'I do everything for fun': Ray Stevens shares stories from his new covers collection

Ray Stevens says he made a covers album because he wanted to sing songs that he thought may never be cut again. 

"I chose some of the songs simply because they seemed like songs that nobody would record," Stevens said. "I figured, these poor songs, they need somebody to take pity on them and make a record. See what the potential might be in some of these songs that are ... forgotten." 

But Stevens — an 82-year-old Country Music Hall of Famer and owner of Nashville club CabaRay who's known for singing comedic and classic tunes for more than six decades — didn't stop at one album. He recorded four. 

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This spring, Stevens released 48 cover songs throughout four themed records, collectively called "Iconic Songs of the 20th Century (The Soundtrack of Our Lives)." Each out now via Curb Records, the collection includes four 12-song installments: 

• "Great Country Ballads"    
• "Melancholy Fescue (High Class Bluegrass)"
• "Slow Dance"
• "Nouveau Retro (What’s Old Is New Again)" 

Curb ties the albums together for an "Iconic Songs" box set due out June 18. 

In a new Tennessean interview, Stevens shares stories from four songs included in the project. Read along for highlights. 

'Please Help Me, I'm Falling' 

"Great Country Ballads" includes his take on standards such as Hank Williams' "Your Cheatin' Heart" and "Crazy," which Patsy Cline made famous nearly sixty years ago. 

Stevens also cut 1960 lovestruck ballad "Please Help Me, I'm Falling," a Don Robertson and Hal Blair co-write that Hank Locklin took to No. 1. 

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"I came to Nashville in '62. It barely beat me," Stevens said of the song released two years before the Georgia native relocated to Music City. He continued: "I thought it was a great song. Always have. It's one of the country songs that lends itself to any kind of arrangement. It feels right at home with a country arrangement, but you can take some liberties with it and put instrumentation in the arrangement that would normally not be there." 

'MacArthur Park' 

Stevens gives late 1960s pop epic "MacArthur Park" a six-minute bluegrass twist. Jimmy Webb, a Nashville Songwriters Hall of Famer known for "Wichita Lineman" and others, penned the song, which actor-singer Richard Harris first released in 1968. Donna Summers took a version of the song to No. 1 a decade later. 

"Jimmy Webb's a genius," Stevens said. "It's such an unlikely song to have ever been done with a banjo. I've always liked it. I've always admired the arrangement, the production, the whole deal. 

"Richard Harris," Stevens continued, "he acted the song really well. When you consider there's no pictures involved, just audio, he did a magnificent job." 

'Blue Moon' 

The project continues with "Slow Dance," a collection of classic love tunes, and "Nouveau Retro," a re-creation of traditional pop compositions such as "Earth Angel" and "April In Paris." 

The latter features 1930s pop number "Blue Moon," once recorded by Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra and The Marcels. 

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"I didn't think anybody would ever record this again," Stevens said. "I said, "Not 'Blue Moon.'"  

He added: "When I hear a song, I drink it all in. ... To me, it's important what makes that sound and what makes that song. What nerves it strikes when people hear it."  

'Unforgettable' 

And on "Nouveau Retro," Stevens gives his take on "Unforgettable," a pop song made famous by crooner Nat King Cole in the early 1950s. 

"I love that song," Stevens said. "It's got a great chorus, great melody. Great words. It's just a classic song. Nat King Cole was pretty good, I have to admit. ... It was fun. I do everything for fun. It was a song that needed to go in there."