Chords for Former Ray Sawyer Guitarist (Wray Ellis) Shares His Memories (Dr. Hook)
Tempo:
107.8 bpm
Chords used:
G
A
E
Em
D
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
With the passing of Ray Sawyer of Dr.
Hook fame, we reached out to one of his old friends
who actually toured with him when he was doing his solo stuff in the mid-80s, Ray Ellis.
It was actually Ray who told us of Ray Sawyer's passing.
Here's our conversation from earlier today, talking about losing Ray Sawyer.
Well, you know, and just for you, I didn't have enough time to sort of do an homage like
a, like you have for all of your records, but I went and I got my Dr.
Hook things in
and I pulled that one out, Lynx.
You remember that one?
Oh my God.
Yeah.
But they have so many moments that when I was growing up, I remember hearing Sylvia's
mother thinking, is that a parody?
Are they being serious?
Cause they, they sound like they're, they're, they're singing it with a wink in their eye,
you know, that kind of stuff.
Oh, everything with a wink in their eye.
Absolutely.
For sure.
First of all, your reaction to, to Ray's passing.
I was, I thought, well, he's one of those guys you think he's going to live forever
because he was larger than life.
He was not a big guy, but he just, as soon as he walked in the room, he just, everybody
looked at, well, I guess, right.
You know, with the patch and everything.
Remember when I met him, it was in Redbeer, a little tiny bar.
We were going to hook up with him, rehearse for a couple of days and then start the tour.
And we got to this place and the place was just jammed.
And over in the corner, sort of unobtrusive like, is Ray Sawyer.
And all night people kept coming up and, are you Ray Sawyer?
He goes, well, my mama didn't name me that, but yeah, I, you know, I'm the guy's name.
But to think, right, in Redbeer, Albert, of all places you're going to find, just, aren't
you Dr.
Hook?
Sure enough.
And the odd thing about it was he wasn't the big hit guy.
You know, he was the funny guy.
He did the cover of the Rolex store and he did the more novelty kind of tunes, whereas
Danse Le Portier was the soul, right?
He had the soul voice, the raspy suit of his mother.
So how did it start for you?
Like how did, how did the call come?
Well, I was touring with a gal named Kalita Haverland and I was touring with Rodney Prophet
and Kalita Haverland and people like that.
They knew I was a Dr.
Hook fan from Sylvia's mother, you know, way from 1969, 70, whenever
it was I first heard it, I thought, wow, what a cool voice.
And I knew all the songs.
Like we, I was in a band called Rainbow Wind and we used, that was my, my thing.
I would do a few Dr.
Hook tunes and this would have been 1978 through 80.
I was doing Dr.
Hook tunes.
In 1986, I'm touring with Kalita and, hey, you know, a guy named Ray Sawyer?
Yeah.
Dr.
Hook or something, right?
Yeah.
Well, we're going to tour with him.
You want to do that tour?
Yeah.
So that's how it started for me.
And then that's like, I knew that this was going to be great because I already knew everything flat.
I can just sit in and I can play.
Not the, not the bass part.
Normally that might get, but for this one, I was a rhythm guitar.
So that was a pretty easy flip.
I can do that too.
But I know all the songs, some Dr.
Hook and everything.
So we show up and we're ready to go.
All new stuff.
He's got, he wants to push his original stuff.
Oh, and how much of his original stuff did you guys play together?
Oh, a lot of, a lot of the stuff was his new album, but he did, you know, the usual Dr.
Hook stuff, cover the Rolling Stone.
I got stoned and I missed it.
What he didn't do was a lot of disco stuff, you know, like Sexy Eyes and do that.
But yeah, the funny thing is, first and only time I ever saw a row of women lifting their
tops was the first night that we ever.
Sorry, you cut out there a row of women lifting their tops, you said?
A row of women lifting their tops.
The first time and last time I'd ever seen that was with Ray Sorn.
And it was the first night.
I thought, oh, this is going to be so much fun.
