“Watch It Baby”
Song by Ray Charles
“Watch It Baby” is the defiant closing track on side 2 of Ray’s 1965 album Together Again. In it, Ray warns his woman to not continue disrespecting him. Like most of Ray’s 1960s “country” music, “Watch It Baby” is not in fact performed in all that much of a country style.
Instead, bold and brassy “Watch It Baby” lopes along with a cool inevitability, steady and masculine. Ray keeps his vocals in the lower range, except when he emotes more strongly and lets loose into the higher registers.
There’s a slight distracted quality to Ray’s voice on “Watch It Baby”, as can be detected on much of this album. As his last music before he kicked his two-decades-long heroin habit, maybe this is the sound of Ray Charles in a physical and emotional cul-de-sac. Exhausted, but still great.
Listen to “Watch It Baby”
Songs on Together Again