“That Lucky Old Sun”

“That Lucky Old Sun” is a gorgeous song from Ray’s 1963 album Ingredients In A Recipe For Soul. One of the most moving performances of his career, it can be a difficult listen for anyone sensitive to the exposed pain of deep sadness.

In interviews throughout his life, Ray Charles admitted that he occasionally cried while singing, and it sounds as if he were at least tearing up throughout “That Lucky Old Sun”. His voice repeatedly breaks, and when the song swells into higher and louder registers moments, he sounds like he’s just struggling to make himself feel better.

The loneliness and anguish in his sorrowful, uneven tenor are absolutely heartbreaking and clearly real on “That Lucky Old Sun”. You can well imagine that he had to wipe his eyes as soon as the tape stopped rolling.

The lyrics of this song are a petulant pout about the sun, whose lot in life is to “roll around heaven all day”. Lucky bastard. And here’s Ray, drowning in his own tears and misery. Why does the sun get off so easy?

Aside from Ray’s vocals, the music on “That Lucky Old Sun” is soft and sympathetic. Ray plays piano and takes comfort in it, and in the blurry orchestra all around him. At one point he instructs his backing choir to sing the title phrase, magnanimously giving them the healing gift of the music that he hopes is helping him heal. So the band surges and falls with Ray, and we lucky old listeners are taken on an emotional ride unlike much else, even elsewhere in Ray’s own body of work.

The final seconds of “That Lucky Old Sun” give one last sad peek into Ray’s torment: the band has sounded its final notes, so he puts the capper on the performance with a barren, hopelessly muttered “Yes, Lord”, running his fingers dejectedly up the higher keys of his piano.

Then it’s over.

Single releases

ABC 10509
November 1963

“That Lucky Old Sun”
b/w
“Ol’ Man Time”

Listen to “That Lucky Old Sun”

Get your own “That Lucky Old Sun” on 45, LP, CD or MP3 from Amazon. Or get the out-of-print complete ABC singles 5xCD box set.