So I started writing these off-the-wall songs, and people liked them, and I got airplay, made enough money to put gas in my car." Stevens, in fact, began earning a considerable amount of money, especially after he hit the Top Ten with "Ahab the Arab."

A quintessentially silly song, "Ahab the Arab" describes the adventures of a hapless bedouin and his camel, Clyde. Stevens's irreverent classic includes camel grunts and double entendres and is sung with just a hint of a Southern accent. The song put Stevens on the pop music map and paved the way for other equally loony hits, including "Guitarzan," "The Streak," and "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex on His TV Show?"

Both "The Streak" and "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex" went gold within weeks of being released. Both songs hit the airwaves in timely fashion: "The Streak" coincided with the beginning of a fad of running nude in public that became popular in 1970, and "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex" was released at the very moment when television evangelist Jim Bakker was driven from his ministry by scandal. "It's invaluable when you've got the media hyping what you are singing about," Stevens commented, according to an Associated Press wire report. "To be funny, you have to be relevant."

Stevens was indeed relevant, but he was also lucky: his compositions were actually recorded before their topics became fodder for the media. The songs were ready and waiting for events to catch up to them, and Stevens--who wears a Rolex watch himself--was tickled pink with the timing. "When you've got a hot news topic, you increase your sales tremendously," he remarked, as quoted by the Associated Press.

For a time in the 1970s, Stevens considered a career in straight country music. In 1970 he released the song "Everything Is Beautiful," an optimistic, sing-along work that won him a Grammy Award. And he earned a second Grammy in 1976 for his bluegrass rendition of "Misty," which highlighted his instrumental prowess. Stevens's pure country work can be heard on such albums as Turn Your Radio On and Nashville.

The impulse to lunacy, however, eventually became Stevens's trademark. He remains best known for his outlandish tunes, which include "Mama's in the Sky with Elvis," "Bridget the Midget," "Shriner's Convention," "The Mississippi Squirrel Revival," and "It's Me Again, Margaret," about a redneck obscene phone caller.

Stevens's comedy translates particularly well to music video, where he can add ridiculous costumes and facial gestures to his vocal work. He has profited tremendously from appearances on the Nashville Network and such syndicated programs as Hee Haw; for a number of years he has won industry awards as best musical comic in Nashville. Also performing some two hundred live shows each year throughout the United States, Stevens maintains a touring pace commensurate with that of chart-topping, serious country stars.

Few other artists have risen to challenge Stevens as the funniest country singer, and he likes it that way. "I still have in the back of my mind that one day, if I feel it's right, I'll put out another serious record," Stevens declared in the Chicago Tribune in 1988. "But I think I can raise my visibility doing what I'm doing now. The public wants an entertainer to be easy to identify, and I figured that's what people expect of Ray Stevens, so I said, 'Okay, I'll do that for a while and see what happens.' And it's turning out pretty well."

LPs:
-Nashville Barnaby, 1973.
-I Have Returned MCA, 1985.
-Collector's Series RCA, 1986.
-Surely You Joust MCA, 1986.
-Crackin' Up! MCA, 1987.
-The Best of Ray Stevens Mercury, 1987.
-Greatest Hits MCA, 1987.
-Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 MCA, 1987.
-I Never Made a Record I Didn't Like MCA, 1988.
-Beside Myself MCA, 1989.
-Everything Is Beautiful & Other Hits RCA, 1990.
-All Time Greatest Comic Hits Curb/CEMA, 1990.
-Lend Me Your Ears Capitol Nashville, 1990.
-#1 With a Bullet Capitol Nashville, 1991.
-Also recorded Turn Your Radio On 1971, Both Sides of Ray Stevens Crown, Shriner's Convention RCA, and He Thinks He's Ray Stevens MCA.