Jerry Ragovoy

Listen/Download – Howard Tate – Get It While You Can (1)

Listen/Download – Lorraine Ellison – Stay With Me (2)

Listen/Download – Lorraine Ellison – Try (Just A Little Bit Harder (3)

Listen/Download – Erma Franklin – Piece Of My Heart (4)

Listen/Download – Garnett Mimms and the Enchanters – Cry Baby(5)

Listen/Download – Irma Thomas – Time Is On My Side(6)

Listen/Download – The Olympics – Good Lovin(7)

Listen/Download – Terry Reid – Stay With Me Baby (8)

1 – Written/produced/arranged by Jerry Ragovoy

2 – Written by Jerry Ragovoy and George David Weiss, produced by Ragovoy

3 – Written by Jerry Ragovoy and Chip Taylor, produced by Ragovoy

4 – Written by Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns

5 – Written by Ragovoy and Berns as Meade and Russell

6 – Written by Jerry Ragavoy with additional lyrics by Jimmy Norman

7 – Produced by Jerry Ragovoy

8 – Ragovoy/Weiss

 

Greetings all.

I hope everyone is well.

I come to you this day with a heavy heart, since the news came down last week that one of the greatest soul songwriters and producers of the classic era, the mighty Jerry Ragovoy had passed away at the age of 80.

His name was probably familiar to label scanning record nerds (like myself) and soulies, but largely unknown to the general public.

The same cannot – thankfully – be said of the music he made as a songwriter, producer and arranger.

Ragovoy got his start working as a music buyer for an appliance and record store in his native Philadelphia. He eventually found work as an arranger and writer for Chancellor Records, before moving to New York and hooking up with Bert Berns with whom he wrote his first big soul hit, Garnett Mimms and the Enchanters ‘Cry Baby’ in 1963.

Through the 60s, under his own name and psuedonyms like ‘Norman Meade’ and ‘Norman Margulies’ – it’s been said that he thought the record he worked on would lose airplay if he was listed as producer and songwriter – he wrote or co-wrote a string of genuine soul classics for the likes of Howard Tate, Erma Franklin and Lorraine Ellison, and had his songs covered by the James Gang, Terry Reid and most famously, Janis Joplin.

I don’t exaggerate when I say that many records from the Ragovoy canon hold a special place of honor in my record box and my heart.

The most important of these is Howard Tate’s ‘Get It While You Can’.

One of the greatest soul ballads of the 1960s by any measure, it’s the finest thing that Ragovoy and Tate created during their time working together, and epic in every sense. Co-written by Ragovoy and Mort Shuman, ‘Get It While You Can’ is a slow building show-stopper with a brilliant lyric, delivered with both intensity and nuance by Tate (and piano by Ragovoy himself). It is a record of singular power that never fails to bring me to tears.

It would be a gross understatement to say that Ragovoy had a special talent for grand soul ballads. If the best songs he wrote were spread over the catalogs of a few different songwriters they would be hailed as masters.

How surprising must it be for some people to discover that the same man wrote or co-wrote ‘Time Is On My Side’, ‘Cry Baby’, ‘Piece of My Heart’, ‘Stay With Me’ and ‘Get It While You Can’, and then even more shocking when you realize that he also produced the landmark versions of many of them?

There’s the famous story of the creation of Lorraine Ellison’s ‘Stay With Me’ (co-written by Ragovoy and George David Weiss) in a block of abandoned Frank Sinatra studio/orchestra time, one of the greatest soul ballad performances ever, put together on incredibly short notice.

It is also a testament to the power of Ragovoy’s songs that they translated so well in the rock world.

The first Jerry Ragovoy song I remember associating with his name was the James Gang’s 1969 version of ‘Stop’ (originally recorded by Howard Tate), long a teenage favorite of mine which I only discovered was a cover years later when a friend played Tate’s version at a party.

The only rock take on one of Ragovoy’s tunes I bring you today has become one of my favorite recordings in any genre, Terry Reid’s 1969 recording of ‘Stay With Me (Baby)’.

Though he is not well known in the US, Reid had a brief heyday on the the underground FM airwaves of the late 60s and early 70s. he was possessed of a voice reminiscent of a somewhat more refined version of Steve Marriott and in the midst of an era filled with overkill, his recording of ‘Stay With Me Baby’ is a revelation. The instrumentation is fairly spare and restrained, giving Ragovoy’s melody full attention and is, at least in my opinion, every bit as majestic in its own way as Ellison’s version (whose 1968 original recording of ‘Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)’, another tune covered by Joplin, is also included).

For those that haven’t heard Erma Franklin’s original (1967) version of ‘Piece of My Heart’, it too should prove to be an eye-opening experience. Franklin’s approach to the song, cross-breeding lamentation and defiance and delivered in her deeply soulful voice employs a dynamic range and casual power that Joplin  – at least to my ears – never really achieved.

Also worth hearing is a great example of Ragovoy’s work as a producer, the Olympics 1965 recording of ‘Good Lovin’ (arranged, as was Franklin’s ‘Piece of My Heart’ by Gary Sherman).

Ragovoy continued to write and produce into the 70s and went on to open and run the famous Hit Factory recording studio from 1969 to 1975 when it was sold.

If the sounds herein interest you, make an effort to pick up the outstanding Ace Records comp ‘The Jerry Ragovoy Story’ which covers his best work as a songwriter and producer from the early 50s into the 70s.

He was a master, and will be missed.

Peace

Larry

 

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PS  – Don’t forget, Monday, 7/18 I will be sitting in for DJ Perry Lane and spinning at Spindletop @ Botanica (47 E. Houston St, NYC). I will be joined by M-Fasis and Joe Cristando, so come on by for some hot music and some cold drinks…

 

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

 

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

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PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

 

2 Responses to “Jerry Ragovoy 1930 – 2011”

1. Ben C. says:

   July 17, 2011 at 5:35 pm

   I also enjoy Mike Bloomfield’s take on “Stop” from The Super Sessions LP. Though instrumental, Bloomy definitely could pour some soul of his achin’ blues guitar.

2. porky says:

   July 18, 2011 at 9:51 pm

   hopefully that mediocrity Joplin and her continual popularity sent Mr. Ragovoy some nice royalty coin over the years.

   The sheer volume of great tunes he was associated with over the years is almost unfathomable.