“Busted”
Song by Ray Charles
Ray Charles had a big hit with the Harlan Howard song “Busted” in 1963, which Johnny Cash had just released as a single. The song also led off Ray’s Ingredients In A Recipe For Soul LP that year.
Whereas the Johnny Cash was pure country – acoustic guitar and Cash’s usual ricky-ticky electric guitar jitter – Benny Carter’s arrangement on Ray Charles’ “Busted” obscures the country origins of the song under a pronounced brass figure and an erratic, careering lope that underscores the comically overstated woebegone lyrics.
Ray delivers the song’s message of poverty with a performance that manages to stretch the simple melody over and across the lines, burying the overt waltz time of the Cash version under a richer and more complex sound. He strikes the perfect balance of fealty to the beat and free, personal expression with his idiosyncratic vocal timing. Cash’s version of “Busted” is fine, but Ray’s is different.
The Johnny Cash version of “Busted”, also from 1963.
Ray, of course, was wealthy by 1963 and everyone knew it. Still, his sad-eyed wail, while not exactly believable in the true sense of the word, is emotive and communicative. He sings the funny-if-they-weren’t-true lyrics with an amplified moan, peppering it with some more anguished moments of outrage. Some of his countrified, humorously specific problems include:
I got a cow that went went dry and a hen that won’t lay
A big stack of bills that gets bigger each day
The county’s gonna haul my belongings away
‘Cause I’m busted
It’s a very short song – just over two minutes – but Ray manages to not only incorporate country and brass swing into this mutant rhythm and blues song, but he also indulges in some scatted hepcat slang on the fadeout (yes, a fadeout on a two-minute song!):
I’m broke
No bread
I mean, like nothin’
Forget it
It’s over!
It’s no wonder “Busted” was such a big hit: it’s immediately enjoyable on several fronts, and stands as one of those moments when things just seem to come together naturally, all parts interlocked and working. Short, sweet, and to the point, “Busted” is a riot and never gets old.
Single releases
Listen to “Busted”
Get your own “Busted” on 45, LP, CD or MP3 from Amazon. Or get the out-of-print complete ABC singles 5xCD box set.
Songs on Ingredients In A Recipe For Soul