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 Fall to Pieces
Ray Price Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I fall to pieces how can I be just your friend
You want me to act like we've never kissed
You want me to forget pretend we've never met
And I've tried and I've tried but I haven't yet
You walk by and I fall to pieces
I fall to pieces each time someone speaks your name
You tell me to find someone else to love
Someone who'll love me too the way you used to do
But each time I go out with someone new
You walk by and I fall to pieces
You walk by and I fall to pieces
In "I Fall to Pieces", Ray Price sings about the aftermath of a failed relationship. He has fallen in love with someone who wants to pretend that their relationship never existed. Ray Price is having a hard time moving on and getting over his former lover. He is left feeling broken and emotionally shattered every time he sees her or even someone mentions her name. Despite his efforts to move on, he is unable to forget about his former lover, and every new person he meets is not able to replace her in his heart. Every time he sees her, his emotions get the best of him, and he falls to pieces.
The lyrics of this song are poignant and capture the raw emotions of someone who is trying to move on from a past love. It speaks to anyone who has experienced the pain of a failed relationship and the feelings of heartbreak and loss that follow. Ray Price's soulful voice embodies the feelings of vulnerability and helplessness, making this song an emotional ballad that is both powerful and relatable.
Line by Line Meaning
I fall to pieces each time I see you again
Every time I happen to meet you again, I feel shattered and broken into tiny pieces.
I fall to pieces how can I be just your friend
Being just friends with you seems impossible because my feelings for you are intense and pure, causing me to fall apart every time I see you.
You want me to act like we've never kissed
You urge me to feign ignorance of the moments we had together when we kissed and pretended like everything was alright.
You want me to forget pretend we've never met
You expect me to erase all of the memories of our time together and disregard the experiences shared between us, as if we never crossed paths.
And I've tried and I've tried but I haven't yet
Despite my attempts to move on, let go, and heal, my emotions have not subsided, and I still feel torn apart inside.
You walk by and I fall to pieces
When you cross my path, even if you don't speak or acknowledge me in any way, the sight of you is enough to make me come undone and lose control of my emotions.
I fall to pieces each time someone speaks your name
Hearing others mention your name is enough to trigger my emotions and cause me to feel broken and in pieces once again.
I fall to pieces time only adds to the flame
As time passes, rather than feeling better, the intensity of my emotions for you continues to grow, becoming more intense and uncontrollable each day.
You tell me to find someone else to love
You advise me to search for someone new, to love and care for me the way you once did, hoping it will help me move on and forget about you.
Someone who'll love me too the way you used to do
You desire for me to find someone who is capable of loving me the same way in which you once did, giving me the love and attention that I deserve.
But each time I go out with someone new
Despite my attempts to move on and find someone new, my feelings for you prevent me from connecting with anyone else on a deeper level.
You walk by and I fall to pieces
Even when I have moved on to someone new, seeing you again is enough to make me realize that I was never really over you and that my emotions have not subsided.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, TRAVELLERS HOLLOW MUSIC
Written by: Hank Cochran, Harlan Howard
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind