A Fantastic Foursome For Grandma

First, a word of explanation about the title. This is, of course, another one of those incredibly enjoyable Fantastic Foursome posts — the kind that features a song in four different versions and then gives you a chance to vote for your favorite. The second part of the title refers to my maternal grandmother, who passed away many years ago but is still remembered. Her name was Ruby, and that’s the title of the song I’ve chosen.

It was written by Heinz Eric Roemheld, with lyrics by Mitchell Parish, and was the theme song for the 1952 movie, Ruby Gentry. The gold standard is the vocal by Ray Charles, but since it’s in a class by itself, for our poll I’m posting four other versions of the song. Among them are two vocals and two instrumentals, one of which is a harmonica rendition by Stevie Wonder in his alternate persona, Eivets Rednow.

(By the way, that is NOT grandma in the picture.)