Ray Charles - Biography in film

Ray – Questions about the film biography of Ray Charles

1. What did Ray's mother Aretha mean when she said, “Always remember your promise to me. Never let nobody or nothing turn you into no cripple.” Is there something your grandparents or parents said to you that might come back to you in a similar way when you need it?
2. At the bus, the driver refuses to transport Ray (an unaccompanied, blind passenger) all the way to Seattle. Ray told the bus driver, “I may have left my eyes on Omaha Beach, but I ain't asking no charity from Uncle Sam. I got a job waiting for me in Seattle.” The driver asked, “You were in Normandy?” Ray replies, “Shuttling troopers to the beach. We took a direct hit.” What is going on in this scene?
3. In the Rocking Chair nightclub, when Ray is unexpectedly offered a chance to play, we see him using a drug for the first time. Who gave it to him, and why? (There might be two reasons, maybe three.)
4. Ray uses his hearing to compensate for his lack of sight. Can you remember examples of this from the film?
5. When Ahmet Ertegun visits Ray Charles to explain that Ray's contract has been taken over by Atlantic Records, Ray says nothing about Atlantic. Later in the conversation, Ray explains, “Well, you know, I gotta keep my eye on you city boys. Down home, we call it 'country dumb'.” What does Ray mean by “country dumb”?
6. During one of their early recording sessions, Ahmet Ertegun tells Ray Charles that “I signed you because I sensed something special in you, not because you sound like Nat Cole or Charles Brown.” Ray replies, “I thought you like what I do. … I don’t know no other way.” Ertegun concludes, “We got to help you find one.” What does he want, and why is Ray resisting?
7. When Ray plays “I got a woman, way over town, she’s good to me” to Bea, he is singing about Bea herself. Why is she shocked and upset?
8. “Ain't nothing free in this world but Jesus.” What does this line mean?
9. When Ahmet tries to talk to Ray about his drug habit, Ray asks, “Who's the one who delivers a record in one take, hmm?” What is Ray trying to say? If you were Ahmet, how would you answer?
10. When Jerry Wexler finds out that Ray has been talking to Sam Clark at ABC-Paramount Records, Wexler hits the roof: “Ahmet wouldn't believe it. You know what he said, Ray? He said you would never turn your back on us. Never for a schlockmeister like Sam Clark! That's rich. Sam Clark's a corporate slug, who wouldn't know the difference between Earl Hines and Art Tatum!” What is Wexler saying about Clark? Is that the main reason he’s upset with Ray?
11. In the film, Ray Charles is arrested twice--once in Indianapolis, and once in Boston. Why was the second arrest so much more serious than the first?
12. At the recovery clinic, Ray sees his mother and his brother in a dream. What do they tell him?

Useful phrases from the screenplay; note examples of “nonstandard” English

• never let nobody or nothing turn you into no cripple [“invalid,” disabled person—in this case, a mental attitude as well as physical condition]
• on the dot [right on time]
• what axe you play? [axe=musical instrument other than drums]
• Vice is on my a** for letting you underage kids in. [Vice=Vice Department of police]
• new blood [fresh faces, new talent]
• score big [achieve a big success OR obtain/use a large amount of narcotics]
• double scale as leader plus 10% [scale=standard rate of payment per union contract]
• he can flop at my place [flop=couch surf, be a short-term guest resident]
• as green as a blade of grass [a complete noobie]
• you keep me high while they talk the business?
• straighten out and fly right
• scratch a liar and find a thief
• you two have been gaming me since I got here [gaming=deceiving, exploiting, or manipulating]
• Y'all got to learn to read and write real good, so you never have to work for people like that.
• don't tell mama nothing
• the place where the Negro comes to spread his wings [act and feel free, relax, reach creative potential]
• give me some skin [здоро́во]
• the Lord done took him home [i.e., he died]
• I'm not playing no more
• This ain't no weed, Ray. And we ain't snorting no bitch. This is boy. Boy'll make your a** null and void. [weed=marijuana; bitch=cocaine; boy=heroin]
• it's his funeral [i.e., he will have to deal with the consequences himself]
• I won't beat around the bush with you [i.e., I'm going to tell you directly, honestly]
• we call it “country dumb”
• every now and then
• to make a living
• stride piano [jazz/blues piano style; left hand “strides” up and down the keyboard]
• sharecropping [farming someone else's land for a share of the harvest]
• she passed away [i.e., died]
• she didn't want me carrying around no tin cup [i.e., begging, panhandling]
• there's only seven cats on this record [cat=musician]
• you're turning God's music into sex
• without the church attitude
• you can talk 'til you're blue in the face
• I really dig your sound [dig=admire, understand]
• [if] we try to make it through these cracker speed traps [African American slang: cracker=white person, or ignorant white person, or Southern white person]
• ain't nothing free in this world but Jesus
• and then you bend some crazy note
• he's got that junkie itch . . . he's totally hooked
• your slip is hanging
• I've gone middle-of-the-road [i.e., conventional; no longer innovative or avant-garde]
• I'm never playing to Jim Crow again. Ever. [Jim Crow=nickname for institutionalized racial segregation]
• “hit the road, Jack” [i.e., get lost]
• I won't have you living hand-to-mouth, like me [hand-to-mouth=in poverty, barely able to feed oneself]
• I'm not playing to Jim Crow joints ever again
• to lose your fan base
• if I want to shoot up, I shoot up [take narcotics, especially by injection]
• Ray Charles was banned from performing [placed on a list of those not allowed to perform]