Never happened again.
Well, at least it happened once though.
Not everyone can say that.
Yeah, it happened once.
So what was he like to tour with?
I mean, was he as much of a character off stage?
Yeah, he really was.
I mean, you could have your Snoops and your Billy Nelsons.
I think I put Ray up there.
Well, he was Mr.
Party Animal.
The thing that he was discovering when we toured together were something called B-52 shooters.
And he would order a tray of B-52 shooters and plant them on an amp.
And multiple times throughout the show, he would come back and come back and B-52 [C] shooters.
And when the tray was empty, he'd go, you got me flying out one way.
So he was pretty wild.
He had a tolerance.
Yeah.
After the show, you would think that he would be the party animal, but [Fm] it was not the case.
[G] He would be back in his room by himself and I get the phone call at 3 a.m.
Hey Ray, this is Ray.
Get down here.
We need you.
So I beautifully get down.
Ray Sorn had just called me.
So until daylight, he's telling me about his third eye because he lost his eye in the
1967 crash and that gave him a third eye.
And he's talking all this mystical stuff and I'm like, wow.
But he had the best stories about being in the studio next to Sly and the Family Stone
and partying with those guys in L.A.
But yeah, it was just rock history.
Ground Zero.
I mean, I don't know if you feel like you're getting old because I do a lot of these obituaries.
That's how this channel started.
I always feel old, but I know it's coming, but I'm always surprised whenever someone passes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And we also lost Ronnie Proffitt this year, which was a big blow for my circle because
I stuck my tour jacket up there for you.
That's from 1985, I think, this tour jacket with the JK Gully Band.
You know, you can't live in Canada and not have, as I said with Ray when it comes to
growing up in the 70s, not have a dose of Ronnie Proffitt.
Oh yeah.
Well, watched his show every, whatever it was, Saturday night or something.
That was all we had.
Make sure you comment on our video, subscribe to our channel and share our videos.
I'm John Bowden from Rock History Music and Happy New Year.
[A] [E] [Em] [G] [D]
[A] [Em] [E]
[G]
[D] [N]
Hook fame, we reached out to one of his old friends
who actually toured with him when he was doing his solo stuff in the mid-80s, Ray Ellis.
It was actually Ray who told us of Ray Sawyer's passing.
Here's our conversation from earlier today, talking about losing Ray Sawyer.
Well, you know, and just for you, I didn't have enough time to sort of do an homage like
a, like you have for all of your records, but I went and I got my Dr.
Hook things in
and I pulled that one out, Lynx.
You remember that one?
Oh my God.
Yeah.
But they have so many moments that when I was growing up, I remember hearing Sylvia's
mother thinking, is that a parody?
Are they being serious?
Cause they, they sound like they're, they're, they're singing it with a wink in their eye,
you know, that kind of stuff.
Oh, everything with a wink in their eye.
Absolutely.
For sure.
First of all, your reaction to, to Ray's passing.
I was, I thought, well, he's one of those guys you think he's going to live forever
because he was larger than life.
He was not a big guy, but he just, as soon as he walked in the room, he just, everybody
looked at, well, I guess, right.
You know, with the patch and everything.
Remember when I met him, it was in Redbeer, a little tiny bar.
We were going to hook up with him, rehearse for a couple of days and then start the tour.
And we got to this place and the place was just jammed.
And over in the corner, sort of unobtrusive like, is Ray Sawyer.
And all night people kept coming up and, are you Ray Sawyer?
He goes, well, my mama didn't name me that, but yeah, I, you know, I'm the guy's name.
But to think, right, in Redbeer, Albert, of all places you're going to find, just, aren't
you Dr.
Hook?
Sure enough.
And the odd thing about it was he wasn't the big hit guy.
You know, he was the funny guy.
He did the cover of the Rolex store and he did the more novelty kind of tunes, whereas
Danse Le Portier was the soul, right?
He had the soul voice, the raspy suit of his mother.
So how did it start for you?
