“Till I Can’t Take It Anymore”
Song by Ray Charles
There’s a sweet little piece of country goodness waiting to be discovered at the end of Side 1 of Ray Charles’ 1970 LP Love Country Style: the sublime “Till I Can’t Take It Anymore”.
“Till I Can’t Take It Anymore” was written by Dorian “Ulysses” Burton and Clyde Otis, the legendary Mercury producer, in 1968, when it was recorded by Ben E. King. In 1970 it was a minor hit for country stars Dottie West and Don Gibson; Ray must have heard one of these versions and felt that it fit in with his own sensibilities. (Ray was an international star thanks to his 1962 cover of Don Gibson’s “I Can’t Stop Loving You”, so it’s no surprise that Mr. C would have kept abreast of Don’s output.)
Musically, Ray’s version of “Till I Can’t Take It Anymore” is a kind of mix of his late 1960s R&B style – the rhythm section with its groovy looseness and tambourine-led splashes – and his earlier albums at ABC with their dense orchestrations and shrill, snowy-white backup singers. It’s a successful merging of styles, unsurprisingly; if anyone could achieve that it was Ray Charles and his beloved arranger Sid Feller, who again did the strings on Love Country Style.
“I can’t convince my stupid heart not to believe you,” sings Ray in a line typical of the song. It’s all self-pity and doomed pleading to his woman who can’t, in the singer’s eyes, seem to settle down and be true. “You’ve got two good men strung out!” he accuses; the song is full of such memorable lines.
Most notably of all is the soaring, complex melody of “Till I Can’t Take It Anymore”. It’s a real cry from the heart, as written, and emotions are loosed and unbound throughout; Ray not only sings it perfectly (of course) but adds his own adventurous little melodic and vocal asides to spice it up.
Overall, despite the miserableness of the song’s navel-gazing protagonist, Ray’s recording, “Till I Can’t Take It Anymore” doesn’t feel too sad, because the performance is so nice, even uplifting. The band is quiet, as befits this slow-to-midtempo song, and the orchestrations elevate it to the ionosphere. Ray is a great actor when he’s singing, and his assumption of this song’s role is indeed heartfelt. But it’s still a performance, not the fearsome, harrowing dark night of the soul that you might find on some of his earlier work.
“Till I Can’t Take It Anymore” is a fine example of a master at his craft, and despite the top-notch production and arrangement, there is enough hurt in Ray’s performance and enough gentleness of touch to give it a depth most artists just couldn’t achieve.
Note: In 1989 “Till I Can’t Take It Anymore” became a big hit for Billy Joe Shaver.
Single releases
“If You Were Mine”
b/w
“Till I Can’t Take It Anymore”
Listen to “Till I Can’t Take It Anymore”
Get your own “Till I Can’t Take It Anymore” on 45, LP or MP3 from Amazon. Or get the out-of-print complete ABC singles 5xCD box set.
Songs on Love Country Style