“Roly Poly”
Song by Ray Charles?
An instrumental recording called “Roly Poly” was released in 1952 and credited to “Ray Charles with Rufus Beacham Orch.” but it is not known whether or not it actually features Ray Charles. “Roly Poly” was later released under the title “Back Home” on a 45 by Time Records with new and apparently untrue writers’ credits (H. Stone and M. Asher).
The story of “Roly Poly”
“Roly Poly” was first released on a 78 in late 1952 on a label called Sittin’ In With (651); the other side was “I Can’t Do No More” (later released by Time as “Why Did You Go”). This was during a period when Ray was between labels, sorta – his contract with Jack Lauderdale’s Swing Time label had been sold to Atlantic, who released their first Ray single in September 1952 (with a B-side incidentally called “Roll With My Baby”).
“I Can’t Do No More” b/w “Roly Poly” was the second Ray Charles 78 released by Sittin’ In With; catalog number 641 had come in the form of “Baby, Let Me Hear You Call My Name” b/w “Guitar Blues”; this disc merely used the same two songs that had appeared on Ray’s final Swing Time 78 in July 1952.
Both Sittin’ In With 78s had the same format: a vocal A-side with Ray singing and playing, and an instrumental B-side. Both B-sides are hard to ascribe definitively to Ray, and the evidence is fairly strong against it.
“Roly Poly” does feature a piano throughout, plus a prominent guitar in addition to the rhythm section. Whoever is playing on it, the recording date isn’t known either – sometime between 1948 and 1952 is about all that can be said.
The case for “Roly Poly”
Could “Roly Poly” feature Ray Charles? It apparently originated from Jack Lauderdale, who had recorded and released all of Ray’s commercial music to that point on a series of 78 discs. The piano could certainly be Ray Charles, even if he keeps to a more basic, supportive playing style.
Mention of the Sittin’ In With 651 78 rpm disc, from the October 11, 1952 Billboard.
Sittin’ In With 651, with “Roly Poly” as its B-side, was mentioned in the October 11, 1952 edition of Billboard Magazine as being a new Ray Charles record. If this turned out to be erroneous, neither Ray nor his new label Atlantic seem to have bothered to correct it, though they must have noticed it.
The case against “Roly Poly”
Sittin’ In With 641’s B-side, the instrumental “Guitar Blues”, credits Ray Charles as playing guitar but this is widely discredited – nobody ever saw Ray play guitar, certainly not on a released studio recording. This throws Sittin’ In With’s credibility with their credits (and Jack Lauderdale’s, who first released “Guitar Blues”) into serious doubt.
So what about 651’s “Roly Poly”?
Perhaps most damning, an interviewer played “Roly Poly” to Ray Charles in 1989; Ray said not only did he not recognize the playing, but that he had never even met Rufus Beacham. Maybe his memory was dodgy after forty years, but then again maybe not: Ray was sharp and his definitive answer seems to cast “Roly Poly” into serious doubt.
The piano style on “Roly Poly” is uncharacteristically restrained for Ray. Virtually all of his other Swing Time-era recordings feature must busier and more virtuoso playing. If he was playing as a backup for Rufus Beacham or someone else, he may have altered his style, but it seems suspicious given all the other evidence.
Summing up “Roly Poly”
A 78 was released in late 1952 featuring “I Can’t Do No More” b/w “Roly Poly”. This was re-released as a 45 by Time Records with both songs retitled: “Why Did You Go” b/w “Back Home”. The evidence suggests that the B-side features a piano player who is not Ray Charles. But nobody knows for sure; it may be a matter that never gets truly settled.
For now, “Roly Poly” remains part of Ray’s canon just because you can’t really anthologize his early years definitively without it – even if unlikely, it might be him, and traditionally gets lumped in with the rest of his early career.
Listen and enjoy it as you may, but be wary of “Roly Poly” a.k.a “Back Home” – who knows who’s playing on it!
Single releases
“Why Did You Go”
b/w
“Roly Poly”
by Ray Charles?
