Holy hillbilly fiddlers, Batman! Ray Price left the honky tonk and hooked up with a string section! At least that's what country fans must have been thinking when they heard Ray Price's Burning Memories. Here, the only identifying country marker is the corny cowboy hat he's wearing on the cover. While it's easy to see why Price took so much guff from country diehards because this is a radical change from his Ernest Tubb-influenced honky tonk persona, it's still a badass country record, full of Floyd Cramer and Pig Robbins' pianos, Buddy Emmons' pedal steel, and Price's awesome baritone voice in its finest form ever. Begun in 1962, Burning Memories was the beginning of the Price transition from hillbilly singer to serious crossover smash. This is the album that boasts the stellar, timeless, and unforgettable "Make the World Go Away" by Hank Cochran and Eddie Miller's mind-blowing "Release Me," two Price signature tunes. In addition, there are amazing reads of Buck Owens' "Together Again," Conway Twitty's "Walk Me to the Door," and Willie Nelson's "Are You Sure," among others — including Harlan Howard's fearsome nugget "You Took Her Off My Hands (Now Take Her Off My Mind)." Truth be told, Burning Memories holds no filler, which is astonishing for a country record from that era. Frank Jones' production is full of space and slippery genre blurs, and allows Price's ambition to soar without abandoning his strengths. Burning Memories, masterpiece that it is, is only available on CD as part of a two-fer series by Audium. The other record? The amazing follow-up, Touch My Heart.
RAY PRICE
BURNING MEMORIES
Columbia CS-9089March/1965
Produced by Don Law & Frank Jones
Grady Martin, Jerry Kennedy - lead guitarHank Cochran, Walter Haynes, Ray Edenton, Pete Wade, Arthur Bishop, Darrell McCall - guitar
Harold Bradley - bass guitar
Buddy Emmons - steel
Joe Zinkan - bass
Willie Ackerman, Robert Preston, Buddy Harman, Johnny Bush - drums
Tommy Jackson, Shorty Lavender - fiddle
Hargus Pig Robbins, Floyd Cramer - piano
Strings:
Byron Bach, Brenton Banks, George Binkley, Cecil Brower, Howard Carpenter, Lillian Hunt,
Solie Fott, Martin Katahn, Roby Story, Wilda Tinsley, Vernal Richardson
The Anita Kerr Singers - vocals
Recorded:
Sept 26/1962, Columbia Studios, Nashville (8,10)
Feb 25/1963, Columbia Studios, Nashville (4)
June 13/1963, Columbia Studios, Nashville (3,12)
Dec 18/1963, Columbia Studios, Nashville (1,11)
Aug 18/1964, Columbia Studios, Nashville (2,7)
Aug 19/1964, Columbia Studios, Nashville (5,6,9)
1.
BURNING MEMORIES
(Mel Tillis - Wayne P. Walker) « © '63 Cedarwood Publishing, BMI »(Burning mem'ries burning mem'ries
Memories of you that I can't lose)
Tonight I'm burning old love letters
Photographs and memories of you
Hoping somehow I'll feel better
And when the smoke is gone I won't want you
(Burning mem'ries) teardrops fall while I am
(Burning mem'ries) burning all the memories of you that I can't lose
My heart to you no longer matters
And I can't live alone with memories
Into the fire those dreams you've shattered
And when the smoke is gone then I'll be free
(Burning mem'ries) teardrops fall while I am
(Burning mem'ries) burning all the memories of you that I can't lose
**********
2.
HERE COMES MY BABY BACK AGAIN
(Dottie West - Bill West) « © '64 Tree Publishing, BMI »Here comes more tears to cry here comes more heartaches by
Here comes my baby back again
Here comes more misery here comes old memory
Here comes my baby back again
My arms are open wide to let more hurt inside
Here comes my baby back again
She's sorry once again once more I'll understand
Here comes my baby back again
[ strings ] My arms are open wide...
Here comes my baby back again
**********
3.
MAKE THE WORLD GO AWAY
(Hank Cochran) « © '63 Tree Publishing, BMI »(Make the world go away) and get it off of my shoulder
(Say the things you used to say) and make the world go away
I'm sorry if I hurt you I'll make it up day by day
Just tell me you still love me and make the world go away
(Make the world go away...
Do you remember when you loved me before the world took me astray
If you do then forgive me and make the world go away
(Make the world go away...
**********
4.
