Price, born in Perryville, Texas, served with the U.S. Marines from 1944–1946, and began singing for KRBC in Abilene, Texas during 1948. He joined the Big D Jamboree in Dallas in 1949. He relocated to Nashville in the early 1950s, rooming for a brief time with Hank Williams. When Williams died, Price managed his band, the Drifting Cowboys, and had minor success. He was the first artist to have a success with the song "Release Me" (1954), a top five popular music hit for Engelbert Humperdinck in 1967.
In 1953, Price formed his band, the Cherokee Cowboys. Among its members during the late 1950s and early 1960s were; Roger Miller, Willie Nelson, Darrell McCall, Van Howard, Johnny Paycheck and Johnny Bush, Buddy Emmons, Pete Wade, Jan Kurtis, Shorty Lavender and Buddy Spicher. Miller wrote one of Ray Price's classics in 1958, "Invitation to the Blues", and sang harmony on the recording. Additionally, Nelson composed the Ray Price song "Night Life".
Price became one of the stalwarts of 1950s honky tonk music, with hit songs such as "Talk To Your Heart" (1952) and "Release Me". He later developed the famous "Ray Price Shuffle," a 4/4 arrangement of honky tonk music with a walking bassline, which can be heard on "Crazy Arms" (1956) and many of his other recordings from the late 1950s.
During the 1960s, Ray experimented increasingly with the so-called Nashville sound, singing slow ballads and utilizing lush arrangements of strings and backing singers. Examples include his 1967 rendition of "Danny Boy", and "For the Good Times" in 1970 which was Price's first country music chart No. 1 hit since "The Same Old Me" in 1959. Written by Kris Kristofferson, the song also scored No. 11 on the popular music chart and featured a mellower Price backed by sophisticated musical sounds, quite in contrast to the honky tonk sounds Price had pioneered two decades before. Price had three more No. 1 country music successes during the 1970s: "I Won't Mention It Again", "She's Got To Be A Saint", and "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me." His final top ten hit was "Diamonds In The Stars" in early 1982. Price continued to have songs on the country music chart through 1989. Later, he sang gospel music and recorded such songs as "Amazing Grace", "What A Friend We Have In Jesus", "Farther Along" and "Rock of Ages."
In 2006, Price was living near Mount Pleasant, Texas and still performing in concerts throughout the country. In 2009, Price made two performances for the Fox News show Huckabee. The first was with the Cherokee Cowboys and host Mike Huckabee, and he performed "Crazy Arms" and "Heartaches By The Number". Weeks later he performed with the Cherokee Cowboys and Willie Nelson (again with Huckabee playing bass guitar). This time they performed duets of "Faded Love" and "Crazy."
Price worked on his latest album, Last of the Breed, with fellow country music singers Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. This album was released on March 20, 2007 by the company Lost Highway Records. The two-disc set features 20 country classics as well as a pair of new compositions. The trio toured the U.S. from March 9 until March 25 starting in Arizona and finishing in Illinois. This was Price's third album with Nelson and first album with Haggard. After the tour, Haggard remarked, "I told Willie when it was over, 'That old man gave us a goddamn singing lesson.' He really did. He just sang so good. He sat there with the mic against his chest. And me and Willie are all over the microphone trying to find it, and he found it."
On November 6, 2012, Ray Price confirmed that he was fighting pancreatic cancer. Price told the San Antonio Express-News that he had been receiving chemotherapy for the past six months. An alternative to the chemo would have been surgery that involved removing the pancreas along with portions of the stomach and liver, which would have meant a long recovery and stay in a nursing home. Said Price, "That's not very much an option for me. God knows I want to live as long as I can but I don't want to live like that." The 87-year-old Country Music Hall of Famer also told the newspaper, "The doctor said that every man will get cancer if he lives to be old enough. I don't know why I got it – I ain't old!" Price retained a positive outlook and hoped to play as many as a hundred concert dates in 2013.
As of early February 2013, the cancer appeared to be in remission. Sometime in May 2013, Price was hospitalized with severe dehydration. On December 2, 2013, Price entered a Tyler, Texas, hospital in the final stages of pancreatic cancer, according to his son, then left on December 12 for home hospice care. Price died at his home in Mt. Pleasant, Texas, on December 16, 2013.
I've Gotta Have My Baby Back
Ray Price Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I just gotta, I gotta have my baby back
Can't sleep, can't eat because I lost my sweet, baby, sweet
I gotta, I just gotta, I gotta have my baby back
Alone in the tavern, people all around laughing
And dancing, paintin' the town
The jukebox is playing songs about you
Oh baby, come on home
Without my baby, I just can't get along
I gotta, I just gotta, I gotta have my baby back
Oh baby, come on home
Without my baby, I just can't get along
I gotta, I just gotta, I gotta have my baby back
The lyrics to Ray Price's "I've Gotta Have My Baby Back" are an expression of heartache and longing for a lost love. The singer is consumed by the absence of his sweetheart and feels a physical pain from the separation. He can't eat or sleep because of the emptiness he feels without her. Even in the company of others, he can't escape the memories and songs that remind him of her.
The singer's desperation is palpable as he pleads for her to come home. He knows that without her, he can't go on. The repetition of the phrase "I gotta have my baby back" emphasizes the urgency he feels to reunite with his love. The lyrics paint a picture of an emotional turmoil that many can relate to when missing someone deeply.
Line by Line Meaning
Baby, baby, I miss you so very much, it hurts me, baby
I feel an intense amount of pain from the absence of my significant other.
I just gotta, I gotta have my baby back
I am consumed by the need to be reunited with my significant other and cannot continue without them.
Can't sleep, can't eat because I lost my sweet, baby, sweet
My grief from losing my significant other has impacted my basic needs such as sleeping and eating.
Alone in the tavern, people all around laughing
And dancing, paintin' the town
Despite being surrounded by people enjoying themselves, I am still deeply saddened and alone.
The jukebox is playing songs about you
Songs with memories making me blue
Even the songs being played remind me of my significant other and further add to my sadness.
Oh baby, come on home
Without my baby, I just can't get along
I am desperate for my significant other to return as I am unable to function properly without them.
I gotta, I just gotta, I gotta have my baby back
My yearning to be reunited with my significant other is all-consuming and I cannot move on until we are together again.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Tom Zsenyuk
Floyd Tillman wrote it, and this version is on Ray Price's 1958 album "Talk to Your Heart". Ray rates as one of the gold throats.
xo Sunshine Abbey
This song gives me such delight ~ and a tinge of the blues
The Gillelands
The only other one who was better doing this song was Floyd Tillman. Ray nailed this one!