![]() ![]() In 1979, when Georgia made it the state song, you can bet the 1930 Hoagy Carmichael recording wasn’t the one people were thinking of. The way “Georgia on My Mind” connected with audiences also put the track on an entirely different level from the rest of The Genius Hits the Road. The LP consists entirely of place songs, from “Alabamy Bound” to “Mississippi Mud.” But Charles’ biographer noted the singer was in tears while recording “Georgia on My Mind.” If you look at the track listing of The Genius Hits the Road, you see Charles didn’t only have Georgia on his mind those sessions. “And I still sing it most nights I’m performing.” “It was just a beautiful, romantic melody,” Charles said in Brother Ray, some 18 years after its recording. And Charles was responding to the tune Carmichael wrote. In other words, he was a writer at work with Carmichael, a masterful pop composer. And he wouldn’t say if he was thinking of the arms of a woman or those of a hometown. Gorrell, who wrote the lyrics to Carmichael’s music, said he thought up the words while thinking of warmer climes one frigid night as a young man in New York City. Written by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell, Georgia On My Mind became a major hit in 1960, reaching the number one spot on the US Billboard Hot 100 with Ray Charles' recording. Charles said he sang ‘Georgia on My Mind’ simply for its ‘beautiful, romantic melody’ 1960: Ray Charles (1930-2004) and Patricia in France | Roger Viollet via Getty Images “I’ve never known a lady named Georgia,” Charles said, noting the exception of one family friend. Then maybe it was a woman, for whom he seems to yearn as “other arms reach out”? As he interpreted Carmichael’s lyrics, Charles wasn’t thinking along those lines either. “I wasn’t dreaming of the state when I recorded the song, even though I was born there,” Charles said in his autobiography Brother Ray (1978). That wasn’t the motivation for Charles’ moving rendition of “Georgia on My Mind,” however. So when Charles sang “In peaceful dreams I see / The road leads back to you” decades later, you’d be inclined to think he was tapping into nostalgia for his first days on earth. Charles was born in Georgia to a mother who had temporarily left her home in Greenville, Florida.Īfter Charles’ birth, his mother took him back to Greenville, where he spent his early years. If you know some details of Charles’ biography, it could make sense to imagine him singing “Georgia on My Mind” while thinking of his earliest days. RELATED: John Lennon Traced 2 Beatles Songs Back to Ray Charles’ ‘What’d I Say’ Ray Charles said he didn’t sing ‘Georgia on My Mind’ thinking about the state or a woman Ray Charles in 1961 | Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images When Charles looked back at recording “Georgia on My Mind” for his LP The Genius Hits the Road (1960), the native of the Peach State said he didn’t have his birthplace on his mind. Though it sounds like a song Charles wrote from his heart, the great Hoagy Carmichael (along with lyricist Stuart Gorrell) penned the track way back in 1930 - the same year Charles was born in the city of Albany, in southwestern Georgia. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time with “Georgia On My Mind,” which remains one of Charles’ best-loved songs. ![]() 6 on the Billboard pop charts, only marked the beginning of a long run of hit singles for Charles. In the part 2 lesson, we’ll break down an example of how Evan uses dynamics and accenting to build tension and release in the B Melody.While Ray Charles started building a national following in the early 1950s, his reach became global with the ’59 hit “What’d I Say.” John Lennon recalled how many songs (including two by The Beatles) “What’d I Say” influenced over the years.īut “What’d I Say,” which peaked at No. Drastic tempo changes will sound out of time, but subtle ones will sound natural.Ģ) Dynamics & Accenting: With dynamics and accenting, we can alter the volume of notes and passages to create contrast in our playing. So some passages could be played a touch slower and others a touch faster. The overall goal is to have a natural flow to our playing. In the case of this song, some of the concepts we’ll be talking about in the lesson videos are:ġ) Tempo Alteration: Such as Rubato, which means that we do not have to strictly adhere to a steady tempo. But, the way we go about creating feeling is always unique to the song itself. Now, playing with “feeling” is a subject we’ve tackled before in this lesson, as well as, this one. Most of the time, it’s a song that tends to be played with a lot of feeling. Think back to all the times that you’ve heard this song being performed. In this lesson, you’ll learn to play this beautiful melody with heartfelt emotion. Below is the lesson for “Georgia On My Mind” by Ray Charles. ![]()
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