History Music / RayStevens

* ChristmasSongs: Most famously "Santa Claus Is Watching You". He released a novelty Christmas album in the late 1990s which included some {{Anti Christmas Song}}s, including one where people call Santa un-PC because he smokes a pipe, wears fur, works only one day of the year, is "grossly overweight", etc. (But just to keep it from being too anvilicious, he admits that it was AllJustADream and says that even something politically incorrect can still be right.)

** MichaelJackson's "Bad", also as a bluegrass song.

* MightyLumberjack: ''The Haircut Song'' is about a variety of haircuts Stevens has received from insane barbers. Whenever he is feeling intimidated by a barber and is asked what he does for a living, his immediate response is "I'm a logger!":

* MotorMouth: The original version of "Furthermore".
* MyDadCanBeatUpYourDad: Inverted in "My Dad" ("My dad can beat up your dad, [[GoodParents but he wouldn't]]").

* RearrangeTheSong: Just among his singles, he's re-recorded both "Furthermore" and "Santa Claus Is Watchin' You", having redone the latter twice. One track from 1985, "The Pirate Song (I Want to Sing and Dance)", showed up in re-recorded form only six years later on ''#1 with a Bullet''.

--> Some thought he had religion; others thought he had a demon,
--> and Harv thought he had a weedeater loose in his Fruit of the Looms.

* NewhallPhonecall: "Shriner's Convention". Possibly "It's Me Again, Margaret", though it's unclear whether Margaret ever said anything back to him.

* CodeName: "Shriner's Convention" pokes fun at the titles used by the Shriners International(the dudes with red fezzes).

* HarassingPhoneCall: "It's Me Again, Margaret"

** In "Gitarzan", he voices the title character, his girlfriend, Jane, and their pet monkey, all of whom sing before the final chorus.

** In "Bridget the Midget", he voices both himself and the title character, whose voice is just his sped up.

* ShoutOut.ToShakespeare: His album ''Lend Me Your Ears''.

* VocalEvolution: His 1960s and early 1970s material sounds quite strange with the high, nasal voice he used to sing in, compared to his smoother, mellower baritone from the 1980s onward.

Stevens hit his stride in 1974 with "The Streak", a novelty song about, well, streaking. This song and a bluegrass cover of "Misty" were his biggest hits at country radio, where he maintained a hit-and-miss presence for the next several years. His last song to see the pop charts was "I Need Your Help Barry Manilow", which was followed by his last big country hit, "Shriner's Convention". He has continued to record throughout the 1980s and into the 2000s, constantly releasing albums despite not having anything resembling a hit. In 2010 with the rise of the "Tea Party" in American politics, he staged something of a mini-comeback, gaining a YouTube following with his release of several songs espousing right-wing political views.

* DinnerOrderFlub: "Gourmet Restaurant" is filled with this.

* NoodleImplements:

* SelfBackingVocalist[=/=]SoloDuet: And how.

* SquirrelsInMyPants: Happens to a character in "Mississippi Squirrel Revival".
-->Harv hit the aisle, a-dancin' and a-screamin'
--> Some thought he had religion; others thought he had a demon,
--> and Harv thought he had a weedeater loose in his Fruit of the Looms.

* TalkLikeAPirate: In "The Pirate Song", he voices two characters: a typical "arrrr!" type pirate who is frustrated at a normal-voiced pirate who wants to abandon his ways to sing and dance instead.

** "I Need Your Help Barry Manilow" is a parody of Manilow's stylings, down to his [[TruckDriversGearChange blatant use of key changes]].

** "Ned Nostril" mimics JohnnyCash's deep vocals and boom-chicka rhythms.

* JeopardyThinkingMusic: In the live version of "It's Me Again, Margaret", the first two bars play after the lead character spends [[OverlyLongGag way too long]] dialing the phone.

* [[EverythingsNuttierWithSquirrels Everything's Nuttier With]] SquirrelsInMyPants: Happens to a character in "Mississippi Squirrel Revival".

* BlackComedy: Sometimes employed on his MCA albums in the 1980s. Examples include "Hugo the Human Cannonball" (see below) and "Fred", about a hunting dog who comes home with a pregnant female dog. [[spoiler:Fred gets run over at the end of the song, and then the narrator realizes that none of the female's pups looks anything like Fred.]]

* NoHitWonder: At least from the 1980s onward.

* BlackSheepHit: Although he was more known for his novelty songs, his biggest hit was the sensitive pop ballad "Everything Is Beautiful".

* MyDadCanBeatUpYourDad: Inverted in "My Dad".

-->Noble Lumpkin? This here's the Illustrious Potentate. I said it's the Illustrious Potentate. The ''Illustrious''-- Coy, dadblame it, this here's Bubba!

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Ray_Stevens_9628.jpeg

* BadSanta: According to "Santa Claus Is Watchin' You", he's the "secret head of the CIA" and wire-taps your phone. Clearly played for RuleOfFunny.

* SoWhatYouAreSaying: "Shriners' Convention" is a series of one-sided phone conversations between Stevens's character, the head of a chapter of Shriners, and a rebellious, fun-loving Shriner named Coy, whose antics we learn about through the dialogue repeated by Stevens's character.