Studio Album · No. 10
Crying Time Songwriting Credits by Ray Charles
Produced by Ray Charles
Holds writing credit on 1 of 12 tracks
Authorship Breakdown 1 / 12 documented
Scored across the 12 tracks with documented writers, by whether Ray Charles carries a lyricist or composer credit.
Share of the 12 tracks where a band member is credited, by role.
By the Numbers
By the mid-1960s, Ray Charles had moved his recording base to his own Tangerine label, distributed through ABC. Crying Time was recorded during this phase, with Joe Adams producing, a departure from the Sid Feller collaborations that had defined the early ABC years. The album blends country, R&B, and soul in a format that had become Charles's signature mode rather than an experiment. The lead single "Let's Go Get Stoned" (written by Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson, and Josephine Armstead) reached #31 on the Billboard Hot 100 while hitting #1 on the R&B chart. The album peaked at #15 on Billboard's LP chart.
Crying Time is a studio album by Ray Charles, released in January 1966 on ABC-Paramount Records and produced by Joe Adams, the album that won Charles the Grammy Award for Best Rhythm and Blues Recording (for the title track) and Best R&B Solo Vocal Performance in 1967, and one of the most consistently praised R&B albums of his mid-1960s work. Charles wrote some original material; the album includes 'Crying Time' (Buck Owens's original, which Charles transformed from a country song into a soul ballad), 'Let's Go Get Stoned' (Nicholas Ashford and Valerie Simpson's composition that became one of Charles's biggest singles of the decade, reaching number one on the R&B chart), and 'Drifting Blues.' The album reached number six on the Billboard Pop Albums chart and its combination of country covers, soul originals, and gospel-influenced material reflected the full range of Charles's multi-genre approach that had defined his ABC-Paramount period. 'Crying Time' reached number six on the Billboard Hot 100 and 'Let's Go Get Stoned' remains one of the most celebrated recordings of the mid-1960s soul era. The album demonstrates Charles's consistent commercial and artistic productivity across multiple genre contexts and his ability to transform material from any tradition into his own particular synthesis.
Track Listing & Credits 12 tracks
| # | Title | Lyricist(s) | Composer(s) | Producer(s) | Performers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Crying Time
|
Buck Owens | Buck Owens | Ray Charles | Ray Charles (Vocals, Piano) |
| 2 |
No Use Crying
|
Roy GainesFreddie Lee KoberJ.B. Daniels | Roy GainesFreddie Lee KoberJ.B. Daniels | Ray Charles | Ray Charles (Vocals, Piano) |
| 3 |
Let's Go Get Stoned
#31
|
Nickolas AshfordValerie SimpsonJo Armstead | Nickolas AshfordValerie SimpsonJo Armstead | Ray Charles | Ray Charles (Vocals, Piano) |
| 4 |
Going Down Slow
|
Jimmy Oden | Jimmy Oden | Ray Charles | Ray Charles (Vocals, Piano) |
| 5 |
Peace of Mind
|
Ray CharlesJ. Holiday | Ray CharlesJ. Holiday | Ray Charles | Ray Charles (Vocals, Piano) |
| 6 |
Tears
|
Norman Newell | Robert Maxwell | Ray Charles | Ray Charles (Vocals, Piano) |
| 7 |
Drifting Blues
|
Johnny MooreEddie WilliamsCharles Brown | Johnny MooreEddie WilliamsCharles Brown | Ray Charles | Ray Charles (Vocals, Piano) |
| 8 |
We Don't See Eye to Eye
|
Percy Mayfield | Percy Mayfield | Ray Charles | Ray Charles (Vocals, Piano) |
| 9 |
You're in for a Big Surprise
|
Percy Mayfield | Percy Mayfield | Ray Charles | Ray Charles (Vocals, Piano) |
| 10 |
You're Just About to Lose Your Clown
|
Johnny MacRae | Johnny MacRae | Ray Charles | Ray Charles (Vocals, Piano) |
| 11 |
Don't You Think I Ought to Know
|
William JohnsonMelvin Wettergreen | William JohnsonMelvin Wettergreen | Ray Charles | Ray Charles (Vocals, Piano) |
| 12 |
You've Got a Problem
|
William D. WeeksFreddy James | William D. WeeksFreddy James | Ray Charles | Ray Charles (Vocals, Piano) |