“All For You”
Song by Ray Charles
“All For You” is a gentle song from Ray’s 1967 album Listen. At its own slowish pace “All For You” displays some classic Ray instrumentation – his piano with an orchestra painting most of the colors.
There are a couple of particularly interesting things about “All For You”. The first comes in the opening seconds: twice in succession, a short sharp brass note sounds, loudly; it startles the listener. Making it more strange is the fact that the effect isn’t repeated until the end of the track. Between these weird attacks, the bulk of “All For You” is pretty conventional. Ray sings softly and turns in yet another lovely piano solo. “Life would be a symphony, living all for you” he sings, coming off especially restrained. His voice isn’t falsetto (like it is elsewhere on Listen) but it’s high and thin nonetheless.
The other odd aspect of “All For You” are a couple of instances where some discordant note clusters suddenly erupt from Ray’s piano, some incongruous turmoil bubbling just under the surface of the serenity. These strange elements of “All For You” give the otherwise straight performance a kind of weird and restless feel. Subtly.
Listen to “All For You”
Songs on Listen