Like how did, how did the call come?
Well, I was touring with a gal named Kalita Haverland and I was touring with Rodney Prophet
and Kalita Haverland and people like that.
They knew I was a Dr.
Hook fan from Sylvia's mother, you know, way from 1969, 70, whenever
it was I first heard it, I thought, wow, what a cool voice.
And I knew all the songs.
Like we, I was in a band called Rainbow Wind and we used, that was my, my thing.
I would do a few Dr.
Hook tunes and this would have been 1978 through 80.
I was doing Dr.
Hook tunes.
In 1986, I'm touring with Kalita and, hey, you know, a guy named Ray Sawyer?
Yeah.
Dr.
Hook or something, right?
Yeah.
Well, we're going to tour with him.
You want to do that tour?
Yeah.
So that's how it started for me.
And then that's like, I knew that this was going to be great because I already knew everything flat.
I can just sit in and I can play.
Not the, not the bass part.
Normally that might get, but for this one, I was a rhythm guitar.
So that was a pretty easy flip.
I can do that too.
But I know all the songs, some Dr.
Hook and everything.
So we show up and we're ready to go.
All new stuff.
He's got, he wants to push his original stuff.
Oh, and how much of his original stuff did you guys play together?
Oh, a lot of, a lot of the stuff was his new album, but he did, you know, the usual Dr.
Hook stuff, cover the Rolling Stone.
I got stoned and I missed it.
What he didn't do was a lot of disco stuff, you know, like Sexy Eyes and do that.
But yeah, the funny thing is, first and only time I ever saw a row of women lifting their
tops was the first night that we ever.
Sorry, you cut out there a row of women lifting their tops, you said?
A row of women lifting their tops.
The first time and last time I'd ever seen that was with Ray Sorn.
And it was the first night.
I thought, oh, this is going to be so much fun.
Never happened again.
Well, at least it happened once though.
Not everyone can say that.
Yeah, it happened once.
So what was he like to tour with?
I mean, was he as much of a character off stage?
Yeah, he really was.
I mean, you could have your Snoops and your Billy Nelsons.
I think I put Ray up there.
Well, he was Mr.
Party Animal.
The thing that he was discovering when we toured together were something called B-52 shooters.
And he would order a tray of B-52 shooters and plant them on an amp.
And multiple times throughout the show, he would come back and come back and B-52 [C] shooters.
And when the tray was empty, he'd go, you got me flying out one way.
So he was pretty wild.
He had a tolerance.
Yeah.
After the show, you would think that he would be the party animal, but [Fm] it was not the case.
[G] He would be back in his room by himself and I get the phone call at 3 a.m.
Hey Ray, this is Ray.
Get down here.
We need you.
So I beautifully get down.
Ray Sorn had just called me.
So until daylight, he's telling me about his third eye because he lost his eye in the
1967 crash and that gave him a third eye.
And he's talking all this mystical stuff and I'm like, wow.
But he had the best stories about being in the studio next to Sly and the Family Stone
and partying with those guys in L.A.
But yeah, it was just rock history.
Ground Zero.
I mean, I don't know if you feel like you're getting old because I do a lot of these obituaries.
That's how this channel started.
I always feel old, but I know it's coming, but I'm always surprised whenever someone passes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And we also lost Ronnie Proffitt this year, which was a big blow for my circle because
I stuck my tour jacket up there for you.
That's from 1985, I think, this tour jacket with the JK Gully Band.
You know, you can't live in Canada and not have, as I said with Ray when it comes to
growing up in the 70s, not have a dose of Ronnie Proffitt.
Oh yeah.
Well, watched his show every, whatever it was, Saturday night or something.
That was all we had.
Make sure you comment on our video, subscribe to our channel and share our videos.
I'm John Bowden from Rock History Music and Happy New Year.
[A] [E] [Em] [G] [D]
[A] [Em] [E]
[G]
[D] [N]
Key:
G
A
E
Em
D
G
A
E
With the passing of Ray Sawyer of Dr.
