Georgia on My Mind (song)

"Georgia on My Mind" is a song by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell, most commonly associated with the version by Ray Charles, a native of Georgia, who recorded it in his 1960 album The Genius Hits the Road. It became the official state song of the State of Georgia in 1979.

Versions


The song has been covered by many artists, significant among them: Richard Manuel, Louis Armstrong, Dean Martin, Glenn Miller, Brenda Lee, Zac Brown Band, Michael Bublé, Michael Bolton, Dave Brubeck, Anita O'Day, Mildred Bailey, Ella Fitzgerald, Rebecca Parris, Jo Stafford, Gladys Knight, Gene Krupa, Grover Washington, Jr., James Brown, Usher, Fats Waller, Billie Holiday, Nat Gonella and The Georgians, Django Reinhardt, Wes Montgomery, John Mayer, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Righteous Brothers, Tom Jones, Maceo Parker, Crystal Gayle, Van Morrison, Willie Nelson, Coldplay, The Joel Haynes Trio (with Denzel Sinclair) and the Spencer Davis Group (with Steve Winwood on vocals), Tony Rice, Arturo Sandoval, instrumental version by Oscar Peterson, and Al Hirt. Bing Crosby recorded this song twice: in 1956 with Buddy Cole and his trio and in 1975 with Paul Smith and Band for the LP A Southern Memoir.

Written in 1930 by Hoagy Carmichael (music) and Stuart Gorrell (lyrics). Gorrell wrote the lyrics for Hoagy's sister, Georgia Carmichael. However, the lyrics of the song are ambiguous enough to refer either to the state or to a woman named "Georgia". Carmichael's 1965 autobiography, Sometimes I Wonder, records the origin: a friend, saxophonist and bandleader Frankie Trumbauer, suggested: "Why don't you write a song called 'Georgia'? Nobody lost much writing about the South." Thus, the song is universally believed to have been written about the state.

The song was first recorded on September 15, 1930, in New York by Hoagy Carmichael and His Orchestra with Bix Beiderbecke on muted cornet and Hoagy Carmichael on vocals. It featured Eddie Lang on guitar. The recording was part of Beiderbecke's last recording session. The recording was released as Victor 23013 with "One Night in Havana".

Frankie Trumbauer had the first major hit recording in 1931, when his recording made the top ten on the charts. Trumbauer had suggested that Carmichael compose the song. Another 1931 hit version was Mildred Bailey's vocal made with members of Paul Whiteman's Orchestra (Victor 22880).

On 30 July 1963, Lou Rawls recorded the song for his album Tobacco Road. Cold Chisel's version of the song appeared on the album Barking Spiders Live: 1983 and has become a staple of their live shows. Guitarist Ian Moss still performs the song and a live version is included in his Let's All Get Together album.

The song was a standard at performances by Ronnie Hawkins and The Hawks in the late 1950s and early 1960s, where it was sung by pianist Richard Manuel. When The Hawks split off on their own and became The Band, they kept the song as part of their repertoire. They recorded a studio version of the song for Jimmy Carter's presidential bid in 1976, which was released as a single that year as well as on their 1977 album Islands.

American R&B and boogie-woogie pianist and singer Little Willie Littlefield recorded a version for his 1994 album Yellow Boogie & Blues.

American Idol contestant Matt Giraud performed this song during Hollywood Week Second Solo Performance. In 2006, saxophonist Gerald Albright covered the song off the album New Beginnings.

In 2009, Hong Kong singer Khalil Fong covered the song in his album Timeless.

Ray Charles
It was not until Ray Charles' 1960 recording on The Genius Hits the Road, that the song became a major hit, reaching the number one spot for one week in November 1960 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. On March 7, 1979, in a mutual symbol of reconciliation after conflict over civil rights issues, he performed it before the Georgia General Assembly (the state legislature). After this performance, the connection to the state was firmly made, and then the Assembly adopted it as the state song on April 24.

This version of the song was played with a video montage each time, that Georgia Public Television went off the air nightly. With the advent of 24-hour broadcasting, it is rarely used now, the last time being in 2009 for the permanent sign-off of GPB's analog TV stations on February 17.

The song was used as the theme song to the CBS sitcom Designing Women (set in Atlanta), initially as an instrumental (performed by Doc Severinsen), and later in a recording by Ray Charles. Charles' version was also sampled for rap group Field Mob's 2005 single, "Georgia", featuring Jamie Foxx and Ludacris.

Sometime after 2000, Charles invited the Italian singer Giorgia Todrani to sing the song with him after learning, that she was named in honor of the song.

Jamie Foxx and Alicia Keys, backed by Quincy Jones and his Orchestra, performed a new arrangement in honour of Ray Charles at the 2005 Grammy Awards.

Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson recorded "Georgia" on his 1978 album Stardust. It was released as single, peaked at #1 for a single week and total of 16 weeks on a country chart. A year later, Willie Nelson won a Grammy award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance.

Cultural significance

 * In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine named "Georgia on My Mind" the 44th greatest song of all time.
 * The title of the song was used as the state of Georgia's license plate slogan exclusively from January 1997 through November 2003
 * The song was one of the songs of the 1996 Summer Olympics held in Atlanta.
 * In the television show Quantum Leap, the Ray Charles version of the song is used in several episodes, most notably in relation to the tragic relationship between Al Calavicci and his first wife Beth whom he lost to another man while being held captive by the Vietcong and Beth believed him dead
 * The song is featured at the end of the House episode "Saviors" performed by Hugh Laurie.
 * The Willie Nelson version was featured twice in the Monk episode, "Mr. Monk and the Red-Headed Stranger", when Willie offers to let Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) accompany his backing band on clarinet during a live radio broadcast of the song in honor of it being Monk's late wife, Trudy's favorite song (Monk instead whistles the melody this time around due to misophobia and the clarinet not being played by Monk himself; Willie later compliments him on his whistling of the song's melody). The song is featured again at the end of the episode when Monk plays clarinet while Willie sings, both in front of where Trudy is buried.
 * Lil Wayne samples the song for his rap "Georgia Bush".

Lyrics
The original lyrics, including the commonly excised introductory verse, are in the Georgia Code under license. The location in the 2011 code is section 50-3-60, Official song.

External references

 * Georgia-state-song web-page