Don Raye

Don Raye (March 16, 1909 – January 29, 1985), born Donald MacRae Wilhoite, Jr., in Washington, D.C., was an American vaudevillian and songwriter, best known for his songs for the Andrews Sisters such as "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar", "The House of Blue Lights", "Just for a Thrill" and "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy."

While known for such wordy novelty numbers, he also wrote the lyrics to "You Don't Know What Love Is," a simple, poetic lament of unusual power. He also composed the song "(That Place) Down the Road a Piece," one of his boogie woogie songs, which has a medium bright boogie tempo. It was written for the Will Bradley Orchestra, who recorded it in 1940, but the song was destined to become a rock and roll standard, recorded by The Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Foghat, Amos Milburn, Harry Gibson, and countless others. In 1940 he wrote the lyrics for the patriotic song "This Is My Country".

His great success with "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar" (written with Big Band drummer Ray McKinley) led Raye to write the follow-up songs, "Scrub Me Mamma, with a Boogie Beat," "Bounce Me Brother, with a Solid Four," and "Fry Me Cookie, with a Can of Lard."

In 1985, Raye was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.^[1]

History

Raye started his career as a dancer, going on to win the "Virginia State Dancing Championship." He started work in vaudeville as a "song and dance man" often writing his own songs for his act. In 1935 he started work as a songwriter, collaborating with composers Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin, and Saxophonist Jimmie Lunceford.

Raye went on to work largely with the Andrews Sisters in the 1930s. He joined the Army in 1941, and served in World War II. Upon his return he resumed songwriting in Hollywood and worked alongside Gene de Paul at Universal Studios. He wrote original songs for Walt Disney's The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad as well as A Song is Born. Raye and de Paul also wrote "Beware the Jabberwock," a song for Disney's Alice in Wonderland, which was not included in the final version of the film. A demo was recorded, and is included on the 2004 and 2010 DVD releases of the Disney movie.

Raye co-wrote "The Ballad of Thunder Road" with its script writer and star, Robert Mitchum. The Robert Mitchum version of the song did NOT appear in the movie Thunder Road, but was released by Capitol Records.

He co-wrote the classic "The House of Blue Lights" in 1946 with Freddie Slack, a song which was recorded originally by Freddie Slack with Ella Mae Morse on vocals, by The Andrews Sisters, Merrill Moore in 1952, Chuck Miller in 1955, Chuck Berry, George Thorogood and the Destroyers, Asleep at the Wheel, and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Publications

In 1971, the Charles E. Tuttle Company published Raye's Like Haiku, a collection of poems. He called them "not haiku in the true sense. They are 'like' haiku. An Occidental songwriter's haiku. I have merely used that stringent form to frame my own pictures of wonder, my moments of awareness of those things which have made me feel."

References

↑ Songwriters Hall of Fame