Flashback Friday: Ray Charles

Man…it’s Friday and damn do i need a weekend. When I was a young’un both of my folks worked, so, during the summer break I would stay with my grandmother. I guess it was the summer between 3rd and 4th grade when I first heard today’s Flashback song.

Flashback Song: Ray Charles – Hit the Road Jack

When I was a kid my grandmother was fond of sewing. She made me shirts, pants, coats…all sorts of clothing and she would spend much of the day in her sewing room while we stayed with her. I had this red portable Emerson record player and there were 3 big boxes of records in the sewing room closet. Sometimes, while she was working, I would go through the records. I guess it was records from my grandparents younger days…most of it I didn’t like, and can’t recall the bulk of what was in those ol’ boxes. Also, I have no idea why I started listening to the Ray Charles record, nor do I recall the title of it. I suspect the album cover looked cool so I pulled it out. What I do remember is how enamored I was with “Hit the Road Jack” the day I heard it. I loved the “conversation” in the song and the woman singer….god I loved her part. My grandmother and I probably listened to, sang along with, and danced to that song 200 times that summer, and to her credit, she never once asked me to play something else. It’s been 10 years since she passed, but every time I hear “Hit the Road Jack” it makes me smile as I recall that summer.

Have a song with a story? Email it to me and you might be next weeks Flashback Friday!