"Voodoo Ray" is a 1988 acid house single by Gerald Simpson, recording under the name A Guy Called Gerald. The single was released in the UK in 1988, in the 7" and 12" vinyl formats, on the Rham! label. It reached number 12 in the UK singles chart, and was the best-selling independently released single in 1989. It was released in the USA in 1989 by Warlock Records. It also appeared on A Guy Called Gerald's 1988 album Hot Lemonade, and a rerecorded version called "Voodoo Ray Americas" appeared on A Guy Called Gerald's 1990 album Automanikk, which was released on Columbia/CBS Records.
The track contains samples of comedians Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, taken from the first Derek and Clive LP, Derek and Clive (Live), specifically the "Bo Duddley" sketch. "Voodoo Ray" combines a sample of Cook delivering the phrase "voodoo rage", truncated due to the recording equipment's lack of memory, and also Moore forcefully delivering the word "later". In each case, the samples are shifted in pitch, and electronically processed. Artist Danny McCluskey titled a portrait of Peter Cook 'Voodoo Ray' in reference to the song. The vocal was sung by Nicola Collier, who had worked on other tracks with Simpson.
In 1995, Simpson re-modelled the original samples to create a new track, "Voodoo Rage", for his Black Secret Technology album.
The song is featured on the soundtrack of 24 Hour Party People (directed by Michael Winterbottom) that tells the story of Factory Records and the early Madchester scene. The song is also featured in the radio station SF-UR in the 2004 game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Famous quotes containing the words voodoo and/or ray:
“Do do that voodoo that you do so well.”
—Cole Porter (1893–1964)
“How false is the conception, how frantic the pursuit, of that treacherous phantom which men call Liberty: most treacherous, indeed, of all phantoms; for the feeblest ray of reason might surely show us, that not only its attainment, but its being, was impossible. There is no such thing in the universe. There can never be. The stars have it not; the earth has it not; the sea has it not; and we men have the mockery and semblance of it only for our heaviest punishment.”
—John Ruskin (1819–1900)