Issue No. 31 of Johnny Be Good features one of 45 songs from the book, Anatomy of a Song: The Oral History of 45 Iconic Hits That Changed Rock, R&B and Pop, by Marc Myers. Read John Pearson's review here. Order from Amazon here. Listen to the book on Libro (9 hours, 34 minutes). Each blog will spotlight a song from the book and a guest blogger’s color commentary. Click here to subscribe. Each issue of Your Weekly Staff Meeting will highlight the latest blog.
Midnight Plane to Houston!
Today’s guest blogger: Paul Palmer
Song: #31 of 45
Title: "Midnight Train to Georgia"
Musicians: Gladys Knight and the Pips
Released: August 1973
I APPRECIATED THIS:
Warning! Once you listen to this song, it will be on perpetual replay in your mind all night! (I couldn’t sleep the other night. The song worm in my brain was on repeat!) But I love this song, although it’s not a happy song.
When “Midnight Train to Georgia” was released in 1973, it coincided with the era of really big breakthrough hits by women artists. Examples: “Killing Me Softly,” by Roberta Flack, and her earlier hit, “The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face.”
According to Marc Myers, many of the rock songs of the early 1970s “were delivered from the male perspective and featured lyrics about men trying to win over women or sweet-talking their way out of romantic trouble.” He adds, “This male-based model was altered in 1973 when Gladys Knight and the Pips recorded ‘Midnight Train to Georgia.’”
Listen to “Midnight Train to Georgia,” sung by Gladys Knight and the Pips. The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
MY FAVORITE NOTES & QUOTES:
• The lyrics:
“L.A. proved too much for the man…
I’d rather live in his world
Than live without him in mine.”
• While Gladys Knight and the Pips sing “Midnight Train to Georgia” from a female’s perspective, you’ll enjoy listening to a male’s version of the same song, this one by David Clayton-Thomas of Blood, Sweat, &Tears.
WHERE WERE YOU WHEN YOU FIRST HEARD THIS SONG?
I was just a 24-year-old kid and was pulling a U-Haul trailer from Tulsa to L.A. It was midnight and on the radio of my two-tone green 1968 Mercury, I heard this Grammy-winning song.
I had been the company manager of the summer stage production of “The Odd Couple.” Tony Randall (1920-2004) and Jack Klugman (1922-2012) starred in this eight-week nationwide tour. We had shows in Seattle, Pasadena, Norfolk, Birmingham, and South Bend. (I couldn't resist adding to this blog: listen to this fabulous studio recording of the theme from "The Odd Couple.")
JOHNNY BE...GOOD, BETTER, OR BEST?
• GOOD: Gladys Knight tells Marc Myers, “While recording that single, I was thinking about my own situation. My husband at the time was a beautiful saxophonist, and so gifted. But he was unhappy that we didn’t have a more traditional marriage.” Sadly, they divorced. She continues, “I was going through the exact same thing that I was singing about when recording—which is probably why it sounds so personal.”
• BETTER: Knight: “I’m not a scatter or an ad-libber—the inspirational things that are typically improvised along the way. I had this mental block about doing that freely. After my first take, my brother [Merald] ‘Bubba’ Knight, who led the Pips, said I had to put in some gospel ad-libs. ‘Gladys,’ he said, ‘the song is begging for it. You can do it.’” (Read the chapter and listen to the song. Gladys relented and finally agreed when she concluded, “Well, it worked.”)
• BEST: Jim Weatherly, who wrote the song, tells Myers: “One evening in 1970, I called Lee Majors, an actor friend who had just started dating model Farrah Fawcett.” Majors wasn’t there and Fawcett said she was “packing to take a midnight plane to Houston to visit her folks. ‘What a great line for a song,’ I thought.”
The rest of the story! Listen to the WSJ interview here to learn how the song title went from “Midnight Plane to Houston” to “Midnight Train to Georgia.” LOL!
Learn more in this WSJ video, “The Stories Behind Your Favorite Songs. From ‘Midnight Train to Georgia’ to ‘Losing My Religion,’ the creation stories behind many of the hit songs you know by heart are filled with surprises. Author Marc Myers joins Tanya Rivero on ‘Lunch Break’ to discuss his new book, ‘Anatomy of a Song,’ for which he interviewed the musicians behind 45 iconic songs.
THIS ISSUE'S COMMENTARY BY Paul Palmer
TODAY’S GUEST BLOGGER, PAUL PALMER (back for his third guest blog!) has enjoyed a wide variety of music throughout his career. He earned a Bachelor of Music Education from ORU and specialized on the tuba in both high school and college. His goal was to become a high school band teacher.
Along his "long and winding road," he's collected thousands of friends (he never forgets a name). Paul's career has taken him to World Vision, IBM, Crosswalk.com, Christianity.com (Starwire, Inc.), and other companies. As a development team member at World Vision, Palmer arranged vision trips for donors to visit India, Ethiopia, Zambia, Kenya, and Senegal.
Paul was also the guest blogger for Song #4, “Please Mr. Postman” and Song #22, “Oh Happy Day,” by the Edwin Hawkins Singers.
NEXT UP: Song #32 of 45, “Ramblin’ Man,” by The Allman Brothers, with commentary by Gary Rea.
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It all started in 2023, when John Pearson read and reviewed a "fun" book, Anatomy of a Song: The Oral History of 45 Iconic Hits That Changed Rock, R&B and Pop, by Marc Myers. Read John's review here. Order from Amazon here. Listen to the book on Libro (9 hours, 34 minutes).
If you'd enjoy being one of 45 guest bloggers, along with John Ashmen, Dick Nelson, Suzy West, Dave Barton, Patsy Barton, Paul Palmer, Bill Butterworth, Jim West, Melinda Schmidt, Jason Pearson, Gary Rea, Callista Dawson, John Walling, Ed Barrett, Larry Beatty, Skye Matlock, Scott Anderson and others, read more here and contact John Pearson. Click here to subscribe to this blog and enjoy the toe-tapping musicians in each weekly blog post—reminding you of these iconic songs of yesteryear.