile, in the hands of black innovators, all sorts of developments were taking place. Country blues became citified and electric. Gospel music begat doo-wop. Most of the big bands broke up and splintered into smaller groups. Some pursued highly personal visions and concentrated on the free form, soloing aspect of band music which led to the emergence of a brand new type of jazz called be bop that was almost unrecognizable when compared with its roots. Other groups concentrated on the rhythm and blues progressions of the big bands and were called, appropriately enough, rhythm-and-blues groups. The black experience was the impetus for all of these musical forms, and since they were all rooted in the same culture, they cross-pollinated and resulted in dozens of musical hybrids.
Ray Charles is the personification of the place where blues-meets-gospel-meets-jazz-meets-R&B. In his voice, all the major movements of black musical culture were brought together. His songs were the embodiment of them all. No better example of this blend exists on the pop charts than "What'd I Say." The result of a jam session during a show in Pittsburgh, "What'd I Say" was more than five minutes long, so it was cut in half and spread out on both sides of a single. Virtually every ingredient of this record was innovative, from the rollicking, funky rhythm to the churchy call-and-response vocals to the use of the electric piano, which heretofore had never appeared on a pop song. Charles neatly summarized where music was headed, and he did it instinctively. By encapsulating the multitudinous black styles, he somehow made them more palatable to a broad audience. The societal splintering that had steadily taken place since the end of World War II slowly began to reverse, thanks in part to the instinctive genius of Ray Charles. For years, the piano riff of "What'd I Say" would be a staple in the repertoire of rock-and-roll bands and would be used in different variations on dozens of later recordings. Without ever deliberately conceding to the youth market or pop culture in general, Ray Charles almost single-handedly rediscovered and salvaged pop music's means of expression and identification.
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