The No1 song in the US on this day, November 14th 1960, was Georgia On My Mind by Ray Charles from the album Genius Hits The Road. It was his first of three No1s, was at No1 for 1 week and peaked at No24 in the UK. This was written by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell in 1930. Carmichael was an actor, performer, and popular songwriter(you can see him as the bar pianist in the Humphrey Bogart movie To Have And Have Not). Some of his other compositions include Stardust and Winter Moon. Gorrell was a banker living in New York City, and he wrote the lyrics. Its possible that this was written about a woman, not the state. Carmichael and Gorrell didnt live in Georgia, but Carmichael did have a sister named Georgia. This was a No10 hit for a Jazz saxophone player named Frankie Trumbauer in 1931. Many artists have recorded it over the years, including Louis Armstrong, James Brown (a Georgia native), Django Reinhardt, and Willie Nelson. Charles version is by far the most famous. Charles decided to record this after his driver suggested it, since Ray kept singing it while riding in the car. Ray Charles was born in Georgia. His family moved to Florida when he was still a baby. This won Grammy awards for Best Male Vocal Recording and Best Pop Song Performance. The album also won for Best Male Vocal Performance Album, and another song on the album, Let the Good Times Roll, won for Best R&B Performance, giving Charles a total of 4 Grammys in 1960. Five different versions of this song have made the US Hot 100. Here the four that came after Charles recording: Righteous Brothers (No62, 1966) Georgia Pines Candymen (No81, 1967) Wes Montgomery (No91, 1968) Willie Nelson (No84, 1978) Michael Bolton (No36, 1990) In 1979, this became the official state song of Georgia. Willie Nelson sang this at Charles funeral in 2004. Heres the original Ray Charles version of Georgia On My Mind with a slideshow of Ray Charles and Georgia landscape..... Enjoy!
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 18:46:30 +0000
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