Ray Charles, “What’d I Say” Backstory

“What’d I Say” is Ray Charles’s first Top 10 pop single and the greatest improvised song in rock & roll history.

After playing every song he knew and still having 12 minutes to fill, Ray Charles composed this amazing piece of music, on the fly, at a club in Brownsville, Pennsylvania during December 1958. Charles said he got the idea for this song from “The sweet sounds of love.”

The arrangement is a simple blues progression and any band that’s played together for a long time, especially professional jazz musicians, would pick up on the key and chord progressions but this is extra special. According to Charles’ autobiography, he told the Raelettes, “Listen, I’m going to fool around and Y’all just follow me.” (Jamie Foxx gives audiences a spot-on depiction of this moment in rock & roll history during the movie RAY, up through and including mimicking Ray’s microphone movements.) This takes a true musical genius, a crack R&B band, and backing vocalists who know where the bandleader is going.  Only Ray Charles could put this together with this much success.

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Charles recorded “What’d I Say” on February 18th, 1959, at Atlantic’s New York studio. The trick was to bring that live experience to the studio intact which he accomplished flawlessly with the help of Engineer, Tom Dowd. The song was recorded in only a few takes because Charles and the orchestra had perfected it while touring.

The success of “What’d I Say” established Ray Charles as a front-line star and broke him into mainstream pop music.  The racy nature of the lyrics and the energy of the melody propelled “What’d I Say” to top out at number one on Billboard’s R&B singles chart and number six on the Billboard Hot 100.  “What’d I Say” was Ray Charles’ first gold record and became Atlantic Records’ best-selling song at the time.

Hey mama, don’t you treat me wrong

Come and love your daddy all night long

All right now, hey hey, all right

See the girl with the diamond ring

She knows how to shake that thing

All right now now now, hey hey, hey hey

Tell your mama, tell your pa

I’m gonna send you back to Arkansas

Oh yes, ma’m, you don’t do right, don’t do right

Aw, play it boy

When you see me in misery

Come on baby, see about me

Now yeah, all right, all right, aw play it, boy

When you see me in misery

Come on baby, see about me

Now yeah, hey hey, all right

See the girl with the red dress on

She can do the Birdland all night long

Yeah yeah, what’d I say, all right

Well, tell me what’d I say, yeah

Tell me what’d I say right now

Tell me what’d I say

Tell me what’d I say right now

Tell me what’d I say

Tell me what’d I say yeah

And I wanna know

Baby I wanna know right now

And-a I wanna know

And I wanna know right now yeah

And-a I wanna know

Said I wanna know yeah

Spoken: Hey, don’t quit now! (c’mon honey)

Naw, I got, I uh-uh-uh, I’m changing (stop! stop!

we’ll do it again)

Wait a minute, wait a minute, oh hold it! Hold it!

Hold it!

Hey (hey) ho (ho) hey (hey) ho (ho) hey (hey) ho (ho)

hey

Oh one more time (just one more time)

Say it one more time right now (just one more time)

Say it one more time now (just one more time)

Say it one more time yeah (just one more time)

Say it one more time (just one more time)

Say it one more time yeah (just one more time)

Hey (hey) ho (ho) hey (hey) ho (ho) hey (hey) ho (ho)

hey

Ah! Make me feel so good (make me feel so good)

Make me feel so good now yeah (make me feel so good)

Woah! Baby (make me feel so good)

Make me feel so good yeah (make me feel so good)

Make me feel so good (make me feel so good)

Make me feel so good yeah (make me feel so good)

Huh (huh) ho (ho) huh (huh) ho (ho) huh (huh) ho (ho)

huh

Awh it’s all right (baby it’s all right)

Said that it’s all right right now (baby it’s all

right)

Said that it’s all right (baby it’s all right)

Said that it’s all right yeah (baby it’s all right)

Said that it’s all right (baby it’s all right)

Said that it’s all right (baby it’s all right)

Woah! Shake that thing now (baby shake that thing)

Baby shake that thing now now (baby shake that thing)

Baby shake that thing (baby shake that thing)

Baby shake that thing right now (baby shake that

thing)

Baby shake that thing (baby shake that thing)

Baby shake that thing (baby shake that thing)

Woah! I feel all right now yeah (make me feel all

right)

Said I feel all right now (make me feel all right)

Woooah! (make me feel all right)

Tell you I feel all right (make me feel all right)

Said I feel all right (make me feel all right)

Gary Clark Jr. Bourbon & Beyond

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