Hook fame, we reached out to one of his old friends
who actually toured with him when he was doing his solo stuff in the mid-80s, Ray Ellis.
It was actually Ray who told us of Ray Sawyer's passing. _
_ Here's our conversation from earlier today, talking about losing Ray Sawyer.
Well, you know, and just for you, I didn't have enough time to sort of do an homage like
a, like you have for all of your records, but I went and I got my Dr.
Hook things in
and I pulled that one out, Lynx.
You remember that one?
Oh my God.
Yeah.
But they have so many moments that when I was growing up, I remember hearing Sylvia's
mother thinking, is that a parody?
Are they being serious?
Cause they, they sound like they're, they're, they're singing it with a wink in their eye,
you know, that kind of stuff.
Oh, everything with a wink in their eye.
Absolutely.
For sure.
First of all, your reaction to, to Ray's passing.
I was, I thought, well, he's one of those guys you think he's going to live forever
because he was larger than life.
He was not a big guy, but he just, as soon as he walked in the room, he just, everybody
looked at, well, I guess, right.
You know, with the patch and everything.
Remember when I met him, it was in Redbeer, a little tiny bar.
We were going to hook up with him, rehearse for a couple of days and then _ start the tour.
And we got to this place and the place was just jammed.
And over in the corner, _ sort of unobtrusive like, is Ray Sawyer.
And all night people kept coming up and, _ are you Ray Sawyer?
He goes, well, my mama didn't name me that, but yeah, I, you know, I'm the guy's name.
But to think, right, in Redbeer, Albert, of all places you're going to find, just, aren't
you Dr.
Hook?
Sure enough.
_ And the odd thing about it was he wasn't the big hit guy.
You know, he was the funny guy.
He did the cover of the Rolex store and he did the more novelty kind of tunes, whereas
Danse Le Portier was the soul, right?
He had the soul voice, the raspy suit of his mother.
So how did it start for you?
Like how did, how did the call come?
Well, I was touring with a gal named Kalita Haverland and I was touring with Rodney Prophet
_ and Kalita Haverland and people like that.
They knew I was a Dr.
Hook fan from Sylvia's mother, you know, way from 1969, 70, whenever
it was I first heard it, I thought, wow, what a cool voice. _
And I knew all the songs.
Like we, I was in a band called Rainbow Wind and we used, that was my, my thing.
I would do a few Dr.
Hook tunes and this would have been 1978 through 80.
I was doing Dr.
Hook tunes.
_ In 1986, I'm touring with Kalita and, hey, _ you know, a guy named Ray Sawyer?
Yeah.
_ Dr.
Hook or something, right?
Yeah. _
Well, we're going to tour with him.
You want to do that tour?
Yeah.
So that's how it started for me.
And then that's like, I knew that this was going to be great because I already knew everything flat.
I can just sit in and I can play.
Not the, not the bass part.
Normally that might get, but for this one, I was a rhythm guitar.
So that was a pretty easy flip.
I can do that too.
But I know all the songs, some Dr.
Hook and everything.
So we show up and we're ready to go.
All new stuff.
He's got, he wants to push his original stuff.
Oh, and how much of his original stuff did you guys play together?
Oh, a lot of, a lot of the stuff was his new album, but he did, you know, the usual Dr.
Hook stuff, cover the Rolling Stone.
I got stoned and I missed it.
_ _ What he didn't do was a lot of disco stuff, you know, like Sexy Eyes and do that.
But yeah, the funny thing is, first and only time I ever saw a row of women lifting their
tops was the first night that we ever.
Sorry, you cut out there a row of women lifting their tops, you said?
A row of women lifting their tops.
The first time and last time I'd ever seen that was with Ray Sorn.
And it was the first night.
I thought, oh, this is going to be so much fun.
Never happened again.
Well, at least it happened once though.
Not everyone can say that.
Yeah, it happened once.
So what was he like to tour with?
