Search - Ray Stevens :: Surely You Joust

Laugh riot

Jerry McDaniel | 06/26/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"on Ray's third comedy album for MCA, "Surely You Joust", it kicks off with the nutty "Southern Air", a song that features Jerry Clower and Minnie Pearl as the captain and stewardess of a dilapidated airline. Ray tells us about Miss Pearl's flirtations and he gets so nervous he drops his pecan pie on top of a duck's head. if you listen to the late Jerry Clower, he spoke of the Ledbetter clan in his stories and that's who's flying "non-stop from Hahira, Georgia to Yazoo City, Mississippi" with Ray and the duck."The People's Court" is a parody of the TV show of the same name. have you ever imagined jobs being run by robots? well, Ray tells us about the world's first ever robotic rock group, "Bionie and the Robotics". Ray even sings like a robot...a neat hook. other great songs are "Smokey Mountain Rattlesnake Retreat", about a guy and his wife who stumble onto a church that uses snakes during worship. "The Camping Trip" is the recounting of a trip out in nature while the demented "Camp Werethahekahwee" starts off sounding like an ode to Allan Sherman's "Hello Muddah-Hello Faddah" but turns eerie toward the end when the father brings home an Indian from camp instead of his own son!! "Dudley Dorite" tells about Ray being pulled over for going 57 and 1 half miles per hour. Dudley is revealed to be be 'Bubba' from the Shriner's Convention. His deputy is named 'Coy' (both people from Ray's 1980 hit "Shriner's Convention"). Apparently, the people and names that Ray has used in his comedy songs (Ethel, Clyde, Harv Newland, etc.) actually exist and they're mad that Ray has ruined their reputation. This song inspired Ray's 1995 home video movie "Get Serious!". This 1986 album is hilarious...but so isn't every comedy album Ray has issued..."