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.
We Crossed Our Heart
Ray Price Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
That nothing could keep us apart
We promised to ever be faithful and true
We promised and we crossed our hearts
We crossed our hearts, it was sealed with a kiss
And vowed that we never would part
The seal it was broken by somebody else
What good is a promise that's broken so true
Or castles that's built in the sky
What good are the vows that you made me that day
When you crossed your heart with a lie
You played careless hands on the strings of my heart
And I guess you thought you were smart
For then you deceived me for somebody else
So you must have uncrossed your heart
In Ray Price's song "We Crossed Our Heart," the singer is expressing his disappointment and hurt over a broken promise in a love relationship. He starts by reminiscing on how he believed that their love was true and would last, and how they promised to be faithful to each other. They even "crossed their hearts" to show the sincerity and seriousness of their promises. They sealed the promise with a kiss and vowed never to part. However, he later realized that someone else broke the seal, and his partner had betrayed him. The singer questions the point of making promises that are later broken and confronts his partner for deceiving him and crossing their heart with a lie.
The song "We Crossed Our Heart" is a sad but relatable song that highlights the pain of a broken promise in a romantic relationship. It shows how trust can easily be destroyed by dishonesty, and the pain of being betrayed by someone you love. The imagery used, such as "castles built in the sky," reinforces how fragile promises can be and how easy they are to break. The song also highlights the theme of consequences, where the partner's betrayal led to the breakdown of the relationship.
Line by Line Meaning
I thought that a love that was true'd never die
Initially, the singer believed that true love would be everlasting.
That nothing could keep us apart
The singer was under the impression that their relationship was solid and nothing could break them apart.
We promised to ever be faithful and true
The singer and their partner made a promise to always stay committed to each other with loyalty.
We promised and we crossed our hearts
The promise to stay faithful was so serious that they both crossed their hearts and made the promise with sincerity.
We crossed our hearts, it was sealed with a kiss
The promise was so strong that they sealed it with a kiss, implying that they meant every word.
And vowed that we never would part
They promised that they would never separate from each other because their love was strong.
The seal it was broken by somebody else
However, the trust was broken when someone else entered the picture and interfered with the relationship.
And you must have uncrossed your heart
The artist suspects that their partner must have broken their promise and lied to them.
What good is a promise that's broken so true
The artist questions the value of a promise that was so strong, yet ultimately broken.
Or castles that's built in the sky
Making promises that are impossible to keep is no different than building a castle in the sky, as it will inevitably come crashing down.
What good are the vows that you made me that day
The promises made on that day hold no value if they were broken and not kept.
When you crossed your heart with a lie
The act of breaking the promise and lying was a direct contradiction to crossing their heart and making the vow with sincerity.
You played careless hands on the strings of my heart
The singer feels hurt and betrayed because their partner played recklessly with their emotions.
And I guess you thought you were smart
The singer believes that their partner was foolish to think that they could deceive them without consequence.
For then you deceived me for somebody else
The ultimate consequence was that the singer was deceived for someone else, causing the relationship to fall apart.
So you must have uncrossed your heart
The artist emphasizes again that their partner must have broken their promise and lied, causing the trust to be lost.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@jeweldotson3891
Love these very early Ray Price song's, He could sing any type of music,
@michaelterry4394
Yes hw yes he could a great one