Georgia On My Mind
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"Georgia on My Mind" is a song written by Stuart Gorrell and Hoagy Carmichael; it is the official state song of the U.S. state of Georgia.
Gorrell wrote the lyrics in 1930 and Hoagy added the music. While the song's namesake is popularly mistaken as the State of Georgia, it was actually written for Hoagy's sister Georgia Carmichael. In fact, neither Gorrell nor Hoagy had ever even been to Georgia by 1930. It was not until Ray Charles' 1960 recording of it became a major hit, and (in a mutual symbol of reconciliation after conflict over civil rights issues) he performed it on March 7, 1979 before the Georgia General Assembly, that the connection to the State was made. The Georgia General Assembly officially adopted it as the state song on April 24.
The song, sung by Ray Charles, is played with a video montage each time that Georgia Public Television goes off the air (now generally only late on Sunday nights, instead of nightly).
The song was also used as the theme song to the CBS Sitcom Designing Women.
The song was used in a poignant moment in the season two finale episode, "M.I.A." of the NBC series Quantum Leap In the scene, Al dances with his first wife, Beth. The song was not included in the region 1 dvd release of the series and was instead replaced with an instrumental piece.
Ray Charles' version was sampled for rap group Field Mob's 2006 single, "Georgia," featuring Jamie Foxx and Ludacris.
The song has been covered by Michael Bolton, Willie Nelson and the British group Coldplay among others.
The Western Illinois University Marching Leathernecks ends every field show with a performance of "Georgia." The band arranges itself in two rows off the field and as close to the audience as possible. The tradition was started by the late Dale Hopper in the mid-1980's.
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Lyrics
The lyrics to this song appear in the Georgia Code under license.External references
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