On this Day (1960): Ray Charles hit #1 with “Georgia on My Mind”

Georgia on My Mind Ray Charles

Writer(s): Hoagy Carmichael (music), Stuart Gorrell (lyrics) (see lyrics here) Released: -- First Charted: September 5, 1960 Peak: 11 US, 3 CB, 10 GR, 3 HR, 3 RB, 24 UK, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 6.0 radio, 87.4 video, 96.37 streaming

Awards (Hoagy Carmichael): Click on award for more details. Awards (Ray Charles):

About the Song: Hoagy Carmichael, who critic Dave Marsh called “the most blues-inspired writer Tin Pan Alley produced,” DM co-wrote the song back in 1930 and was one of the first to record it. MM With classics like “Star Dust” and “The Nearness of You” on his resume, Carmichael was adept at crafting standards. Jazz saxophonist Frankie Trumbauer was the first to chart with the song, taking it to the top ten in 1931. PM Mildred Bailey, who is often closely associated with the song, TY1 went top 20 with it in 1932 as did Gene Krupa in 1941 PM with an arrangement sung by Anita O’Day. DM Fats Waller and Frankie Laine also made important recordings TY1 and the Righteous Brothers, Wes Montgomery, and Michael Bolton all charted with pop versions of the song. In 1978, it gave Willie Nelson his fifth country chart-topper and a Grammy for Country Male Vocal. James Brown and Gladys Knight also recorded notable versions. MM However, it is Ray Charles’ soulful version and double-Grammy winner – Best Male Vocal Recording and Best Pop Song Performance – which has become the most beloved and most successful. It was his driver, Tommy Brown, who suggested Charles record the song when he heard his boss crooning the song in the car. DM The song fit perfectly on Charles’ project at the time – an LP comprised of songs with place names in the titles. RS500 The song has been interpreted as being either about the state or a woman. While Charles was born in Georgia, neither Carmichael nor Stuart Gorrell, the song’s lyricist and a New York banker, lived in the state. However, Carmichael had a sister named Georgia. SF The state of Georgia was happy to claim the song, though – they named it their official state song in 1979 and Ray Charles even sang it in the Georgia State Legislature. DJ Resources: DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 62. DM Dave Marsh (1989). The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New American Library: New York, NY. Page 225. MM Max Morath (2002). The NPR Curious Listener’s Guide to Popular Standards. New York, NY; Penguin Putnam Inc. Page 159. RS500 Rolling Stone (12/11/2003). “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” SF Songfacts TY1 Don Tyler (1985). Hit Parade 1920-1955. Quill: New York, NY. Page 55. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Page 502. Related Links: First posted 9/4/2010; last updated 9/6/2023.

Today in Music (1941): Artie Shaw charted with “Stardust”

Stardust Isham Jones

Writer(s): Hoagy Carmichael, Mitchell Parish (see lyrics here) First Charted: September 13, 1930 Peak: 11 US, 12 GA (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 (sheet music) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Stardust Artie Shaw

First Charted: January 18, 1941 Peak: 2 US, 8 GA (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 3.5 US (includes 1 million in sheet music) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1.28 video, -- streaming

Awards (Hoagy Carmichael): Click on award for more details. Awards (Isham Jones): Awards (Louis Armstrong): Awards (Artie Shaw): Awards (Nat “King” Cole): Awards (The Dominoes):

About the Song: Hoagy Carmichael’s first major songwriting success NRR grew out of a visit to his University of Indiana alma mater when the inspiration for a melody came to him while he was reminiscing about a lost college love. TY Stuart Gorell, who had been a fellow student and the lyricist for Carmichael’s “Georgia on My Mind,” offered the idea for the song title when he said it “sounded like dust from the stars drifting down through the summer sky.” TY The melody came so easily that Carmichael wondered if he’d actually recalled someone else’s composition. LW However, his melody didn’t follow the traditional Tin Pan Alley format of the day; instead he crafted two separate melodies for the chorus and the verse. LW Originally conceived as “an up-tempo dance instrumental” NPR in 1927. However, publisher Irving Mills suggested reworking it as a romantic vocal ballad. LW In 1929, Mitchell Parish penned the lyrics MM although Hoagy’s son claims they were based on words already written by his father. LW Mills had the first chart version of the song in 1930 (#20 US), but it was Isham Jones who had the greatest success with his version in the slower tempo format, taking it to #1 in 1931. By decade’s end, Bing Crosby (#5 US, 1931), Louis Armstrong (#16 US, 1931), Wayne King (#17 US, 1931), Lee Sims (#20 US, 1931), Jimmie Lunceford (#10 US, 1935), Benny Goodman (#2 US, 1936), and Sammy Kaye (#16 US, 1939) all charted with the song. In the 1940s, additional versions charted by Glenn Miller (#20 US, 1940), Tommy Dorsey (#7 US, 1941), and Baron Elliott (#18 US, 1943). All told, the song charted fifteen times from 1930 to 1943, PM helping brand it as “a certifiable American classic.” NPR Other later charting versions included the Dominoes (#12 US, 1957), Nat “King” Cole (#79 US, 1957), Frank Sinatra (#20 AC, 1962), Nino Tempo with April Stevens (#32 US, #10 AC, 1964), Johnny Mathis (#4 AC, 1975), and Harry Connick Jr. (#46 AC, 1993). Dorsey seemingly had “a stranglehold on the song” JA after returning to the top ten in 1941 with a new version sporting vocals by Frank Sinatra and the Pied Pipers. That same version recharted in 1943. However, in a 1956 Billboard poll, disc jockeys rated Artie Shaw’s arrangement not just the best version of “Stardust,” but as their favorite record of all time. PM It has been recorded more than 2000 times LW in more than forty languages, RCG making it one of the most recorded songs in popular music, JA the most recorded love song of all time, PM and “the standard that defines the meaning of the word.” MM Country singer Willie Nelson calls it his all-time favorite song and Bette Midler has the lyrics carved in the stone of her fireplace. LW Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Hoagy Carmichael DMDB encyclopedia entry for The Dominoes JA David A. Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 180. LW Alan Lewens (2001). Popular Song – Soundtrack of the Century. Billboard Books: New York, NY. Pages 60-1. MM Max Morath (2002). The NPR Curious Listener’s Guide to Popular Standards. New York, NY; Penguin Putnam Inc. Pages 182-3. NPR National Public Radio web site (1999). “The Most Important American Musical Works of the 20th Century” NRR National Recording Preservation Board of the Library of Congress The Full National Recording Registry RCG RimChiGuy.com The Old Songs (1900-1929) TY Don Tyler (1985). Hit Parade 1920-1955. New York, NY: Quill. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. Pages 76, 584, and 638. Related Links: First posted 1/8/2012; last updated 11/22/2022.