In 2005 the Albany rap group Field Mob’s “Georgia”, with Atlanta-raised Ludacris and Jamie Foxx (who played Ray Charles in the 2004 biopic), bookended a rap on the gritty reality of the state’s underbelly with the rose-tinted yearnings of Carmichael and Gorrell’s song. But it was Willie Nelson who had a substantial hit with it when he topped Billboard’s Country and Western chart in 1978 and won the song a second Grammy.
That didn’t stop “Georgia on My Mind” becoming so indelibly linked to the southern state that in 1979 the relationship was formalised when the Georgia House of Representatives declared it the official state song.Ĭharles’s 1960 hit ushered in a plethora of covers, including The Band’s 1976 endorsement single for presidential hopeful Jimmy Carter. “It was just a beautiful, romantic melody.”
“I’ve never known a lady named Georgia . . . and I wasn’t dreaming of the state . . . even though I was born there,” he said. Yet according to his 1978 autobiography, Brother Ray, neither woman nor state were on his mind when he recorded the song. Released as a single, it reached No 1 in November 1960 and won a Grammy Award.Ĭharles’s performance wrung every ounce out of the song’s yearning-for-home theme his live renditions were even more moving. His first LP for his new label ABC-Paramount was The Genius Hits the Road, a 12-track concept album themed on places in the US “Georgia on My Mind”, the standout track, was sandwiched between “Alabamy Bound” and “Basin Street Blues”. Rising star Ray Charles had left Atlantic Records in order to gain greater artistic control, higher royalties and mainstream acceptance at a time when albums were starting to outsell singles.
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Carmichael, who ended up acting and writing music for the TV western series Laramie, once told Downbeat magazine: “After rock and roll started, I never even got a phone call from an A & R man about anything.”īut in 1960 the song’s fortunes changed. The drummer Gene Krupa and his orchestra reached No 17 in 1941 with Anita O’Day on vocals but the rock-and-roll 1950s were a barren period for both the song and its composer. Although many versions followed, hits proved elusive. His equally jazzy version made the US top 10 in 1931, as did Mildred Bailey’s recording that same year. It is the cornetist/trumpeter’s last-known session: Biederbecke, an alcoholic, died the following year at the age of 28.īut it was the originator of the idea for the song, Trumbauer, who had the first hit with it. This “Georgia” mixes sentiment and hot jazz, features Carmichael’s vocals and, towards the end, a short eight-bar break from his friend Bix Beiderbecke. After all, he reasoned: “Nobody ever lost money writing songs about the South.”Ĭarmichael recorded the song in September 1930. According to his biographer, Richard M Sudhalter, it was the saxophonist Frank Trumbauer who suggested Georgia as a subject. What’s more, it seems that the idea for the song wasn’t even his. Yet Indiana-raised Carmichael had never set foot in Georgia when he composed the tune. But combine Stuart Gorrell’s lyrics with Hoagy Carmichael’s music and the sense of place becomes palpable. Certainly, the line “Other arms reach out to me, other eyes smile tenderly” suggests a woman (or man) might be involved. Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century.The languid, almost sensuous lyrics of “Georgia on My Mind” could as easily be about a lover as the southern US state the 1930 song celebrates.Britannica Beyond We’ve created a new place where questions are at the center of learning.100 Women Britannica celebrates the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, highlighting suffragists and history-making politicians.
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