“I Can’t Stop Loving You”
Song by Ray Charles
Ray Charles’ cover of the Don Gibson hit “I Can’t Stop Loving You” reached number 1 in the US and the UK, and was a huge hit in several other countries around the world. The orchestrated, choir-backed erstwhile country tune made Ray the biggest thing in the world for a time and paved the way for the rest of his career.
“I Can’t Stop Loving You” was the B-side of Don Gibson’s 1958 single “Oh, Lonesome Me” but like its A-side was a hit unto itself. Ray’s version was the penultimate song on Side 2 of his thematic LP Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music and was also released as a single, both in April 1962. The single, catalog number ABC-10330, had “Born To Lose” as its B-side.
What made Ray’s version so big? Simply put, it’s the crests and troughs he and the musicians (and yes, even the shrill, lily-white choir) pull the listener through. He keeps the pace identical to the Gibson original, but when the background voices swell, or the orchestra sweeps in and then fades, it’s all juxtaposed with Ray’s ultra-sensitive vocal performance. He hits everything, every high and low, every quiet phrase and sudden enunciation, perfectly. The world had no choice but to tune in on a performance of such astonishing humanity and musicality.
After an off-hand piano chord, it’s actually that choir that begins by singing the song’s title, whereupon Ray steps in with his deeply personable and captivating voice tone. Whereas Don Gibson’s original was guitar-led, with answering phrases after each sung line, Marty Paich’s arrangement has Ray answering the lines that the choir sing first. It works well, offering not only the male-female balance that Ray always loved, but also a kind of angel/devil dynamic, a gentle upwards tug from the heavens that attempts to console the lonesome singer who has consciously resigned himself to a life of remembering his fond past, before the breakup with her.
By the end of the song, the listener has already been fully encircled by the recording, and there is a build-up to the final iteration of the chorus. Ray echoes the choir’s lines: “Time has stood still (time has stood still) / Since we’ve been apart (since we’ve been a-PART)”, and when the chorus then breaks immediately afterwards, it’s a unbelievable emotional high. That’s the drama that drove this single up to the number 1 spot for five consecutive weeks.
The back of the Modern Sounds LP jacket contains a blurb about each of its 12 songs; the one for “I Can’t Stop Loving You” reads:
Following the opening notes by the vocal choir, Ray takes over the beautiful lyric with the electric Charles “feeling.”
A little banal perhaps, but an accurate description nonetheless.
Don Gibson’s original recording was and is regarded, rightfully, as a wonderful song and recording. Gibson himself would re-record it following Ray Charles’ version: incorporating splashes of piano and with small melodic touches that recall Ray’s interpretation.
“I Can’t Stop Loving You” appears regularly on Ray Charles compilations, but despite its importance in his career, and its prominence on the 1962 music charts, it is probably not as anthologized as, say, R&B classics like “Hit The Road Jack” or “What’d I Say”. It’s not actually his best 1962-era “country” song, either – I’d take the B-side of the single, “Born To Lose”, if I had to choose, for just one example. But Ray Charles’ “I Can’t Stop Loving You” is a bona fide classic, deserving of all its accolades then and now.
Single releases
“I Can’t Stop Loving You”
b/w
“Born To Lose”
Listen to “I Can’t Stop Loving You”
Note that seven years after this song Ray Charles released a B-side called “I Can’t Stop Loving You Baby”, a raucous R&B tune unrelated to this one.
Get your own “I Can’t Stop Loving You” on 45, LP, CD or MP3 from Amazon. Or get the out-of-print complete ABC singles 5xCD box set.
Songs on Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music