I mean, was he as much of a character off stage?
Yeah, he really was.
I mean, you could have your Snoops and your Billy Nelsons.
I think I put Ray up there.
Well, he was Mr.
Party Animal.
The thing that he was discovering when we toured together were something called B-52 shooters. _
And he would order a tray of B-52 shooters and plant them on an amp.
_ And _ _ multiple times throughout the show, he would come back and come back and B-52 [C] shooters.
And when the tray was empty, he'd go, you got me flying out one way.
So he was pretty wild.
He had a tolerance.
Yeah.
After the show, you would think that he would be the party animal, but [Fm] it was not the case.
[G] He would be back in his room by himself and I get the phone call at 3 a.m.
Hey Ray, this is Ray.
Get down here.
We need you.
So I beautifully get down.
Ray Sorn had just called me.
So until daylight, _ he's telling me about his third eye because he lost his eye in the
1967 crash and that gave him a third eye.
And he's talking all this mystical stuff and I'm like, wow.
_ _ But he had the best stories about being in the studio next to Sly and the Family Stone
and partying with those guys in L.A.
But yeah, it was just rock history.
_ Ground Zero.
I mean, I don't know if you feel like you're getting old because I do a lot of these obituaries.
That's how this channel started.
I always feel old, but I know it's coming, but I'm always surprised whenever someone passes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And we also lost Ronnie Proffitt this year, _ which was a big blow for my circle because
I stuck my tour jacket up there for you.
That's from 1985, I think, this tour jacket with the JK Gully Band.
You know, you can't live in Canada and not have, as I said with Ray when it comes to
growing up in the 70s, not have a dose of Ronnie Proffitt.
Oh yeah.
Well, watched his show every, whatever it was, Saturday night or something.
That was all we had.
Make sure you comment on our video, subscribe to our channel and share our videos.
I'm John Bowden from Rock History Music and Happy New Year.
[A] _ [E] _ [Em] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ _ [A] _ _ [Em] _ _ _ [E] _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _ [N] _
Hook fame, we reached out to one of his old friends
who actually toured with him when he was doing his solo stuff in the mid-80s, Ray Ellis.
It was actually Ray who told us of Ray Sawyer's passing. _
_ Here's our conversation from earlier today, talking about losing Ray Sawyer.
Well, you know, and just for you, I didn't have enough time to sort of do an homage like
a, like you have for all of your records, but I went and I got my Dr.
Hook things in
and I pulled that one out, Lynx.
You remember that one?
Oh my God.
Yeah.
But they have so many moments that when I was growing up, I remember hearing Sylvia's
mother thinking, is that a parody?
Are they being serious?
Cause they, they sound like they're, they're, they're singing it with a wink in their eye,
you know, that kind of stuff.
Oh, everything with a wink in their eye.
Absolutely.
For sure.
First of all, your reaction to, to Ray's passing.
I was, I thought, well, he's one of those guys you think he's going to live forever
because he was larger than life.
He was not a big guy, but he just, as soon as he walked in the room, he just, everybody
looked at, well, I guess, right.
You know, with the patch and everything.
Remember when I met him, it was in Redbeer, a little tiny bar.
We were going to hook up with him, rehearse for a couple of days and then _ start the tour.
And we got to this place and the place was just jammed.
And over in the corner, _ sort of unobtrusive like, is Ray Sawyer.
And all night people kept coming up and, _ are you Ray Sawyer?
He goes, well, my mama didn't name me that, but yeah, I, you know, I'm the guy's name.
But to think, right, in Redbeer, Albert, of all places you're going to find, just, aren't
you Dr.
Hook?
Sure enough.
_ And the odd thing about it was he wasn't the big hit guy.
You know, he was the funny guy.
He did the cover of the Rolex store and he did the more novelty kind of tunes, whereas
Danse Le Portier was the soul, right?
He had the soul voice, the raspy suit of his mother.
So how did it start for you?
Like how did, how did the call come?
