"Crying Time" is the title of a popular song from 1966 (see
1966 in music-Events:*January 3 - Hullabaloo shows promotional videos of The Beatles songs "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work it Out".*January 8 - Shindig! airs for the last time on ABC, with musical guests the Kinks and the Who...
). The song was written by
country musicCountry music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains...
singer-songwriterA singer–songwriter is a musician who writes, composes and sings their own material including lyrics and melodies. They often provide the sole accompaniment to an entire composition or song, typically using a guitar or piano...
Buck OwensAlvis Edgar Owens, Jr. , better known as Buck Owens, was an American singer and guitarist who had 21 number one hits on the Billboard country music charts with his band, the Buckaroos...
.
Owens recorded a version of his song, but it failed to reach the music charts. A
cover versionIn popular music, a cover version, or simply cover, is a new rendition of a previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of "Crying Time" was then recorded by R&B singer
Ray CharlesRay Charles Robinson , known by his stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He brought a soulful sound to country music and pop standards through his Modern Sounds recordings, as well as a rendition of "America the Beautiful" that Ed Bradley of 60 Minutes called the "definitive version of...
, and this version proved to be a hit. Featuring backing vocals by the
Jack HalloranJack Halloran was an American composer and choral director. He died at 81 of a stroke.-Early life:Born in Rock Rapids, Iowa in 1916, Halloran earned degrees in music from Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, and Northwestern University.-Choral and pop culture involvement:He sang with a male...
Singers, the song reached #6 on the
BillboardBillboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday; while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart in February 1966.
"Crying Time" is the title of a popular song from 1966 (see
1966 in music-Events:*January 3 - Hullabaloo shows promotional videos of The Beatles songs "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work it Out".*January 8 - Shindig! airs for the last time on ABC, with musical guests the Kinks and the Who...
). The song was written by
country musicCountry music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains...
singer-songwriterA singer–songwriter is a musician who writes, composes and sings their own material including lyrics and melodies. They often provide the sole accompaniment to an entire composition or song, typically using a guitar or piano...
Buck OwensAlvis Edgar Owens, Jr. , better known as Buck Owens, was an American singer and guitarist who had 21 number one hits on the Billboard country music charts with his band, the Buckaroos...
.
Owens recorded a version of his song, but it failed to reach the music charts. A
cover versionIn popular music, a cover version, or simply cover, is a new rendition of a previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of "Crying Time" was then recorded by R&B singer
Ray CharlesRay Charles Robinson , known by his stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He brought a soulful sound to country music and pop standards through his Modern Sounds recordings, as well as a rendition of "America the Beautiful" that Ed Bradley of 60 Minutes called the "definitive version of...
, and this version proved to be a hit. Featuring backing vocals by the
Jack HalloranJack Halloran was an American composer and choral director. He died at 81 of a stroke.-Early life:Born in Rock Rapids, Iowa in 1916, Halloran earned degrees in music from Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, and Northwestern University.-Choral and pop culture involvement:He sang with a male...
Singers, the song reached #6 on the
BillboardBillboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday; while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart in February 1966. Charles' version of the song also peaked at #5 on the
R&B chartR&B/Hip-Hop Songs, formerly the Black Singles Chart, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues...
and spent three weeks at #1 on the
adult contemporary chartThe Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...
. In the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
, the song reached #38 on the
British pop chartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record industry. The full chart contains the top 200 singles based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 of this list...
. In addition, Charles' version of "Crying Time" won two
Grammy AwardThe Grammy Awards —or Grammys—are presented annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States for outstanding achievements in the music industry...
s in
1967The 9th Grammy Awards were held March 2, 1967. They recognized accomplishments of musicians for the year 1966. The 9th Grammy Awards is notable for not presenting the Grammy Award for Best New Artist.- Award winners :*Record of the Year...
, in the categories
Best R&B RecordingThe Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Recording was awarded from 1959 to 1968. From 1959 to 1961 the award was called the Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Performance....
and
Best R&B Solo PerformanceThe Grammy Award for Best R&B Solo Vocal Performance - Male or Female was awarded at the Grammy Awards of 1967 for music released in the previous year. For this year only it replaced the awards for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. The award was won by Ray...
.
Charles intended his version of Owens' song to be a tribute to the country music style he appreciated (indeed, Charles had successfully covered other country music songs in the past, such as "
I Can't Stop Loving YouThe song was also recorded by Ray Charles in 1962 and released from Charles' groundbreaking Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music album. The Ray Charles cover version reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962, as well as the U.S...
"). He was quoted as saying that he didn't record "Crying Time" and other country songs written by Owens "out of disrespect for Buck. I'm crazy about Buck. But I heard something that fit my style. The key was keeping my style while watching my style work in different ways."
Ray Charles and
Barbra Streisand Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, film and theatre actress. She has also achieved note as a composer, liberal political activist, film producer, and film director. She has won two Academy Awards, ten Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, and a Peabody all by the age of...
performed the song as a duet on her 1973 album
Barbra Streisand...And Other Musical InstrumentsBarbra Streisand...And Other Musical Instruments is a studio album by Barbra Streisand, released in 1973. The material on the album was drawn from Streisand's fifth television special which had aired earlier in the same year, on which Streisand had sung a selection of her best-known tracks and...
. This cover was featured in episode #5.3 "The Glass Is Always Cleaner" of the
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
drama series
Las VegasLas Vegas is an American television series that aired on NBC from September 22, 2003 to February 15, 2008. The show focuses on a team of people working in the fictional Montecito Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada—dealing with issues that arise within the working environment, ranging from valet...
. Streisand also included a solo version of the song on her 1974 album
ButterFlyButterFly is a studio album by Barbra Streisand, recorded and released in 1974. The credited producer is Streisand's then boyfriend Jon Peters, with arrangements by Tom Scott...
.
Wanda JacksonWanda Lavonne Jackson is an American singer and guitarist who had success in the mid-1950s and 60s as one of the first popular female rockabilly singers and a pioneering rock and roll artist...
and
Elvis CostelloElvis Costello is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s, and later became associated with the punk rock and New Wave musical genres...
recorded a version which appears on Jackson's 2003 album
Heart Trouble.