I've Got A Woman (aka I Got A Woman, I Gotta Woman)

Studio, 1954.

Single (A): Atlantic 1050, December 1954 b/w Come Back Baby.
Compilation album: Ray Charles, Atlantic 8006, June 1957.
Live single with 1964 Shrine version (A: Part 1/B: Part 2) ABC 10649, March 1965.

Charles told that he performed the song for about a year before he recorded it in Atlanta at the studio of Georgia Tech radio station WGST on 18 November 1954 with "his band": Joe Bridgewater, Charles Whitley - tp; Don Wilkerson - ts (solo); David Newman - bs; Glenn Brooks - d; Wesley Jackson - g; Jimmy Bell - b. The song was a #1 R&B hit by January 1955.

Live, 1964.

The lyrics were written by Ray's bandleader, Renald Richard, who later remembered that The Southern Tones' It Must Be Jesus (1954, Duke 205) was the direct inspiration for the song. The melody, tempo and rhythm of this record are indeed very close to I've Got A Woman:



Prof. James Boyle, in the lecture-video below, added some confusion and inaccurate details to the (also more recent) history of the song, mistakingly focusing on a sometimes mentioned other source of the song, I've Got A Saviour by the Bailey Gospel Singers, from 1950. But it could be that Renald Richard recognized the similarities between It Must Be Jesus and I've Got A Saviour, and then took the title of the latter as his inspiration for the lyrics of Ray's song...



Of course, the core of the matter is that many songs in the gospel tradition 'borrowed' and 'recycled' musical and lyrical elements of older tunes. In fact, there are for instance some clear similarities between I've Got A Woman/It Must Be Jesus and Josh White's There's A Man Goin' Around Taking Names (1933, written by Leadbelly), TheSpirit of Memphis Quartet's He Never Left Me Alone (King, 1949) and The Pilgrim Travelers' Good News (1947).*

*The Zion Travelers also released the song in 1947. When you're at it, also listen to Little Richard's (1953) and Sam Cooke's (1964) versions of (Ain't That) Good News.Then finish this exercise with the release of this song by The Staple Singers (c. 1973), with an intro riff that was based on What'd I Say!

Annie Williams' response:


Jo Stafford's response:


Here's Jamie Foxx, explaining how his collaboration with Kanye West on Gold Digger (2005) came about:


Newport 1958:


Shindig! 1965:


Paris 1969:


Miami 1999:


Live:
'58 LC Newport - Released
'62 LC Berlin - Released
'65 FI Ballad - Film version
'64 LC Comblain
'64 CL Shrine - Released
'65 TV Shindig
'67 LC Berlin
'67 LC Frankfurt
'67 LC Melbourne
'68 TV Bishop
'69 LC Paris
'70 LC Prato
'70 TV Glen
'70 LC Paris - 2x
'77 TV Saturday
'78 LC Montreux - Part of medley - Released
'81 DM 20
'86 TV Fats - Released
'88 LC Ballet - 2x
'89 LC Ballet - 2x
'99 LC Miami - Released
'96 LC Warsaw
'00 LC Paris - Released
'01 LC Antibes

Makin' Whoopee

Sings.

Album: Live In Concert, ABC/Paramount 500, 1964.
Single (A - vocal; B - piano): ABC 10609, November 1964.

Ray Charles - piano; Don Peake - guitar; Edgar Willis - bass; Wilbert Hogan - drums.

Shrine 1964:

Plays.

Live:
'64 LC Copenhagen
'64 LC England
'70 TV Humperdinck
'91 LC Montreux

Two Ton Tessie

Album: Have A Smile With Me, ABC/Paramount 495, June 1964.

Recorded in New York in the first week of May 1964. Follow link to album for line-up. Arranged by Johnny Parker.

The live version only came to light thanks to the extended re-issue (from 2011) of the Shrine album.

