Ray Stevens found a way to the top with this uplifting celebration of diversity and tolerance. Harold Ray Ragsdale learned the piano at an early age in Clarkdale, Georgia and while in high school he went to Nashville and recorded his first track, “Silver Bracelet” which was a local hit on Prep Records. He moved to Capitol Records and had top forty hit with “Jeremiah Peabody’s Poly Unsaturated Quick Dissolving Fast Acting Pleasant Tasting Green and Purple Pills.” After landing a job as pianist, arranger and vocalist for Mercury Records in Nashville, he recorded a continuous string of singles and albums including the novelty hits “Ahab the Arab” and “Gitarzan”. In 1969, he became the first artist to record Kris Kristofferson’s “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down.”
The pressure was on for Stevens in 1970, when he got his own television program: "That year I joined Barnaby Records, owned by singer Andy Williams, and I appeared on his NBC television variety show. I was then signed to host my own summer replacement show, and I needed a very special song for the program. I went down in my basement for about three days. I had crumpled paper all over the place. And suddenly theidea for the song came to me. I wrote it in maybe 45 minutes...I really did [know right then that it was a hit]. It just felt right..It was a very special song and one that a lot of people still remember and sing along when I do it in shows."
"Everything Is Beautiful" became his first number one hit, reaching the top of the charts in Canada and Australia as well as on the US pop and adult contemporary charts. His two daughters sang on the intro hymnal "Jesus Loves the Little Children" along with their classmates from the Oak Hill Elementary School in Nashville, Tennessee. The song won two Grammy Awards: Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for Ray Stevens and Best Inspirational Performance for Jake Hess.
http://www.raystevens.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU-CODP6sc8
Jesus loves the little children,
All the little children of the world.
Red and yellow, black and white,
They are precious in his sight.
Jesus loves the little children of the world.
Everything is beautiful in it's own way.
Like the starry summer night, or a snow-covered winter's day.
And everybody's beautiful in their own way.
Under God's heaven, the world's gonna find the way.
There is none so blind as he who will not see.
We must not close our minds; we must let our thoughts be free.
For every hour that passes by, we know the world gets a little bit older.
It's time to realize that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.
And everything is beautiful in it's own way.
Like the starry summer night, or a snow-covered winter's day.
Oh, sing it children!
Everybody's beautiful in their own way.
Under God's heaven, the world's gonna find the way.
We shouldn't care about the length of his hair, or the color of his skin.
Don't worry about what shows from without, but the love that lives within.
And we're gonna get it all together now; everything gonna work out fine.
Just take a little time to look on the good side my friend,
And straighten it out in your mind.
And everything is beautiful in it's own way.
Like the starry summer night, or a snow-covered winter's day.
Ah, sing it children!
Everybody's beautiful in their own way,
Under God's heaven the world's gonna find a way.
One more time!
Everything is beautiful in it's own way.
Like the starry summer night, or a snow-covered winter's day...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a45z_HG3WU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlwfGh-SVXw
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