“They Call It Love”

“They Call It Love” is a 1984 Ray Charles song that comes on like a cool late-night drive through city streets – slow and slinky and sexy.

And maybe a little lonely… but that’s just how it goes.

Ray’s band plays it cool, just this side of mid-tempo, and a thin, wailing, bluesy guitar takes a prominent spot while Ray’s piano stays with the rest of the band, providing a dynamic but reliable bedrock. It’s one of many great performances on the Do I Ever Cross Your Mind LP.

The vocal melody is somewhat complicated, but Ray effortlessly follows it up and down, ready to accept any challenge. The paranoia and fear evinced by the lyrics — “they call it love, but I don’t know” is the song’s refrain — are echoed in Ray’s uneasy phrasing as well as the edgy and sparse music.

“They Call It Love” has a decidedly early-80s feel of professionalism about it, with its precise performances and airy emptiness. This is not necessarily a bad thing, because everything coalesces. Ray the singer and Ray the bandleader make it all work. As a vocalist he doesn’t show off or improvise here, but his stick-to-the-script approach glides by perfectly due to his marvelous voice tone and the way he bends it to match the song’s overall theme.

The Raelets echo some of Ray’s lines, offering no particular condolences but adding a warm and welcome touch of female soul to the scene — the scene lit by bright but colorless moonlight during that nocturnal ramble through the city.

Single releases

Listen to “They Call It Love”

Get your own “They Call It Love” on 45, LP or MP3 from Amazon.