"Georgia on My Mind" is a 1930 song written by

Hoagy Carmichael Hoagland Howard Carmichael (November 22, 1899 – December 27, 1981) was an American musician, composer, songwriter, actor and lawyer. Carmichael was one of the most successful Tin Pan Alley songwriters of the 1930s, and was among the first ...

and Stuart Gorrell and first recorded that same year by

. However, the song has been most often associated with soul singer

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...

, who was a native of the U.S. state of Georgia and recorded it for his 1960 album '' The Genius Hits the Road''. In 1979, the State of Georgia designated Ray Charles' version the official

state song Forty-eight of the fifty U.S. states have one or more state songs, a type of regional anthem, which are selected by each state legislature as a symbol (or emblem) of that particular U.S. state. Some U.S. states have more than one official state ...

. The song has become part of the

Great American Songbook The Great American Songbook is the loosely defined canon of significant early-20th-century American jazz standards, popular songs, and show tunes. Definition According to the Great American Songbook Foundation: The "Great American Songbook" i ...

tradition.

Background and original recording

Stuart Gorrell letter - Bremen Enquirer - 3 Aug 1961

It has been asserted that

wrote the song about his sister, Georgia. But Carmichael wrote in his second autobiography ''Sometimes I Wonder'' that saxophonist

Frankie Trumbauer Orie Frank Trumbauer (May 30, 1901 – June 11, 1956) was an American jazz saxophonist of the 1920s and 1930s. His main instrument was the C-melody saxophone, a now-uncommon instrument between an alto and tenor saxophone in size and pitch. He a ...

told him he should write a song about the state of Georgia. He jokingly volunteered the first two words, "Georgia, Georgia...", which Carmichael ended up using while working on the song with his roommate, Stuart Gorrell, who wrote the lyrics. Gorrell's name was absent from the copyright, but Carmichael sent him royalty checks anyway. Carmichael recorded "Georgia on My Mind", with

Bix Beiderbecke Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke (March 10, 1903 – August 6, 1931) was an American jazz cornetist, pianist and composer. Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s, a cornet player noted for an inventive lyrical app ...

on cornet, in New York City on September 15, 1930.

Ray Charles version

In 1960, Ray Charles, a native of Georgia, recorded a version of the song that went to No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' magazine

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

. Charles' hit rendition would become the most widely-known version of the tune from this time on. It would also be the song most associated with his musical career. In 1977,

Robert Grossman Robert Grossman (March 1, 1940 – March 15, 2018) was an American painter, sculptor, filmmaker, comics artist, illustrator and author. In a career spanning fifty years, Grossman's illustrations have appeared over 500 times on the covers of var ...

, James Picker and Craig Whitaker created a

clay animation Clay animation or claymation, sometimes plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine clay. Tra ...

short, '' Jimmy the C'', in which U.S. President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

sings in Ray Charles' version of the song. In 1979, the song was designated the State Song of Georgia, and Charles was invited to perform it at the state capitol. The TV series ''

Designing Women ''Designing Women'' is an American television sitcom created by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason that aired on CBS from September 29, 1986, to May 24, 1993, producing seven seasons and 163 episodes. It was a joint production of Bloodworth/Thomason M ...

'' used an instrumental version of "Georgia on My Mind" as its opening theme. During the opening credits of the show's sixth season in 1991, Charles performed his version of the song live on piano while the show's cast looked as the opening credits. In 2003, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' magazine named the Ray Charles version of "Georgia on My Mind" the 44th greatest song of all time.

Chart

Ella Fitzgerald version

In 1962, famed jazz singer

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...

released a rendition of the song, produced by

Norman Granz Norman Granz (August 6, 1918 – November 22, 2001) was an American jazz record producer and concert promoter. He founded the record labels Clef, Norgran, Down Home, Verve, and Pablo. Granz was acknowledged as "the most successful impres ...

, on the album ''Ella Swings Gently with Nelson.''

The Hawks/The Band version

The song was a standard at performances by Ronnie Hawkins and The Hawks, where it was sung by pianist

Richard Manuel Richard George Manuel (April 3, 1943 – March 4, 1986) was a Canadian singer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter, best known as a pianist and one of three lead singers in The Band, for which he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and ...

after 1964. When The Hawks broke up and formed The Band, they kept the song in their repertoire. They recorded a studio version of the song for

's presidential bid in 1976. It was released as a single that year as well as on their 1977 album ''

Islands An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

''.

Willie Nelson version

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of ''Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and ''Stardust'' (1978 ...

recorded the song on ''

Stardust Stardust may refer to: * A type of cosmic dust, composed of particles in space Entertainment Songs * “Stardust” (1927 song), by Hoagy Carmichael * “Stardust” (David Essex song), 1974 * “Stardust” (Lena Meyer-Landrut song), 2012 * ...

'', his 1978 album of standards. It was released as single, peaked at No. 1 for a single week, and ranked for sixteen weeks on a country chart. The original lyrics, including the commonly excised introductory verse, are in the Georgia Code under license.

Chart activity

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Georgia On My Mind 1930 songs 1930s jazz standards Songs with music by Hoagy Carmichael Ray Charles songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients Songs about Georgia (U.S. state) United States state songs ABC Records singles Columbia Records singles EMI Records singles Victor Records singles Pop standards