Well, I was touring with a gal named Kalita Haverland and I was touring with Rodney Prophet
_ and Kalita Haverland and people like that.
They knew I was a Dr.
Hook fan from Sylvia's mother, you know, way from 1969, 70, whenever
it was I first heard it, I thought, wow, what a cool voice. _
And I knew all the songs.
Like we, I was in a band called Rainbow Wind and we used, that was my, my thing.
I would do a few Dr.
Hook tunes and this would have been 1978 through 80.
I was doing Dr.
Hook tunes.
_ In 1986, I'm touring with Kalita and, hey, _ you know, a guy named Ray Sawyer?
Yeah.
_ Dr.
Hook or something, right?
Yeah. _
Well, we're going to tour with him.
You want to do that tour?
Yeah.
So that's how it started for me.
And then that's like, I knew that this was going to be great because I already knew everything flat.
I can just sit in and I can play.
Not the, not the bass part.
Normally that might get, but for this one, I was a rhythm guitar.
So that was a pretty easy flip.
I can do that too.
But I know all the songs, some Dr.
Hook and everything.
So we show up and we're ready to go.
All new stuff.
He's got, he wants to push his original stuff.
Oh, and how much of his original stuff did you guys play together?
Oh, a lot of, a lot of the stuff was his new album, but he did, you know, the usual Dr.
Hook stuff, cover the Rolling Stone.
I got stoned and I missed it.
_ _ What he didn't do was a lot of disco stuff, you know, like Sexy Eyes and do that.
But yeah, the funny thing is, first and only time I ever saw a row of women lifting their
tops was the first night that we ever.
Sorry, you cut out there a row of women lifting their tops, you said?
A row of women lifting their tops.
The first time and last time I'd ever seen that was with Ray Sorn.
And it was the first night.
I thought, oh, this is going to be so much fun.
Never happened again.
Well, at least it happened once though.
Not everyone can say that.
Yeah, it happened once.
So what was he like to tour with?
I mean, was he as much of a character off stage?
Yeah, he really was.
I mean, you could have your Snoops and your Billy Nelsons.
I think I put Ray up there.
Well, he was Mr.
Party Animal.
The thing that he was discovering when we toured together were something called B-52 shooters. _
And he would order a tray of B-52 shooters and plant them on an amp.
_ And _ _ multiple times throughout the show, he would come back and come back and B-52 [C] shooters.
And when the tray was empty, he'd go, you got me flying out one way.
So he was pretty wild.
He had a tolerance.
Yeah.
After the show, you would think that he would be the party animal, but [Fm] it was not the case.
[G] He would be back in his room by himself and I get the phone call at 3 a.m.
Hey Ray, this is Ray.
Get down here.
We need you.
So I beautifully get down.
Ray Sorn had just called me.
So until daylight, _ he's telling me about his third eye because he lost his eye in the
1967 crash and that gave him a third eye.
And he's talking all this mystical stuff and I'm like, wow.
_ _ But he had the best stories about being in the studio next to Sly and the Family Stone
and partying with those guys in L.A.
But yeah, it was just rock history.
_ Ground Zero.
I mean, I don't know if you feel like you're getting old because I do a lot of these obituaries.
That's how this channel started.
I always feel old, but I know it's coming, but I'm always surprised whenever someone passes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And we also lost Ronnie Proffitt this year, _ which was a big blow for my circle because
I stuck my tour jacket up there for you.
That's from 1985, I think, this tour jacket with the JK Gully Band.
You know, you can't live in Canada and not have, as I said with Ray when it comes to
growing up in the 70s, not have a dose of Ronnie Proffitt.
Oh yeah.
Well, watched his show every, whatever it was, Saturday night or something.
That was all we had.
Make sure you comment on our video, subscribe to our channel and share our videos.
I'm John Bowden from Rock History Music and Happy New Year.
[A] _ [E] _ [Em] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ _ [A] _ _ [Em] _ _ _ [E] _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _ [N] _