Unreleased
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November 1, 2014
Learn To See (Duet)
Read moreUnreleased. “One of Mr. Scacciaferro’s proudest accomplishments is a documentary exploring the life of people with Down Syndrome featuring a music video written by Mr. Scacciaferro and performed by his long time friend Ray Charles,” his website says. Part of it was a song titled Learn To See, written and produced by Scacciaferro, and performed […]
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October 31, 2014
Let’s Get Away From It All
Read moreUnreleased This Tommy Dorsey tune (from 1941) was part of Ray’s repertoire for ‘symphony gigs’. He never made a studio recording. Moscow 2000 (track # 4 at 8’15):Update 14.02.2021: the video of this performance is no longer available, please let me know in the comments below if you have any footage, thanks — Cyd Live:’96 […]
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October 30, 2014
Love Is What We Need (With The Raelettes)
Read moreUnreleased. You can listen to the performance of the tune during the 1988 Oklahoma concert here (lead by Trudy Cohran). Who knows more about the origin of this song? Live:’78 LC Antibes – 2x’80 LC Northsea’82 LC Capital’82 LC Beacon’82 LC Washington’88 LC Oklahoma’89 LC Osaka
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October 27, 2014
Milk Cow Blues (With Willie Nelson)
Read moreUnreleased. Willie taking the lead on this Sleepy John Estes song (1930), recorded for the TV show Willie Nelson, Texas Style, first broadcast by CBS on 5 March 1988.
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October 26, 2014
Monster In The Mirror (With Grover)
Read moreUnreleased. In 1991 Ray appeared in the Sesame Street music video for Monster in the Mirror (watch good copy here), a Sesame Street song sung by Grover, who wakes up one morning and sees a monster in his mirror (his reflection). Instead of being scared, he sings, “Wubba wubba wubba wubba, woo woo woo”. In Season 22, […]
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October 25, 2014
My Funny Valentine (With Susaye Greene)
Read moreUnreleased. Susaye’s operatic interpretation was filmed for TV at La Salle Pleyel in Paris, on 8 October 1968, broadcast by ORTF. A second rendition, that same night, taped for a radio broadcast, has also survived. With Wallace Davenport (bandleader), Phil Guilbeau, Virgil Jones, David Philips – trumpet; Fred Johnson, Jay Clyde Miller – alto saxophone; Nathan […]
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October 25, 2014
My Soul
Read moreUnreleased. My Soul is an original Ray Charles composition. This instrumental was never released (Ray never even claimed the copyrights). The first known performance of this song was filmed for TV at the Pleyel Room in Paris, on 8 October 1968. A second rendition that same night, taped for a radio broadcast, has also survived. Ray Charles […]
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October 25, 2014
My Yiddishe Mama
Read moreUnreleased. In his role as Sammy, Ray played and sang a few blue notes of this song for Yetta (Ann Morgan Guilbert), in Fair Weather Fran, an episode of The Nanny, first aired on 19 November 1997.
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October 25, 2014
Natural Woman (You Make Me Feel Like A –) (With Lynda Carter)
Read moreUnreleased. Taped for Lynda Carter’s Celebration, broadcast by CBS on Monday, 11 May 1981. (LQ video & audio:) WMV file (with better audio) here.
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October 24, 2014
Nobody Can Do It Like McDonald’s Can (Jingle)
Read moreUnreleased. In 1979 Ray Charles sang the jingle Nobody Can Do It Like McDonald’s Can for a TV commercial, which showed “[…] that McDonalds is the best fast-food restaurant for quality, service and value”. I haven’t found any commercial footage with Ray yet, but YouTube has a bunch of variations with other singers. (In January 1976 Ray Charles also completed […]
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October 24, 2014
Oh Lady Luck (With Kennie Rogers)
Read moreUnreleased. Ray Charles’ and Kennie Rogers’ duet on Oh Lady Luck wasn’t great, but it certainly looked and sounded* spontaneous. The performance was part of a variety TV show titled A Special Kenny Rogers, taped on stage at the Opryland Auditorium in Nashville, in February 1979, and aired on April 12, 1979 by CBS. *I’ve been […]
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October 23, 2014
Ol’ Man River
Read moreUnreleased. Sinatra: 80 Years My Way was recorded at the at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on November 19th, directed by Louis J. Horvitz, and aired by ABC on December 14th, 1995. Ray Charles used an unusual quantity of well prepared text to chide Sinatra for his appearance in the 1946 picture Till The Clouds Roll […]