The gospel and rhumba influences combined with the sexual innuendo in the song made it not only widely popular but very controversial to both white and black audiences.

It earned Ray Charles his first gold record and has been one of the most influential songs in R&B and rock and roll history.

Charles signed with Atlantic Records in 1952 where producers Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler encouraged him to broaden his repertoire.

[11] Shows were played at "meal dances" which typically ran four hours with a half-hour break, and would end around 1 or 2 in the morning.

[13][14] Some of the first lines ("See the gal with the red dress on / She can do the Birdland all night long") are influenced by a boogie-woogie style that Ahmet Ertegun attributes to Clarence "Pinetop" Smith, who used to call out to dancers on the dance floor, telling them what to do through his lyrics.

He called Jerry Wexler to say he had something new to record, later writing, "I don't believe in giving myself advance notices, but I figured this song merited it".

"[16] In retrospect, Ahmet Ertegun's brother Nesuhi credits the extraordinary sound of the song to the restricted size of the studio and the technologically advanced recording equipment used; the sound quality is clear enough to hear Charles slapping his leg in time with the song when the music stops during the calls and responses.

Furthermore, although the lyrics were not obscene, the sounds Charles and the Raelettes made in their calls and responses during the song worried Dowd and the producers.

[18] Ray Charles was aware of the controversy in "What'd I Say": "I'm not one to interpret my own songs, but if you can't figure out 'What I Say', then something's wrong.

In contrast to their earlier review, Billboard several weeks later wrote that the song was "the strongest pop record that the artist has done to date".

[18] "What'd I Say" was banned by many black and white radio stations because of, as one critic noted, "the dialogue between himself and his backing singers that started in church and ended up in the bedroom".

Music, as was much of American society, was also segregated, and some critics complained that gospel was not only being appropriated by secular musicians, but it was being marketed to white listeners.

[25] During several concerts in the 1960s, the crowds became so frenetic and the shows so resembled revival meetings while Charles performed "What'd I Say" that the police were called in, when the organizers became worried that riots might break out.

[26] The moral controversy surrounding the song has been attributed to its popularity; Charles later acknowledged in an interview that the beat was catchy, but it was the suggestive lyrics that attracted listeners: " 'See the girl with the diamond ring.

Michael Lydon, another of Charles' biographers, summarized the impact of the song: "'What'd I Say' was a monster with footprints bigger than its numbers.

Paul McCartney was immediately struck by the song and knew when he heard it that he wanted to be involved in making music.

[28] George Harrison remembered an all-night party he attended in 1959 where the song was played for eight hours non-stop: "It was one of the best records I ever heard.

"[25] While the Beatles were developing their sound in Hamburg, they played "What'd I Say" at every show, trying to see how long they could make the song last and using the audience in the call and response, with which they found immense popularity.

Eric Burdon from the Animals, Steve Winwood of the Spencer Davis Group, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, and Van Morrison counted the song as a major influence on why they became interested in music and incorporated it into their shows.

George writes that the themes in Charles' work were very similar to the young rebels who popularized rock and roll, writing By breaking down the division between pulpit and bandstand, recharging blues concerns with transcendental fervor, unashamedly linking the spiritual and the sexual, Charles made pleasure (physical satisfaction) and joy (divine enlightenment) seem the same thing.

Jerry Lee Lewis found particular success with his rendition in 1961, which peaked at number 30 and spent eight weeks on the charts.

Cliff Richard, Eric Clapton with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Rare Earth, Eddie Cochran, Nancy Sinatra, and Sammy Davis Jr., all put their own style on the song.

[36] Charles noticed, later writing "I saw that many of the stations which had banned the tune started playing it when it was covered by white artists.

"[4] It was ranked tenth on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", with the summary, "Charles' grunt-'n'-groan exchanges with the Raeletts were the closest you could get to the sound of orgasm on Top Forty radio during the Eisenhower era".

[43] A central scene in the 2004 biopic Ray features the improvisation of the song performed by Jamie Foxx, who won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Charles.