Chords for Ray Charles w/ Norah Jones, Elton John, BB King

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_ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _
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It just makes me smile when I think of Ray Charles and just that voice and that piano playing
One of the greatest greatest voices of all time
I _ _ _ _ _ _ _ know that everybody loves Ray Charles, but I always think nobody could possibly love to Ray Charles as much as I do.
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_ _ _ I
Can't even believe I got to sing with Ray Charles _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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_ _ No
Because Ray [E] had [Ab] such far-reaching influence on [F] vocalists and in so many [D] different genres that he was a [F] natural
Focus of a [E] duets project so we looked at all the various genres that we might explore and then we [Dm] thought okay
Well, who are some of the artists that can fit into these [Fm] various [C] categories?
[Dm] _ [C] That could really work well with [F] Ray.
We wanted to put the [Db] artists in the room [C] together
_ _ [F] _ [C] [F] Collaborate two great artists working together in true [Db] synergy creates [Am] a magic that you can't get in _
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_ _ I
Was ecstatic [Gm] first of all, I mean the tunes were perfect very good year over the rainbow.
Hey girl, they were all
Great songs the ideas for songs came from a variety of [Abm] sources
One of the ways we selected songs was for example in the case of Nora Jones and Diana Krall
Younger [G] artists who were influenced by Ray we'd asked them to choose some of their favorite Ray Charles [Bb] songs.
[B] I just love
[C] _ Everything about Ray Charles
_ _ Hey, I mean you can sing any song and it just sounds like Ray Charles and it sounds [F] amazing
_ And I can't even [Ebm] talk about him.
[Fm] He's so amazing.
There's really nothing [F] I can say
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[F] I _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _
[C] _ _ [D] _ [Ab] mean in [Eb] reality, I don't really want to sing with [Fm] someone like [Eb] Ray Charles.
I just want to listen to him sing
I don't want to ruin it with [Bb] me, you know
But I [Ab] had to do it because it was [Am] the kind of [F] opportunity that I would you know
[A] Never forgive [Bb] myself if I didn't and it was so weird
[Eb]
He sounded so good [Cm] and he [Bb] was very nice and [Eb] we did it all live and Billy Preston was playing organ
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_ _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] And
Watching _ _ _ Ray _ collaborate with the artist is really an amazing [C] process.
One of his many gifts was finding a way to
_ Work with artists to bring out the best in them and he direct traffic when when you're in a room with Ray
There was no doubt.
It was Ray's record
He would ask the singers to do a lot of different things.
He did the same thing with Diana Krall
He did the same thing with Elton John _
he had thoughts about how he wanted to hear them sing and he would he'd throw it out there and
It [E] worked it [B] really worked
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_ _ [Em] _ _ _ Session with BB King was the first
[E] Session that we did that was in the spirit of how we wanted to approach the whole record where we put everybody together in a
Room and said, you know, let's just play here.
You have two of the greatest innovators and blues and soul music
Perhaps the creators and we had them just get together and do what they do and feed off of each other and [Bb] interact
[A] And as BB put it, let's just go head-to-head like we used to do in the old days
[E] No one can do that better than those guys _
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_ _ _ _ _ [Em] _ All right _ _ _ _ [A] Please _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [E] _ [Fm] What _ _ _ have I gotta do _
[Bbm] to make you love me _ _
[Fm] What _ do I do
[Bbm] When lightning strikes me _
One [Bb] of the most terrifying things ever happened to me in my career with that I first when I first came [Gb] to America
I did a TV show and I did a duet with [Fm] Ray Charles that kind of person you see opposite them
You see you sing.
Well, [C] I think spontaneously and it's like playing [Gm] a really good tennis player
You seem to play better
Because you raise your game and I had to raise my game because I was sitting across from Ray Charles [Fm] and I could not believe
It I'll sing the first verse you sing the second
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_ _ [F] We did one of my songs [Bb] story seems to be the [Eb] hardest words which which he'd [Bb] sung at a concert [Em] in Anaheim last [Gm] year
[F] _ [E] And that blew me away that Ray Charles was on [Eb] stage singing one of my songs
[Db] But we did this duet, but it [Fm] was just incredible to sort of sit there and and sing with [Db] him _ _
_ [C] _ _ _ _ _ [Ab] So So
It's a [D] sad
Situation [Bbm] _ _
and he's singing it's [C] sad.
It's sad.
It's [Bb] a sad situation.
[Fm]
I've got a lump in my throat
They've people in the [F] in this [E] control [Db] booth are crying
[Fm] This is the one of the great all-time great and he's still sitting in these [Bb] love of music.
He's sitting there
_ He walked in with a cane.
He sat on the chair
He did like two or three takes but he was meticulous about his own performance
That was [Cm] incredibly impressive [C] to be with someone [Fm] who has music has been his whole life I mean since he was a child
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_ _ [Ab] I _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ [Db] think [C] the performance has all the sadness of what that song is about
Elton was so moved [F] when he left.
He still talks about it.
He talks about it on stage
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_ _ _ [D] _ _ The heart
Raised always say country [A] music and the blues ain't just cousins.
They're blood brothers
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[E] [D] Bonnie _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ was at the top of our list of artists that we thought [Dm] would really work [A] well with Ray and
[G] When I brought [Eb] it up to Ray
He was so familiar with [D] her and so in favor