“You’ve Still Got A Place In My Heart”

Ray Charles included a beautiful version of Leon Payne’s “You’ve Still Got A Place In My Heart” on his 1970 Love Country Style LP.

Payne, blind like Ray since childhood, recorded it in 1950 and it later became the non-LP B-side of Glen Campbell’s legendary 1967 hit single “By The Time I Get To Phoenix”. Many artists recorded their own versions, including Dean Martin, Marty Robbins, George Jones, and Merle Haggard.

On Ray Charles’ version of “You’ve Still Got A Place In My Heart”, Sid Feller’s toned-down orchestral arrangement underpins an unhurried and warmly gentle vocal performance. The strings are kept in the background while Ray’s own piano and his guitar-led band are allowed to occupy most of the foreground.

Most importantly, musically, is the song’s slow-to-mid tempo that finds the perfect flow that lets Ray sermonize most effectively in between the beats. He isn’t held back amid somnambulism, as he was on some of his recent I’m All Yours Baby LP, nor is he rushing to spit out some litany of incensed objections to a lover’s unacceptable behavior. No, he takes his time, settling into a countrified, hands-in-pockets stride and just hopefully letting her know that she is welcome back anytime.

The piteousness of “You’ve Still Got A Place In My Heart” comes not only from the heartsick pace and the sympathetic strings but in the sense the listener gets that her coming back to him is highly unlikely. As in many country songs, he hasn’t moved on, and thinks he’s a fool because of it, but finds himself unable to rectify the situation, so he hopes against hope. Sobbing into his pillow is much easier (and more familiar) than closing his heart off to her once and for all and getting on with his life.

As a reminder that Ray Charles still loved real country music and could still connect with it emotionally in 1970, “You’ve Still Got A Place In My Heart” is a fine performance in all respects, and well worth seeking out even though it may not be one of his more famous songs.

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