Ray Charles: "What'd I Say"

Juke Box Hero takes us back a few years with a Ray Charles song (and a bonus clip from the movie Ray).

One of the things I love about music is that it can almost instantly take over your entire body, willing you to move, to dance, practically involuntarily. It can happen at any age and requires no prior knowledge, skill or expertise to fully experience the effect. Songs like "Footloose," "Jailhouse Rock," and yes, "Party in the USA," all come to mind; their upbeat, repetitive rhythms, mostly mindless lyrics, and infectious melodies are a perfect tonic for getting anyone to forget who they are and what they’re doing, and just let loose in appendage-flailing ecstasy.

"What'd I Say" by Ray ‘The Genius’ Charles unequivocally falls into this category of music you just can’t sit still to. In the ’68 video (above), I love the close-up on Ray’s feet and legs bouncing up and down like pistons off a whirring crankshaft. The man’s musical energy was just dumbfounding… and intoxicating. The Jamie Foxx motion-picture version (below) does a swell job depicting the live, improvisational manner in which the song was (reportedly) conceived, as well as its power to command bodies into action.

The song has a great story, which the Wiki-room full of monkeys does a much better job of explaining in the first place than I ever could paraphrasing them, but what I find most interesting is the observation that, with the void left by Elvis, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Chuck Berry, and Jerry Lee Lewis, the fledgling "rock and roll" genre might have died an immature death. That is, if not for Mr. Charles and this track.

In one fell swoop, with this 1959 single, various historians argue that Mr. Charles saved rock and roll, and he also apparently single-handedly created "soul" music, according to musician Lenny Kaye (Patti Smith's guitarist). That’s a lot of credit for one man and one song, but, as the monkeys continue, it had a deep impact on dozens of music legends, including Mick Jagger, James Brown, and Van Morrison.

Whether he's a true game-changer (or saver) or not, the song is still just plain and simple, frenetic and salacious, fun. Charles woos me every time with his groovy gospel piano and salty vocal ostinato. I have to move to it. I can’t not move to it. Not even Shakira gets hips moving like Ray can. Though I bet the two would’ve been good, good friends.