Ray Charles was the stage name of Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 - June 10, 2004). He was a pioneering American pianist and soulmusician who helped shape the sound of rhythm and blues and brought a soulful sound to everything from country music to pop standards to a now-iconic rendition of "America the Beautiful." Frank Sinatracalled him "the only genius in the business." In 2003, he headlined the White House Correspondents Dinner in Wash., DC, at which President and Mrs. Bush, Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice, were in attendance. Astonishingly, he also performed at the request of the previous seven American presidents. During his life he received eight honorary doctorates, the last from Dillard University in New Orleans in 2003.
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Carry Me Back To Old Virginny Lyrics
Ray Charles
Carry me back to old Virginny,
There's where the cotton and the corn and tators grow,
There's where the birds warble sweet in the spring time,
There's where the darkies' heart am longed to go.
There's where I labored so hard for old massa,
Day after day in the field of yellow corn,
No place on earth do I love more sincerely,
Than old Virginny the state where I was born.
Carry me back to old Virginny,
There's where I lived till I withered and decay,
Long by the old dismal swarm have I wandered,
There's where these old darkies' life am passed away.
Massa and misses, have long gone before me,
Soon we'll meet on that bright and golden shore.
There's where we'll happy and free from all sorrow,
There's where we'll live and we'll never part no more.
Carry me back to old Virginny,
There's where the cotton and the corn and tators grow,
There's where the birds warble sweet in the spring time,
There's where the old darkies' heart am longed to go.