Description
History
Recording: I Love Her So/I Got a WomanPerformed by
Ramblin' Jack Elliot
First release
On audio album Ramblin' Jack Elliot
Prestige/International 13033 (1961)
Note: Ray Charles' I've Got a Woman was based on the recordingIt Must Be Jesus by The Southern Tones issued in 1954 on Duke 205.
That's spectacular news to me. Please elaborate?
Listen to the Ray Charles recording
and compare it to the recording by the Southern Tones (YouTube link in a previous message). You'll hear how similar they are.
Actually, several of the great songs Ray recorded for Atlantic in the 50's were copied from Gospel recordings.
For example, compare his recording of This Little Girl of Mine (Atlantic 1063) from 1955
with the Ward Singers This Little Light of Mine (Savoy 4038) from 1952
Also Ray Charles' recording of Lonely Avenue (written by Doc Pomus) sounds very much like a recording by the Pilgrim Travelers on Specialty. (I'll have to listen to some of the recordings in my collection to remember which one.)
Several other R&B artists in the 50's did the same thing. I talked with Hank Ballard (of the Midnighters) about 40 years ago. He told me that he copied several Gospel recordings in the fifties.
Here is an example that he didn't mention. Compare What Is This I See by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters (King 5491) from 1961
with Standing in the Judgement by the Sensational Nightingales (Peacock 1804) from 1959
and compare it to the recording by the Southern Tones (YouTube link in a previous message). You'll hear how similar they are.
Quite striking actually!
What's your source for the release year 1954?
Good point! The Duke label discography that I referenced previously is not conclusive.
However, Duke/Peacock has an ad for "It Must Be Jesus" by the Southern Tones (Duke 205) on page 18 of the April 24, 1954 issue of Billboard.
However, Duke/Peacock has an ad for "It Must Be Jesus" by the Southern Tones (Duke 205) on page 18 of the April 24, 1954 issue of Billboard.
That convincing clearly.
On the scan I can see the song is credited to one "Bob King". What you have to do in these cases is check whether this artist already exists in the database or not.
Is it one of these guys. If yes, then we use it, if no, we try to find biographical elements like
- full real name
- date of birth/death
- home country
- picture
The idea is the more precise more, the better we will able to differentiate between the all the Bob Kings that are around.
So now up to you 
Bob King was a member of the Southern Tones. He often sang lead. The Vocal Group Harmony web site has a little information about this group:
http://www.vocalgroupharmony.com/JustAClo.htm
This page also has a label scan of "Just a Closer Walk with Thee" by the Southern Tones (Duke 207). It shows Bob King also wrote "Just a Closer Walk with Thee."
Obviously, he was a gifted songwriter 
A VERY INTERESTING NOTE:
While looking for online references to support the fact that Bob King was a member of the group I made another exciting discovery.
My search brought me to Joe Knapp's MusicMaster Oldies blog where the connection between the Southern Tones recording and Ray Charles' "I Got a Woman" is mentioned. But here I learned that Aretha Franklin's "Chain of Fools" was copied from the 1967 recording by Elijah Fair And The Sensational Gladys Davis Trio of "Pains of Life" issued on Feron 108. You can listen to "Pains of Life" on this site.
http://musicmasteroldies.blogspot.com/2009/09/it-must-be-jesus.html
Bob King of the Southern Tones is not one of the Bob Kings previously in the database. I'm still researching him and will provide details later.
However, at this point I'll mention that he was a song writer, guitarist, and singer (baritone). In 1955 he joined the Soul Stirrers playing guitar and singing with Sam Cooke. Unfortunately, King died shortly after joining the Soul Stirrers.
Okay we have to create a new Bob King.
I researched the copyright database to find "It Must Be Jesus", and I found one Rudolph King: http://repertoire.bmi.com/title.asp?blnWriter=True&blnPublisher=True&blnArtist=T…
Is Rudolph King an alias for Bob King, or his real name? Or is this a different song?
Rudolph King is his real name. I am finding this previously obscure performer rather interesting as I get to know more about him.
He was from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In the 1930s he began to perform with friends. One of them, Howard Carroll, eventually became a member of the Dixie Hummingbirds while King went on to join the Soul Stirrers. Two great gospel groups!
It turns out that King is mentioned in two books I read years ago:
Jerry Zolten, Great God A'mighty!, the Dixie Hummingbirds: celebrating the rise of soul gospel music
and
Peter Guralnick, Dream Boogie: the triumph of Sam Cooke
Attached is an early photo of King from Zolten's book.
Now that's nice progress
And how do you know Bob King = Rudolph King ?
Sent by SlimD:
To answer your question concerning Rudolph King = Bob King - this was
mentioned in Jerry Zolten's book on the Dixie Hummingbirds and in
Guralnick's book on Sam Cooke.
