"Crying Time" is a song from 1964 written and originally recorded by the American
country music artist
Buck Owens.[2] It gained greater success in the version recorded by
Ray Charles, which won two
Grammy Awards in 1967. Numerous other cover versions have been performed and recorded over the intervening years.
History
Owens recorded the original version of his song and released it as the B side to the 45 single "
I've Got a Tiger By the Tail" in 1964, Capitol 5336, but it failed to reach the music charts. A cover version of "Crying Time" was then recorded by
R&B singer
Ray Charles, and his version proved to be a hit. Featuring backing vocals by the
Jack Halloran Singers and
The Raelettes, the song reached number six on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart in February 1966.[2][3] Charles' version of the song also peaked at number five on the
R&B chart and spent three weeks at number one on the
easy listening chart.[4] In the United Kingdom, the song reached number 50 on the UK Singles Chart.[5] In addition, Charles' version of "Crying Time" won two
Grammy Awards in 1967, in the categories
Best R&B Recording and
Best R&B Solo Performance.[2]
Style
Charles intended his version of Owens' song to be a tribute to the country music style he appreciated (Charles had successfully covered other country music songs in the past, such as "
I Can't Stop Loving You"). He was quoted as saying that he did not record "Crying Time", and other country songs written by Owens, "out of disrespect for Buck. I'm crazy about Buck. But I heard something that fit my style. The key was keeping my style while watching my style work in different ways."[4]
Elvis Presley - "I never got to record it in a studio, but I perform it sometimes in the summer season": August 1970 in Las Vegas.
Ray Charles and
Barbra Streisand performed the song as a duet on her 1973 soundtrack album from her CBS television special Barbra Streisand...and Other Musical Instruments. This cover was featured in the episode "The Glass Is Always Cleaner" of the drama series Las Vegas. Streisand also included a solo version of the song on her 1974 album ButterFly.
Andre Hazes recorded the song with new Dutch lyrics for his 1989 blues album Dit Is Wat Ik Wil (This Is What I Want) as Jammer (It's a pity), a warning against pollution of the earth. The song, released as a single, features a guitar solo by
Jan Akkerman.
Yugoslav band
Dinamiti made a recording of their version in 1964, but it remained unpublished until 2005, when it appeared on the
box setKad je rock bio mlad - Priče sa istočne strane (1956-1970) (When Rock Was Young - East Side Stories (1956-1970)), released by
Croatia Records and featuring songs by the pioneering Yugoslav rock acts.[13]