I used to hear this song a LOT growing up, as my mother had bought the album it was on after hearing "One of Us" on the radio (egad that dates me). In any case, I've obviously had a lot of time and repetitions to think on the possible meaning.
When I listen to this song, I picture the pattern of threads of the spider web representing a rather precise confluence of circumstances that when taken together in specific patterns, make each of us who we are. In essence when Ray is saying "when you gain you just might loose", he's saying that changing one little thing (like say his eyesight or lack thereof) changes the entire pattern of a person's life and personality in rather drastic ways. The gifts we have in life are often at the expense of something else, and hence the song is saying if Ray Charles had never been blind he would have never been interested in music enough to become such a skilled musician, and he's passing on that fact as a warning so that people appreciate that their talents are often the result of sometimes negative aspects of their lives.
When looked at from that perspective, I find it to be a rather deep song. It has certainly inspired me a great deal for a song that tends to get overlooked compared to others on that album, but I love it. :)
I used to hear this song a LOT growing up, as my mother had bought the album it was on after hearing "One of Us" on the radio (egad that dates me). In any case, I've obviously had a lot of time and repetitions to think on the possible meaning.
When I listen to this song, I picture the pattern of threads of the spider web representing a rather precise confluence of circumstances that when taken together in specific patterns, make each of us who we are. In essence when Ray is saying "when you gain you just might loose", he's saying that changing one little thing (like say his eyesight or lack thereof) changes the entire pattern of a person's life and personality in rather drastic ways. The gifts we have in life are often at the expense of something else, and hence the song is saying if Ray Charles had never been blind he would have never been interested in music enough to become such a skilled musician, and he's passing on that fact as a warning so that people appreciate that their talents are often the result of sometimes negative aspects of their lives.
When looked at from that perspective, I find it to be a rather deep song. It has certainly inspired me a great deal for a song that tends to get overlooked compared to others on that album, but I love it. :)