Sticks and Stones (Titus Turner song)

"Sticks and Stones" is an R&B song, written by Titus Turner.

The song is best known in a 1960 version by Ray Charles, who added the Latin drum part.^[1] It was his first R&B hit with ABC-Paramount, followed in 1961 with "Hit the Road Jack".^[2]

The song was also covered by Jerry Lee Lewis, The Zombies, Wanda Jackson and The Kingsmen, The Righteous Brothers on Just Once in My Life, as well as Joe Cocker on Mad Dogs and Englishmen, and Elvis Costello in 1994 on the extended play version of Kojak Variety.^[3] In 1997, jazz singer Roseanna Vitro included the tune in her tribute to Charles, Catchin’ Some Rays: The Music of Ray Charles. In Australia The Vince Maloney Sect recorded the song in 1966. Vince went to England and joined the Bee Gees.

References

1. Michael Lydon Ray Charles: man and music - 1998Page 183- "... a session making singles. This time Ray went back to bare-bones blues: "Sticks and Stones" sounds ... As the two releases battled on the charts through June, Ray and the gang joined the "Hitmakers of 1960" tour."
2. David Hatch, Stephen Millward From Blues to Rock: An Analytical History of Pop Music 1990 - Page 89- "An accomplished jazz pianist and alto saxophonist, an early Atlantic album, The Great Ray Charles (1956), consists of ... Although he had two early R. & B. hits with ABC-Paramount - 'Sticks And Stones' (1960) and 'Hit The Road Jack' (1961) ..."
3. Franklin Bruno Elvis Costello's Armed Forces 2005- Page 117 "... logo; the left side of his face is covered in black makeup, the right in white. Half minstrel, half harlequin; halfJoso, half Caruso. "Sticks and Stones," a #2 R&B/#40 Pop hit released in May 1960, was Ray Charles' second single after leaving ..(The next was "Georgia on My Mind.") The song was written (with Henry Glover) and first recorded by Georgia R&B figure Titus Turner; Charles reworked the original in modest but decisive ways. The Latin (or perhaps Afro-Cuban) drum part, "