Noble Ray Price (January 12, 1926 – December 16, 2013) was an American coun… Read Full Bio ↴Noble Ray Price (January 12, 1926 – December 16, 2013) was an American country music singer, songwriter and guitarist. His wide-ranging baritone has often been praised as among the best male voices of country music. Some of his well-known recordings include "Release Me", "Crazy Arms", "Heartaches by the Number", "For the Good Times", "Night Life", and "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me". He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996 and—even into his late 80s—continued to record and tour.

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.

Make Me Wonderful
Ray Price Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Every night I bow my head
And say a prayer for daily bread
Tonight I ask a greater cry
Make me wonderful in her eyes

Expose my heart and lay it there
Let her see the love that's there
Usual hours so great and white

Make me wonderful in her eyes

Let her look at me through the eyes of love
And treasure me the skies above
Let her vision and behold
Come near up of my very soul

Reflect our love the twice it's side

Make me wonderful in her eyes
Make me wonderful in her eyes

Overall Meaning

The song "Make Me Wonderful" by Ray Price explores the theme of longing for acceptance and validation from someone you love deeply. The lyrics depict a narrator who humbly prays for their daily needs, but tonight, their prayer takes on a more desperate tone. They yearn to be seen as "wonderful" in the eyes of their beloved.

The singer's plea is heartfelt, as they desire to expose their vulnerable heart and let their love be visible. They want their beloved to truly see the depth of their affection and recognize the greatness and purity of their love. The phrase "usual hours so great and white" metaphorically suggests that the singer wishes to transcend the ordinary and be seen as extraordinary in their lover's eyes.

The singer longs for their beloved to gaze at them through the eyes of love and cherish them as if they were the most precious thing in the world. They hope that their beloved's vision will penetrate their very soul and understand the essence of who they are. Ultimately, they want their love to be reflected back, mirroring the intensity and beauty of their feelings.

Overall, the lyrics of "Make Me Wonderful" express a deep desire for acceptance, recognition, and love from someone special. It conveys the vulnerability and yearning we often feel when hoping to be seen and valued by those we hold dear.

Line by Line Meaning

Every night I bow my head
Each evening, I humbly lower my head

And say a prayer for daily bread
And utter a prayer for sustenance

Tonight I ask a greater cry
Now, I beseech for a more profound request

Make me wonderful in her eyes
Grant me the ability to be extraordinary in her perception

Expose my heart and lay it there
Reveal my vulnerable heart and lay it bare

Let her see the love that's there
Enable her to perceive the love within me

Usual hours so great and white
Ordinary moments elevated to magnificent heights

Make me wonderful in her eyes
Grant me the ability to be extraordinary in her perception

Let her look at me through the eyes of love
Allow her to perceive me with pure affection

And treasure me the skies above
And cherish me as much as the vast skies

Let her vision and behold
May her sight capture and behold