Here are some interesting quotes.
Peter Guralnick, Dream Boogie: the triumph of Sam Cooke
p 120
That was the summer that twenty-seven-year-old guitarist Bob King joined
the group. Bob King was a Philadelphian who had grown up with both the
Sensational Nightingales guitarist JoJo Wallace and Harold Carroll, one of
the founders of the Gales and currently guitarist with the Dixie
Hummingbirds, whose wife was King's wife's sister. All three had played
together as teenagers, at house parties as well as churches, and all three
shared a bluesy style which in Bob King's case was fueled by a particular
enthusiasm for the music of North Carolina bluesman Blind Boy Fuller. King
had been playing with the Southern Tones, whose hit number was the recent
inspiration for Ray Charles' "I Got a Woman," but the Tones had curtailed
their travel, and when Howard Carroll told his brother-in-law that the
Stirrers were looking for a guitarist, Bob jumped at the chance.
Peter Guralnick, Dream Boogie: the triumph of Sam Cooke
p 663
Background information on Bob King is primarily from interviews with Howard
Carroll, JoJo Wallace, and Edith King. Jerry Zolten originally put me onto
the connection between Carroll and King, whose picture together appears in
Zolten's book Great God A'Mighty!: The Dixie Hummingbirds under King's given
name of Rudolf. Jerry also provided me with an introduction to Harold
Carroll.
Jerry Zolten, Great God A'Mighty!:
p 224
Referring to Howard Carroll:
By the late 1930s, he formed his own group with friends Bob King and Shorty
Scott, calling themselves Ace, Deuce, and Trey. "I was Deuce," says Carroll.
Then we changed our name to the Hot Dog Rhythm Boys. Two guitars and a
washtub. We did all of the songs the bands played. Louis Jordan, Nat King
Cole, Lonnie Johnson, The Three Blazes, Cats and the Fiddle. They were my
boys. We did a lot of their material.
We used to go to a nightclub - Palumbo's - downtown. Just walk in. And when
the band takes a break, the man would announce, "and now we have a special
treat. Ace, Deuce, and Trey!" My man starts bumping up there with that
washtub, White audiences. Yeah, man, they loved it!
So there it is, the original of I've Got a Woman: It Must Be Jesus !
For example, compare his recording of This Little Girl of Mine (Atlantic 1063) from 1955
with the Ward Singers This Little Light of Mine (Savoy 4038) from 1952
Who are composers/authors of "This Little Light of Mine"?
No writer or publisher credits are given on the original 78 (see attached label images).
No writer or publisher credits appeared when the record was reviewed in the August 9, 1952 issue of Billboard.
Note the performer information on the labels:
Savoy 4038
The Ward Singers, This Little Light of Mine
b/w
Clara Ward, Clara Ward, Clara Ward, Just a Little While
In the early fifties some studios were beginning to experiment with multi-tracking. For example, there are Mercury recordings that list Patti Page four times to emphasize the "novelty" of multi-tracking. So it appears that Savoy was doing this with Clara Ward.
However, session information given at http://www.jazzdisco.org/savoy-records/discography-1952/ indicates otherwise.
The Famous Ward Singers
Gertrude Ward, Clara Ward, Henrietta Waddy, Marion Williams, Willa Ward Moultrie (vocal group) and others
May 7, 1952
US11703 That's Enough For Me Savoy MG 14020
US11704 I'm Holding On Savoy MG 14020, DBL 7015
US11705 This Little Light Of Mine Savoy 4038, MG 15057, MG 14001, MG 14078, DBL 7015
US11707 He Delivered Me Savoy MG 14020
- The Famous Ward Singers - Packin' Up (Savoy MG 14020)
- The Best Of The Ward Singers (Savoy DBL 7015)
- The Ward Singers - Surely God Is Able (Savoy MG 14001)
- The Best Of Clara Ward (Savoy MG 14078)
- The Famous Ward Singers - Hymns (Savoy MG 15057)
- The Ward Singers - This Little Light Of Mine b/w Clara Ward - Just A Little While (Savoy 4038)
To my ears, it's the Ward Singers and not just Clara multi-tracking.
Another interesting note: Little Richard was a fan of the Ward Singers. Listening to their version of "This Little Light of Mine" it's not hard to see where Richard learned some vocal techniques used on "Tutti Frutti" and other recordings.
No writer or publisher credits are given on the original 78 (see attached label images).No writer or publisher credits appeared when the record was reviewed in the August 9, 1952 issue of Billboard.
That's rather problematic for creating a new "work". Maybe the answer is in one of the following (highly recommended) sources: http://www.secondhandsongs.com/wiki/Main/Bookmarks#composers