Midnight Train To Georgia
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Artist:
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Track:Midnight Train To Georgia
I found this in the Al Green section, a pleasant surprise even though it isn't Al Green singing. It's from The Definitive Greatest Hits, but I don't know who the lead singer is - if anyone does it would be nice to be able to applaud her. It's a long, lovely, hypnotic version of the song, improved only by having it play to Classic Visualizer - trippy, man.
Comments (10)
Beats me who is doing this tune but it is not on The Definitive Greatest Hits LP. The song, though, has an interesting genesis.
"Midnight Train to Georgia" is a 1973 number-one hit single by Gladys Knight & the Pips, their second release after departing Motown Records for Buddah Records. Written by Jim Weatherly, and included on the Pips' 1973 LP Imagination, "Midnight Train to Georgia" won the 1974 Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance By A Duo, Group Or Chorus and has become Knight's signature song.
The song was originally recorded by singer Cissy Houston, and released as a single a year earlier. Jim Weatherly had recorded one of his own songs, "Midnight Plane to Houston," on Jimmy Bowen's Amos Records. "It was based on a conversation I had with somebody... about taking a midnight plane to Houston," Weatherly recalls. "I wrote it as a kind of a country song. Then we sent the song to a guy named Sonny Limbo in Atlanta and he wanted to cut it on Cissy Houston... he asked if I minded if he changed the title to 'Midnight Train to Georgia.' And I said, I don't mind. Just don't change the rest of the song.'" Cissy Houston took Weatherly's song into the R&B chart. Her version can be found on the CD Midnight Train to Georgia: The Janus Years. Also, Weatherly's version began with "Nashville (not L.A.) proved too much for the man."
Weatherly's publisher forwarded the song to Gladys Knight and the Pips, who followed Houston's lead and kept the title "Midnight Train to Georgia." Their second single for Buddah, it debuted on the Hot 100 at number 71 and became the group's first number one hit eight weeks later.
Another good cover
I prefer the Gladys Knight version, but this works for me as well
THanks, inrumford - I have a terrible memory for details but I absolutely love finding out; it's like being told a story. Well, I wonder how the cover got into the Al Green Section - it even came up with the album art for the Definitive Greatest Hits. All my soul and funk was gifted to me (along with a laptop, now that's a good friend, eh?), but has its origins in the friend's vast vinyl collection. She had it either copied onto cd, if that's possible, or replaced as much as possible with cds. Then there was the process of sorting it all out, which was confusing, and I imagine the song got into Al Green's section like the lost sock turning up in someone else's laundry.
Clicking on indigo girls's cover right now
I'll check that one out, too, R - it's one of those tunes I don't seem to tire of.
?it is a great one isn't it?
right up there with Summertime
agreed!
and then there's "Rainy Night In Georgia" come to think of it, oft-covered, still loved
I think almost every song with georgia in the title is one that I like
that'd be something to research ... you could collect them all and then say: hmmm, do I like this song with Georgia in the title? why yes, yes I do.
or, conversely: no, I do not like this song.
and then you'd know for sure.