“Yes Indeed”
Song by Ray Charles
Ray Charles released a version of Sy Oliver’s song “Yes Indeed” as the A-side of a single in April 1958, with “I Had A Dream” as the B-side. “Yes Indeed” also lent its name to an October 1958 compilation album with a new exclamation mark: Yes Indeed! (and later with a different cover and additional punctuation: Yes Indeed!!).
Sy Oliver wrote “Yes Indeed” which was first recorded by Tommy Dorsey’s swing orchestra in 1941 (with the exclamation point, incidentally). Sy sang on that version as well, with Jo Stafford providing the female vocal.
Ray’s version is a marked departure from the original arrangement of “Yes Indeed” – rocking rhythm and blues has replaced the long, swinging instrumental passages of past versions. It sounds a lot more like “Hallelujah, I Love Her So” than it does “Yes Indeed”.
While the original was a duet, Ray is the only main vocalist on “Yes Indeed”, but he’s backed by the Raelets who never let up their spirited echoing of the song’s title. (The are credited as “The Cookies”, their name when Ray found them.) Relentless drums drive the performance and Ray is in his finest voice, wailing and grunting his way through the song with gusto.
David “Fathead” Newman adds one of his patented genius saxophone solos towards the end. That solo, plus the Raelets and Ray’s righteous vocals and the funky, dramatic rhythm, makes the effortless “Yes Indeed” something of the perfect distillation of all that made Ray famous during the first few years of his time at Atlantic Records.
It’s all here – if you don’t like “Yes Indeed”, you don’t like Ray.
“Yes Indeed” live version
Ray’s live 1960 LP In Person featured a version of “Yes Indeed” recorded on May 28, 1959 at a concert in Atlanta. It sticks pretty close to the studio version, replete with the saxophone solo and Ray’s commanding vocals and excitable piano.
Single releases
“Yes Indeed”
b/w
“I Had A Dream”
Listen to “Yes Indeed”
Get your own “Yes Indeed” on 45, LP, CD or MP3 from Amazon. Or get the complete Atlantic recordings 7xCD box set.
Songs on Yes Indeed!