On the morning of June 18, 2004, Willie Nelson stood at the pulpit of First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles and sang “Georgia on My Mind” for Ray Charles one last time. His voice cracked a few lines in. Then, as he tried to step away, Ray’s longtime manager pulled him back into the moment with a tease about chess, and Willie answered with a line that said everything about the two of them: “Next time we play, can we turn the lights on?”
To understand why that joke mattered, you have to know two things. Ray Charles had been blind since childhood. And when he and Willie sat down at a chessboard, Ray played in the dark.
The Night Ray Turned Off the Lights
Willie Nelson told the full story more than once. In a 2016 animated video for Great Big Story, he described visiting Ray at his hotel room in Austin, where the two were playing a show. Ray kept the living room unlit. He did not need the light, and Willie went along with it.
Then Ray brought out a chessboard. The pieces were not black and white. According to Willie, they were all plain, unpainted wood, the same color, and Ray simply felt each one to know what it was.
“They were all unpainted wood, you know. But he could feel of ’em and tell what they were.” Willie Nelson, Great Big Story (2016)
Ray won about three games in a row. Willie said he finally thanked Ray and suggested they go sing instead, and that next time he would like to play with the lights on.
In an interview with No Depression published around the time of the funeral, Willie told it slightly differently: he remembered Ray using a Braille chess set, one built so he could feel the pieces, and said the two of them played chess often. Ray beat him more than once and, by Willie’s account, enjoyed every win. The details shift a little between tellings, but the heart of the story never does. Ray played in the dark, and Willie lost.
Ray Charles was no casual player, either. He appeared on the cover of Chess Life in September 2002 and sat down for a game with grandmaster Larry Evans, who beat him.
A Song They Had Shared
“Georgia on My Mind,” written by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell, became Ray Charles’s first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960. For many listeners, it simply became his song.
Willie Nelson loved it too. He recorded it for his 1978 album Stardust. A few years later, on a TV special filmed at the Austin Opry House and broadcast as The Willie Nelson Special, Ray sat down beside Willie at the piano and the two traded verses on it. That same special also captured them singing “Seven Spanish Angels,” the duet that went to No. 1 on the country chart.
So when Willie walked up to sing “Georgia” at Ray’s funeral, he was not just covering a famous song. He was singing one he had once shared with the man in the casket.
The Morning of June 18, 2004
Ray Charles died on June 10, 2004, at 73. Eight days later, more than 1,200 people filled First AME Church for a service that ran about two hours. Clint Eastwood offered a farewell. B.B. King played and fought back tears. Glen Campbell sang the gospel standard “Where Could I Go But to the Lord.”
Willie Nelson’s turn came right after Eastwood. A No Depression writer who had spent time with him that week wrote that Willie could hardly get through the song, and that his voice cracked with grief for his longtime friend. The Associated Press described it as a tearful rendition. After Ray’s death, Willie had put it plainly:
“I lost one of my best friends and I will miss him a lot.” Willie Nelson
“Can We Turn the Lights On?”
According to the Associated Press, Willie was not allowed to leave the pulpit on a sad note. As he went to step away, Ray’s longtime manager, Joe Adams, teased him about always losing chess games to Ray.
Willie took the cue. After one of those losses, he said, he had asked Ray a simple question: could they turn the lights on next time?
It was a small joke, but it carried decades of friendship: the hotel rooms, the shared stages, the games Willie kept losing. And it let a grieving church remember Ray the way his friends knew him, sharp, competitive and fond of winning.
One Last Duet
There is one more detail that makes that morning harder to read. According to No Depression, just two months earlier, in April 2004, Willie and Ray had recorded “It Was a Very Good Year” together. It appeared on Genius Loves Company, Ray’s album of duets, released that August, after he was gone.
Stevie Wonder performed soon after. The service closed with Ray’s own recording of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” a duet with Johnny Mathis, playing as mourners filed past.
Two friends had shared a piano bench, a No. 1 record and a lot of lost chess games. At the end, Willie gave Ray his song back, and then gave the room one more story to smile about.
Do you remember the first time you heard Willie and Ray sing together?