There was just one problem. 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." "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. NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Hall of Fame songwriter Jim Weatherly, who wrote “Midnight Train to Georgia" and other hits for Gladys Knight, Glen … Did “Midnight Train to Georgia” win a Grammy Award? Overdubs recorded at Venture Sound Studios: Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance By A Duo, Group Or Chorus, Midnight Train to Georgia: The Janus Years, "Hop aboard the midnight train to Georgia with Gladys Knight & The Pips", "500 Greatest Songs of All Time: 450-401", "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada", "Cash Box Top 100 Singles, November 10, 1973", "Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 29, 1973", "Billboard Hot 100 60th Anniversary Interactive Chart", "British single certifications – Gladys Knight & the Pips – Midnight Train to Georgia", "AMERICAN IDOL Finale: Jack Black, Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr aka 'The Pips, http://www.outpostradio.com/57chevyradio/pix/doonesbury28july1974.jpg, "All sizes | "Beats workin." It began with a 1970 phone call to a friend, actor Lee Majors, whose then girlfriend, Farah Fawcett, answered the phone. There's an unexpected twist to the journey Weatherly took in writing "Midnight Train to Georgia." 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. To kick it off, he dissects "Midnight Train to Georgia." hide caption. It has been informally referred to as the "Beats Working" strip. Weatherly, in a later interview with Gary James, stated that the phone conversation in question had been with Farrah Fawcett, and he used Fawcett and his friend Lee Majors, whom she had just started dating, "as kind of like characters. And I said, 'I don't mind. As Houston later told the Wall Street Journal, “My people are originally from Georgia and they didn’t take planes to Houston or anywhere else. He was 77. Then we sent the song to a guy named Sonny Limbo in Atlanta and he wanted to cut it with Cissy Houston... he asked if I minded if he changed the title to "Midnight Train to Georgia". As Houston later told the Wall Street Journal, “My people are originally from Georgia and they didn’t take planes to Houston or anywhere else. Interesting to note is that Gladys Knight herself was born in Georgia in 1944. Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. He thought that was a catchy phrase for a song, and in writing the song, wondered why someone would leave L.A. on the midnight plane – which brought the idea of a "superstar, but he didn't get far". Gospel/soul singer Cissy Houston recorded the song as "Midnite Train to Georgia" (spelled "Midnight ..." on the UK single) released in 1973. Gladys Knight & the Pips were an American R&B/soul/funk family music group from Atlanta, Georgia, that remained active on the music charts and performing circuit for over three decades.. Jim Weatherly, whose song ‘Midnight Train to Georgia’ started with a plane to Houston, dies at 77 Jim Weatherly performs onstage at the Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2014. Sorry Gladys, but he must have been going somewhere else and … It remained in the top position for two weeks. Gotta go, gonna board Gonna board Gonna board the midnight train (repeat, fade) Musician Jim Weatherly has died aged 77, it has been confirmed. In 2003, “Midnight Train to Georgia” was named one of the top 500 songs of all time by Rolling Stone magazine. It was replaced by "Keep On Truckin' (Part 1)" by Eddie Kendricks. Making the change was fine with Weatherly. It also reached number one on the soul singles chart, their fifth on that chart. ". He was in a rec football league with Lee Majors and called Majors one night. In an interview with the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, to which he was inducted in 2006, he talked about the importance of writing songs that are "honest and true," and not forcing it. It currently ranks #439 on Rolling Stone's updated list of their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[8]. "I'm missing Jim Weatherly already. Just don't change the rest of the song.'"[2]. "We were both in agreement that we would let the artist make the song what they could sing to make it something they could believe," he told the Ole Miss newsletter. When I hear music with a false sincerity, I don't believe the song or the artist. Starting out as simply The Pips in 1952, derived from a cousin's nickname, the founding members were Gladys Knight, brother Merald "Bubba" Knight, sister Brenda Knight and cousins Eleanor … Yes. There's an unexpected twist to the journey Weatherly took in writing "Midnight Train to Georgia." Weatherly’s niece, Catherine Hicks, confirmed the … The 180's senior producer Geoff Turner launches a summer series in which we identify the central problem of a beloved popular song. Weatherly told the newsletter for Ole Miss, where he'd been a star quarterback, that he originally called the song "Midnight Plane to Houston," inspired by something Fawcett told him. The single debuted on the Hot 100 at number 71 and became the group's first number-one hit eight weeks later when it jumped from number 5 to number 1 on October 27, 1973, replacing "Angie" by the Rolling Stones. It began with a 1970 phone call to a friend, actor Lee Majors, whose then girlfriend, Farah Fawcett, answered the phone. "When I attempt to write a hit song it really doesn't come out quite as true, quite as honest to me," Weatherly said. His publisher wanted to give the song to Cissy Houston, but she told the Wall Street Journal, "My people are originally from Georgia and they didn't take planes to Houston or anywhere else." "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. "It was based on a conversation I had with somebody... about taking a midnight plane to Houston," Weatherly recalls. [5] On the UK Singles Chart, it peaked at number ten on June 5, 1976. Friends and fans are paying tribute to Weatherly, a singer-songwriter who penned a number of hits, including "Midnight Train to Georgia," "Neither One of Us" and "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me." Rick Diamond/Getty Images Houston recorded the song, but it was Gladys Knight & The Pips who turned it into a smash hit and one of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Initial track recorded at Venture Sound Studios, Hillsborough, New Jersey, 1973:[4]. Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. re-enacted The Pips' dance moves from a live performance of the song for the season seven finale of American Idol. But his contributions to the country music canon were just as grand. She said she was "taking the midnight plane to Houston" to visit her family. They took trains.” What about changing the song’s title to “Midnight Train to Georgia”? At that time African Americans weren't into country music and he really helped us know it and love it. Doonesbury on Gladys Knight and the Pips | Flickr - Photo Sharing! ", In a statement to the Jackson Clarion Ledger, Gladys Knight remembered Weatherly as "a sweetheart and so gentle. Weatherly was born in Pontotoc, Miss. They took trains.” What about changing the song’s title to “Midnight Train to Georgia”? Singer-songwriter Jim Weatherly died on Feb. 3 at age 77. As of 2019, “Midnight Train to Georgia” ranks at number 439 on Rolling Stone’s list of “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”. In college he was in a band called Jimmy Weatherly and the Vegas. It went on to win a Grammy Award, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. [6], In her autobiography, Between Each Line of Pain and Glory, Gladys Knight wrote that she hoped the song was a comfort to the many thousands who come each year from elsewhere to Los Angeles to realize the dream of being in motion pictures, television or music, but then fail to realize that dream and plunge into despair. Washington [US], February 5 (ANI): Musician Jim Weatherly, best known for writing 1970s hit Midnight Train to Georgia, has passed away at the age of 77.According to Fox News, Weatherly was a singer-songwriter in his own right, notably working in the pop and country genres, but was also known for the songs he penned for […] And he was the songwriter who penned Gladys Knight and the Pips' career-defining hit "Midnight Train to Georgia." “Midnight Train to Georgia” was featured on Gladys Knight & the Pips' 11th album “Imagination.” The single was the group’s second release on Buddah Records since they left Motown Records. Her version can also be found on her albums Midnight Train to Georgia: The Janus Years (1995), and the reissue of her 1970 debut album, Presenting Cissy Houston originally released on Janus Records. He fronted another band, The Gordian Knot, that recorded for Verve Records in 1968, with Weatherly as lead vocalist and guitarist. The football world’s loss was the music world’s gain, if for no other accomplishment than the Pontotoc, Mississippi native wrote the iconic Southern anthem “Midnight Train to Georgia,” which became a #1 and Grammy winner for Gladys Knight and the Pips in 1973. As Houston later told the Wall Street Journal, “My people are originally from Georgia and they didn’t take planes to Houston or anywhere else. There was never a point where Weatherly was just a … "During the course of the conversation, she mentioned she was packing her clothes and she was going to take the midnight plane to Houston to visit her family. [23], The song was mentioned in "The Ice of Boston", a song on The Dismemberment Plan's 1997 album The Dismemberment Plan Is Terrified.[24]. He was about life and love," tweeted Gladys Knight. Weatherly's friend Charlie Monk told the Tennessean that his family attributes his death to natural causes. Weatherly recorded the song himself under that title. Midnight Train to Georgia was recorded by Gladys Knight and the Pips in 1973. Friends and fans are paying tribute to Weatherly, a singer-songwriter who penned a number of hits, including "Midnight Train to Georgia," … Among the hundreds of artists who recorded Weatherly's songs are Glen Campbell, Ray Price, Charley Pride, Dean Martin, Johnny Mathis and Indigo Girls. Watch the video for Midnight Train To Georgia from Gladys Knight's Midnight Train for free, and see the artwork, lyrics and similar artists. Paul from Los Angeles, Ca There's no midnight train leaving L.A. to Georgia. The closest one leaves at 2:30 in the afternoon. The song was originally written and performed by Jim Weatherly under the title "Midnight Plane to Houston," which he recorded on Jimmy Bowen's Amos Records. 1 of 2 FILE - In this June 12, 2014 file photo, Jim Weatherly speaks at the Songwriters Hall of Fame Awards in New York. A number of American artists, including Aretha Franklin, later recorded their own versions of … Jim Weatherly, the country singer-songwriter who penned Gladys Knight & the Pips’ hit, “Midnight Train to Georgia,” died at his home in Nashville, Tennessee, on Wednesday. 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. His music spanned genres, from country to pop to R&B. They took trains.” What about changing the song’s title to “Midnight Train to Georgia”? "I think for the most part people pick up on that. On that midnight train to Georgia, And he's goin' back To a simpler place and time. Weatherly died at his home in Brentwood, Tenn., on Feb. 3 at age 77, historian and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame board member Robert K. Oermann wrote in MusicRow magazine. He started writing songs at age 13, inspired by the music of Elvis Presley and rockabilly. And I'll be with him On that midnight train to Georgia, I'd rather live in his world Than live without him in mine. ", "The Ice Of Boston Lyrics - Dismemberment Plan", BBC.co.uk Sold on Song: "Midnight Train to Georgia", Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye), Our House Is Not a Home (For It's Never Been Loved In), American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Song, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Midnight_Train_to_Georgia&oldid=1005013910, Certification Table Entry usages for United Kingdom, Pages using certification Table Entry with streaming figures, Pages using certification Table Entry with streaming footnote, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz work identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, "Midnight Train to Georgia" (instrumental), Co-produced by Gladys Knight, Merald "Bubba" Knight, Eddie Patten, and William Guest, This page was last edited on 5 February 2021, at 14:55. There was just one problem. 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