I cannot talk about "Welcome To My World" without bringing up the matter of Ray Winkler. In my book, "Jim Reeves: His Untold Story," I tell you the name of the guy who actually wrote the song, but who never received a dime for it (nor did his impoverished widow who was left to raise young children on her own, after her husband died in the crash of a commercial airliner in Texas).
Eddie McDuff was the real writer, but Ray Winkler got rich off the song, as it has been covered by many artists after Jim. Mr. McDuff confronted Winkler about this shortly before perishing in the plane crash. I interviewed his widow.
I'd first been tipped off to this travesty by several well respected songwriters who knew the story and were appalled.
In short, the late Mr. Winkler was a phony who never even helped Eddie's widow who was LITERALLY cleaning toilets to make a living.
I have a lot of the details in my book. Even the man who was asked to record a demo on the tune had trouble doing so because Ray couldn't sing him a song he supposedly wrote!
It is a travesty that Mr. Winkler is even in the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame as the supposed writer of "Welcome To My World." Carthage was informed of who really wrote the song but instead of honoring the man who did, they chose to ignore the truth and deceive the fans, and others went along with it. It's shameful. Winkler's heirs are still cashing royalty checks on that song while the McDuff family struggles along.
The most that could be said for Ray is that he presented the song to Jim. But for him to claim credit for WRITING the song, and cling to this falsehood for years, is beyond the pale.
Eddie's picture below.
1
Responses
« Back to index | View thread »
TO RETURN TO THE JIM REEVES WAY, CLICK ON JIM'S NAME AT TOP OF PAGE