“All To Myself”
Song by Ray Charles Trio
“All To Myself” is a Ray Charles song originally released on a 78 rpm disc in January 1951 on the Swing Time label (249A+). It was credited to Ray Charles Trio, and Ray specifically is credited on the label as being “at the ’88′” (a piano, which has 88 keys).
The song, written by Ray himself, is profoundly sad, moving along slowly with little going on musically. The lyrics, as personal as any that the orphaned Ray Charles could have sung, begin “Without a father, without a mother, without a sister or a brother, I’m what they call all to myself alone.” Ray’s father had abandoned him; his brother George died in a tub as the still-sighted Ray looked on at the age of five; and his beloved mother Retha had died about five years before this song was recorded. Ray truly was, as far as family went, all to himself, alone. He had by now dropped his family name “Robinson” and would henceforth be known by his most famous appellation.
The plaintive lonesomeness in Ray’s voice is hard to take, but tempered somewhat by the fact that he hasn’t completely adopted his own voice yet. Still only twenty years old, Ray was continuing to ape Nat Cole’s crooning style, and the guise puts a bit of distance between the subject matter and the person of Ray Charles.
But only a little, for “All To Myself” is still a harrowing, stark experience. Ray, although already a piano virtuoso, sticks mainly to short stabs of full chords on this song, jazzy in their way but each inert and gloomy. Oscar Moore runs his fingers up and down the guitar neck, zipping over each fret like chills down a spine, and bassist Johnny Miller is barely detectable. (Both had played with Nat Cole himself, kind of a coup for Ray at the time.)
In addition to those three musicians, there seems to be a celeste in parts of the song. I don’t know who plays it but it does add a little relief to the song so it isn’t all face-down in the gutter blues.
“All To Myself” has appeared on countless quasi-bootleg LPs and CDs over the years, often titled “All To Myself Alone”. Be careful of these releases; they often feature poor sound quality, only one or two songs actually by Ray, or (most offensively) unauthorized overdubs. If you can’t find a copy of the original 78 rpm disc (they do crop up from time to time and shouldn’t break the bank) I suggest the CD box set The Complete Studio Master Takes 1948-1959 on the Le Chant du Monde label.
“All To Myself” was recorded on Friday, November 24, 1950 along with three other songs. The flip side of the “All To Myself” 78 was that session’s “I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now”, released January 1951, while the other two songs made it onto their own disc that same month as Swing Time 250: “Lonely Boy” b/w “Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand”.
Although the original 78 label says “All To Myself” is 2:50 in length, the CD version is only 2:02. I hope this is a misprint on the 78 and not a failing of the CD.
Single releases
“I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now”
b/w
Listen to “All To Myself”
Get your own “All To Myself” on MP3 from Amazon. Or get the complete 1948-51 recordings CD.