Hit the Road Jack - Ray Charles - MP3 instrumental karaoke

Ray Charles bids good riddance to a toxic relationship ("Old woman old woman, / don't treat me so mean / You're the meanest old woman that I've ever seen") on this rhythm & blues staple "Hit the Road Jack," originally written by Percy Mayfield and recorded by Ray Charles with the Raelettes vocalist Margie Hendrix. Ray Charles went to number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for two weeks and to number one on R&B chart in 1961—where he stayed for five whole weeks—with this powerful, fiery anthem, as well as picking up a Grammy award for Best Rhythm and Blues Recording, and banked what is widely considered to be his signature tune. The track has since been given multiple new leases of life, first rehashed by Ray Charles as "Cross the Road Jack" for a Kentucky Fried Chicken commercial in the 1980s and also reimagined as a tongue-in-cheek novelty version by Canadian troupe and "Sweet City Woman" hit-makers The Stampeders with DJ Wolfman Jack in 1976.