Crying Time cover art

  Studio Album · No. 10

Crying Time Songwriting Credits by Ray Charles

1966 ABC-Paramount / Tangerine 12 tracks 39 min

Produced by Ray Charles

ABC-Paramount / Tangerine R&BSoulCountry
8%
Authorship
Singer / Performer

Holds writing credit on 1 of 12 tracks

Authorship Breakdown 1 / 12 documented

Who wrote the songs?

Scored across the 12 tracks with documented writers, by whether Ray Charles carries a lyricist or composer credit.

8%
1 trackwritten by Ray Charles 11 tracksoutside writers
Ray Charles's roles on this album

Share of the 12 tracks where a band member is credited, by role.

Lyricist8%
Composer8%
Producer100%
Performer100%

By the Numbers

12
Tracks
20
Lyricists
1
Producers
1966
Released
Data Insight

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

Written by the artist Written by outside writers
#TitleLyricist(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)

Songwriter & Credit Spotlight 21 contributors

More from Ray Charles

Frequently Asked Questions Crying Time

What did "Let's Go Get Stoned" peak at on the Billboard Hot 100?
"Let's Go Get Stoned" from the Crying Time album reached #31 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966 while hitting #1 on the R&B chart.
Who wrote "Let's Go Get Stoned" on the Crying Time album?
"Let's Go Get Stoned" was written by Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson, and Josephine Armstead. Ray Charles recorded it for the Crying Time album in 1966.
Who produced the Crying Time album by Ray Charles?
Crying Time was produced by Joe Adams, marking a departure from the Sid Feller productions that had characterized Ray Charles's early ABC-Paramount albums.
Where did Crying Time peak on the Billboard LP chart?
Crying Time peaked at #15 on Billboard's Top LPs chart in 1966.
On which chart did "Let's Go Get Stoned" perform better, the Hot 100 or the R&B chart?
"Let's Go Get Stoned" performed far better on the R&B chart, reaching #1, than on the Hot 100 where it peaked at #31. The disconnect reflected the song's stronger appeal with R&B audiences than mainstream pop audiences in 1966.
What label released the Crying Time album by Ray Charles?
Crying Time was released on Ray Charles's own Tangerine Records label, distributed by ABC Records. Charles had established Tangerine to maintain greater control over his recordings.

Sources