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.
The Twenty-Fourth Hour
Ray Price Lyrics
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But the twenty-fourth hour is the one when I cry
I pray that it won't come, but it comes anyhow
And the twenty-fourth hour is right about now
Right about now, the heartaches start calling
Right about now, the teardrops start falling
The late show is over and there's no place to go
I start counting the hours when daylight begins
Or I know that when night comes, just how it will end
I pray that it won't come, but it comes anyhow
And the twenty-fourth hour is right about now
Right about now, the heartaches start calling
Right about now, the teardrops start falling
The late show is over and there's no place to go
And it's right about now, that I miss you you so
The song "The Twenty-Fourth Hour" by Ray Price is a melancholic tune about missing someone dearly. The lyrics convey the idea that the singer can handle the pain and heartache for twenty-three hours of the day, but it's that final hour, the twenty-fourth hour, that becomes unbearable. The song starts with the notion that the singer is praying that the twenty-fourth hour won't come, but inevitably it does, and that is the time when the tears begin to fall.
The chorus of the song is particularly poignant, with the repetition of the phrase "right about now." It emphasizes the desperation of the singer as they realize that they miss the person more and more with each passing moment. The theme of time is woven throughout the song, with the singer counting the hours from daylight to night, and from night to day. The pain of missing someone is unrelenting, and it seems that the only way to deal with it is to wait for the twenty-fourth hour to pass.
Overall, "The Twenty-Fourth Hour" is a touching song that perfectly captures the heartache of missing someone dearly. The lyrics are simple, yet powerful, and the melody adds to the bittersweet feeling of the song.
Line by Line Meaning
There are twenty-three hours that I can get by
I have to get through 23 hours of the day without crying
But the twenty-fourth hour is the one when I cry
The final hour of the day is when I can no longer hold back my tears
I pray that it won't come, but it comes anyhow
I hope that the hour of crying won't come, but it always does
And the twenty-fourth hour is right about now
I am currently experiencing the hour of crying
Right about now, the heartaches start calling
I begin to feel the pain of missing you
Right about now, the teardrops start falling
This is when I begin to cry
The late show is over and there's no place to go
I have nothing else to distract me from my heartache
And it's right about now, that I miss you you so
At this moment, I feel the strongest pangs of longing for you
I start counting the hours when daylight begins
I mentally prepare myself for the rest of the day
Or I know that when night comes, just how it will end
I am aware that the night will end with me crying
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: PRICE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind