Tune Tuesday: Hallelujah I Love Her So

Yesterday, my Turntable Talk was about the Blues Brothers Soundtrack. Ray Charles is featured on there with his version of Shake a Tailfeather. Also yesterday, my buddy Max from the Power Pop Blog (powerpop.blog) posted about Ray’s version of What’d I Say. That got me in a Ray Charles mood and I was surprised that I’d never posted this song before.

Hallelujah, I Love Her So was written and released by Ray Charles in 1956. I remember playing it on rare occasions when I worked at WHND, Honey Radio in Detroit. It was usually when we were featuring songs from 1956. It didn’t do much on the pop charts, but it was a Top 5 hit on the R&B charts.

As the title insinuates, it has a gospel feel to it. The opening piano lick sounds like something you’d hear before jumping into a happy hymn. One source says the song “is a testament to the joyous release of love, featuring a sophisticated horn arrangement and memorable tenor sax solo by Don Wilkerson.”

My buddy Randy from http://www.mostlymusiccovers.com no doubt knows that there have been plenty of covers of this song. Ray must have been thrilled to have his song covered by folks like Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Brenda Lee, Jerry Lee Lewis, Stevie Wonder, Eddie Cochran, Gerry and the Pacemakers, and Frank Sinatra! Oh, and a band called the Quarrymen (who went on to become the Beatles) also covered it!

To start with, here is the original by Ray:

Ella Fitzgerald’s version sounds a bit more church-like to start, but really swings.

From the Beatles Anthology, here are the Quarrymen

Eddie Cochran’s version was released in 1959

I had no idea that Jerry Reed covered it, but it’s neat to hear his take

Sinatra always makes a song his own and he does that with this one. Very bluesy

Hugh Laurie’s version was on the deluxe version of his debut album

Of all the covers, one of my favorite versions is by an Australian singer named Guy Sebastian. From his Memphis Album he a great version.

I hope you love this one as much as I do!

Hallelujah, I Love Her SO

Let me tell you ’bout a girl I know
She is my baby and she lives next door
Every mornin’ ‘fore the sun comes up
She brings me coffee in my favorite cup
That’s why I know, yes, I know
Hallelujah, I just love her so

When I’m in trouble and I have no friend
I know she’ll go with me until the end
Everybody asks me how I know
I smile at them and say, “She told me so”
That’s why I know, oh, I know
Hallelujah, I just love her so

Now, if I call her on the telephone
And tell her that I’m all alone
By the time I count from one to four
I hear her (KNOCK) on my door
In the evening when the sun goes down
When there is nobody else around
She kisses me and she holds me tight

And tells me, “Ray Charles everything’s all right”
That’s why I know, whoa, I know
Hallelujah, I just love her so

Now, if I call her on the telephone
And tell her that I’m all alone
By the time I count from one to four
I hear her (KNOCK) on my door

In the evening when the sun goes down
When there is nobody else around
She kisses me and she holds me tight
And tells me, “Daddy, everything’s all right”
That’s why I know, yes, I know
Hallelujah, I just love her so

Oh, hallelujah
Don’t you know, I just love her so
She’s my little woman, waitin’ all this time
Babe, I’m a little fool for you, little girl…