"What'd I Say" is a twelve-bar blues written and sung by Ray Charles, who wrote both the music and the lyrics. He recorded it on February 18, 1959, at Atlantic Records' small studio, produced by Jerry Wexler, with the Raelettes, David Newman and Hank Crawford on saxophones, Edgar Willis on bass and Milt Turner on drums. Charles played piano and Wurlitzer electric piano and sang lead. He had improvised the song in late 1958 at a meal-dance concert when the set list ran out. Its form combines gospel elements, Wurlitzer riffs, piano choruses over a Latin conga, improvised verses and a call-and-response middle between Charles, the Raelettes and the horns.
Released in June 1959 as a two-part single on Atlantic, and first included on the album What'd I Say, the song received a tepid first Billboard review. A sanitized version appeared in July 1959, and the record peaked at number 6 on the Hot 100 and topped the R&B singles chart, becoming Charles's first gold record. Many radio stations banned it for sexual suggestiveness. Regarded as one of the first soul songs and the first crossover into rock and roll, it entered the National Recording Registry in 2002 and ranked number 10 in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs in 2003. Charles closed his concerts with it for the rest of his career, and the Beatles and the Rolling Stones were among those it influenced.
