Georgia on My Mind - Definition and Overview

"Georgia on My Mind" is a song written by Stuart Gorrell and Hoagy Carmichael which has become the state song of the U.S. state of Georgia.

It was originally written by Gorrell and Carmichael for a girl named Georgia, but it was adopted as the state song after having become a major hit performed by the late Ray Charles, who performed it on March 7, 1979 before the Georgia General Assembly. On April 24 of that year, it was officially adopted as the state song.

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).

Lyrics

The lyrics to this song are copyrighted so they cannot be included here. However, the lyrics can be found freely in the Code of Georgia (http://www.ganet.org/cgi-bin/pub/ocode/ocgsearch?number=50-3-60).

References

• http://www.sos.state.ga.us/state_capitol/education_corner/state_song.html, details on state song on Georgia's Secretary of State website