Live:
'64 LC Shrine - Released

Album:


Live:

Ray Charles Live In Concert (1964)

1. Intro
2. Swing A Little Taste (Ray Charles Orchestra) 
3. I've Got A Woman 
4. Margie
5. You Don't Know Me
6. Hide Nor Hair
7. Baby Don't You Cry
8. Makin' Whoopee 
9. Hallelujah I Love Her So 
10. Don't Set Me Free (with Lillian Fort)
11. What'd I Say
12. Finale (Pop Goes The Weasel) 

Original labels.

Recorded during a concert at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on 20 September 1964. The album discography on the official Ray Charles website says, no doubt on instigation of Joe Adams (also cf. last paragraph of this post), that "Ray had no idea that this concert was being recorded. Ray's manager Joe Adams came up with the idea. The result was so good that ABC purchased a Cadillac for Adams to show their appreciation."

Album: ABC/Paramount 500, January 1965.

Extended re-release
Concord Records' track list of the extended, remastered CD release of the album (April, 2011; the tracks in italic are new as compared to the original album; I've corrected obvious errors):

1. Opening 
2. Swing A Little Taste (Ray Charles Orchestra)
3. One Mint Julep (with Ray Charles Orchestra)
4. I've Got A Woman 
5. Georgia On My Mind 
6. Margie 
7. You Don't Know Me 
8. Hide Nor Hair 
9. That Lucky Old Sun 
10. Baby, Don't You Cry 
11. In The Evening (When The Sun Goes Down) (trumpet solo: Phil Guilbeau)  
12. Hallelujah I Love Her So
13. Makin' Whoopee 
14. Busted
15. Don't Set Me Free (with Lillie Fort) 
16. Two Ton Tessie
17. My Baby (I Love Her Yes I Do) (with Lillie Fort) 
18. What'd I Say 
19. Finale (Pop Goes The Weasel)

In an article on the extended re-issue, in Soul Bag n° 203, Joël Dufour has shared his reconstruction of the real line-up of the band. It's surprisingly different from the personnel listings so far associated with the record.

Personnel:
Musicians: Ray Charles - vocals, piano, organ; Oliver Beener, Roy Burrows, Phil Guilbeau, Floyd Jones - trumpet; James Lee Harbert, Fred Murrell, Juan Tizol - trombone; Keg Johnson - bass trombone; Harold Minerve, ?Dan Turner? - alto saxophone, James Clay - tenor saxophone; David Newman - tenor saxophone, flute; Leroy Cooper - baritone saxophone; Don Peake - guitar; Edgar Willis - bass; Wilbert Hogan - drums. The Raelettes: Gwen Berry, Helen Bryant, Lillie Fort, Bobbie Pierce. Clarence McDonald also contributed, on keyboards.

F.l.t.r. Gwen Berry, Lillie Fort, Bobbie Pierce, Helen Bryant - 1964

In another review of the extended album, Michael Lydon wrote: "[...] the liner notes say it was manager Joe Adams, but I suspect Ray himself decided to record the show; maybe he could get an album out of it as popular as ‘59’s Ray Charles in Person. Sid Feller, then Ray’s producer at ABC-Paramount, flew out from New York, and Adams booked LA’s premier recording engineer, Wally Heider [...]".

Remastering guru Steve Hoffman, who spent many hours with Brother Ray, wrote that Ray Charles said he "hated" the live album.*
Hoffman believes that Ray felt the Shrine gig "was an off night for him. He owed ABC an album and couldn't come up with it for reasons we all know. At first ABC was going to issue a compilation of leftover tracks as ABC-500 but ended up doing the [...] live concert thing with the same number."

* On the other hand, Hoffman says, Ray "blew hot and cold about almost all of his ABC-Paramount work". 

2. Swing A Little Taste:

4. I've Got A Woman:

5. Georgia On My Mind:

6. Margie:

8. Hide Nor Hair:

9. That Lucky Old Sun:

10. Baby Don't You Cry:

11. In The Evening (When The Sun Goes Down):

12. Hallelujah, I Love Her So:

13. Makin' Whoopee:

14. Busted:

15. Don't Set Me Free:

16. Two Ton Tessie:

17. My Baby I Love Her, Yes I Do):

18. What'd I Say:

19. Finale: