[78-L] Georgia On My Mind [was My Man From Caroline]

[Rjholtin]

Did Hoagy even have a sister named Georgia?

At the risk of restarting the long, long discussions we had here about songs with southern themes about five years ago, there were a ton of those tunes cranked out in the Teens, Twenties and Thirties; and I dare say a huge portion of them were likewise double-entendre construction, female/geographic locale.

I boiled down that list of 400+ tunes to a couple dozen and ran two 2-hour shows out of it.  Fascinating study.

Sent from my iPod

On Dec 22, 2012, at 2:43 PM, Cary Ginell <soundthink at live.com> wrote:

This is a fallacy. According to Dick Sudhalter's biography of Carmichael, it was Frank Trumbauer who suggested to Hoagy, "Why don't you write a song about Georgia? Nobody ever lost money writing songs about the South." The duality of Gorell's lyrics can be interpreted either way. The intention was possibly deliberately ambiguous as to whether it was about a place or a person. 

Melodies bring memories that linger in my heart
Make me think of Georgia, why did we ever part?
Some sweet day when blossoms fall and all the world's a song
I'll go back to Georgia, 'cause that's where I belong.


Cary Ginell

On Dec 22, 2012, at 12:30 PM, Ray <kil at roadrunner.com> wrote:

I'm surprised you haven't heard the story before.  IMHO there's no reason to 
think it was written about the state.  Over the years it has seemed to take 
on the "state" connotation, since Georgia made it the official state song.

I never heard this part of the history before, but Wikipedia says the song 
was written by lyricist Stuart Gorrell, about Hoagy's sister, Georgia 
Carmichael.  I don't know if that has been verified but it sounds feasible.
RayK


From: Julian Vein
Does this refer to the state or a woman?

The following is ambiguous, and could be allegorical:

"Other arms reach out to me
Other eyes smile tenderly
Still in peaceful dreams I see
The road leads back to you"

    Julian Vein
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