"I Can't Stop Loving You" - Ray Charles version - duet - keyboard and vocals

"I Can't Stop Loving You" - Ray Charles version - duet - keyboard and vocalsShow more

I can't stop loving you
So I've made up my mind
To live in memory
Of such an old lonesome time
I can't stop wanting you
It's useless to say
So I'll just live my life
In dreams of yesterday.
Those happy hours
That we once knew
Though long ago,
They still make me blue
They say that time
Heals a broken heart
But time has stood still
Since we've been apart

"I Can't Stop Loving You" is a popular song written and composed by country singer, songwriter, and musician Don Gibson, who first recorded it on December 30, 1957, for RCA Victor Records. It was released in 1958 as the B-side of "Oh, Lonesome Me", becoming a double-sided country hit single. At the time of Gibson's death in 2003, the song had been recorded by more than 700 artists.[1]

The song was covered by Ray Charles in 1962, featured on Charles' Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, and released as a single. Charles' version reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962, for five weeks. This version went to number one on the U.S. R&B and Adult Contemporary charts.[4][5] Billboard ranked it as the No. 2 song for 1962.[6] Charles reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in July 1962, staying for two weeks.[7]

The Ray Charles version is noted for his saying the words before the last five lines of the song on the final chorus: "Sing the Song, Children". Choral backing was provided by The Randy Van Horne Singers. It was ranked No. 164 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and No. 49 on CMT's "100 Greatest Songs in Country Music".