ARE YOU SURE
(Willie Nelson - Bobby Emmons) « © '63 Tree Publishing, BMI »Oh look around you look down the barroom the lonely faces that you see
Are you sure that this is where you want to be
These are your friends but are they real friends do they love you the same as me
Are you sure that this is where you want to be
You seem in such a hurry to live this kind of life you caused so many tears and misery
Look around you take a good look and tell me what you see
Are you sure that this is where you want to be
[ steel ] Don't let my tears persuade you I had hoped I couldn't cry
But lately teardrops seem a part of me
So look around you and take a good look at all the lonely used to be
Are you sure that this is where you want to be
**********
5.
SOFT RAIN
(Ray Price) « © '62 Tree Publishing, BMI »(The soft rain was teardrops for the angels all cried)
Soft rain was falling when you said goodbye
Thunders and lightnings filled my heart inside
The love born in heaven had suddenly died
And the soft rain was teardrops for the angels all cried
If love can be perfect ours must have been
But perfection is always destroyed by man
The rain whispered softly a true love just died
And the soft rain was teardrops for the angels all cried
[ strings ] If love can be perfect...
**********
6.
RELEASE ME (AND LET ME LOVE AGAIN)
(Eddie Miller - W.S. Stevenson) « © '54 Roschelle Publishing, BMI »So please release me let me go I don't love you anymore
To live together is a sin release me and let me love again
I have found a new love dear and I'll always want her near
Her lips are warm while yours are cold release me darling let me go
[ strings ] So please release me let me go...
**********
7.
TOGETHER AGAIN
(Buck Owens) « © '63 Central Songs, BMI »Together again my tears have stopped falling
The long lonely nights are now at an end
The key to my heart you hold in your hand
And nothing else matters we're together again
[ strings ] (Nothing else matters we're together again)
Together again the grey skies're gone
You're back in my arms now where you belong
The love that I knew is living again
And nothing else matters we're together again
Nothing else matters we're together again
**********
8.
YOU TOOK HER OFF MY HANDS
(Harlan Howard - Wynn Stewart - Skeets McDonald) « © '56 Central Songs, BMI »You took her off my hands when you've stepped in
You changed everything we're not even friends
Don't leave the job half done leave nothing behind
You took her off my hands now please take her off my mind
Please take her photograph engraved on my heart's so blue
And take all her memories she now belongs to you
Don't leave the job half done leave nothing behind
You took her off my hands now please take her off my mind
[ strings - steel ] Please take her photograph...
**********
9.
THING CALLED SADNESS
(Harlan Howard) « © '65 Tree Publishing, BMI »(It's a thing called sadness)
It's been here since you've been gone it's been hanging round too long
A thing called sadness not much of a friend when you walked out it walked in
In every chair where I sit down it follows me all over town
A thing called sadness not much of a friend when you walked out it walked in
What in the world am I gonna do this old friend can't take the place of you
It only brings back mem'ries of you and all the things that we used to do
In every chair where I sit...
**********
10.
WALK ME TO THE DOOR
(Conway Twitty) « © '62 Tree Publishing, BMI »Walk me to the door and hold me close just one more time
Kiss me just once more the way you did when you were mine
The longest walk I'll ever take will be across the floor
That's why I'm asking one last favor walk me to the door
I love another won't you let me be
These are the words that you said to me
How can I go through life without you like it was before
When I can even make it to the door
Walk me to the door...
[ strings ] I promise I won't try to make commands
I know I don't deserve you back again
My trembling lips are begging now they never did before
Just one more favor walk me to the door
Walk me to the door...
**********
11.
THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS
(Hank Cochran) « © '63 Tree Publishing, BMI »I know I'm not your first love but there'll just be past memory
For I'm the one that's got you now that's all that matters to me
I know other arms have held you but I'm not jealous of these
For mine are the arms that hold you now and that's all that matters to me
I came alive when you came along you brought life back to me
And I don't care what's in your past you're as far as I can see
I know other lips have kissed you I know you've been thrilled and pleased
But mine are the lips that kiss you now and that's all that matters to me
And that's all that matters to me
**********
12.
LET ME TALK TO YOU
(Danny Dill - Don Davis) « © '57 Cedarwood Publishing, BMI »Just one more dance just one more chance so I can talk to you
Don't live too fast forget the past and I will try to prove
I would do anything you ask me to
Don't run around don't turn me down let me talk to you
Don't go too far with that crowd at the bar
That's not the way to win please fall in love again
Give me your heart so I can start to build our life anew
I know you'll pay so if you're afraid let me talk to you
[ strings ] Don't go too far with that crowd at the bar...
**********
