Rainy Night in Georgia

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"Rainy Night in Georgia"
R&B, soul
Length3:29
LabelCotillion/Atlantic
Songwriter(s)Tony Joe White
Producer(s)Arif Mardin
Brook Benton singles chronology
"Nothing Can Take the Place of You"
(1969)
"Rainy Night in Georgia"
(1969)
"My Way"
(1970)
"Rainy Night in Georgia"
Warner Bros. Records
Songwriter(s)Tony Joe White
Producer(s)Tommy LiPuma
Randy Crawford singles chronology
"You Might Need Somebody"
(1981)
"Rainy Night in Georgia"
(1981)
"Secret Combination"
(1981)

"Rainy Night in Georgia" is a song written by

R&B vocalist Brook Benton in 1970. It was originally released by White on his 1969 album, Continued
, on Monument Records, shortly before Benton's hit single was issued.

Song writing

In a January 17, 2014, interview with music journalist Ray Shasho, Tony Joe White explained the thought process behind the making of "Rainy Night in Georgia" and "Polk Salad Annie".

When I got out of high school I went to

Ode to Billie Joe" on the radio and I thought, man, how real, because I am Billie Joe, I know that life. I've been in the cotton fields. So I thought if I ever tried to write, I'm going to write about something I know about. At that time I was doing a lot of Elvis and John Lee Hooker onstage with my drummer. No original songs and I hadn't really thought about it. But after I heard Bobbie Gentry I sat down and thought ... well I know about Polk because I had ate a bunch of it and I knew about rainy nights because I spent a lot of rainy nights in Marietta, Georgia. So I was real lucky with my first tries to write something that was not only real and hit pretty close to the bone, but lasted that long. So it was kind of a guide for me then on through life to always try to write what I know about.[2]

Brook Benton version

In 1969, after several years without a major hit, Benton had signed to a new record label, Cotillion Records (a subsidiary of Atlantic Records), by label A&R chief and producer Jerry Wexler. Benton recorded the song in November 1969 with arranger/producer Arif Mardin at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida.[3] Session personnel on the record included Billy Carter on organ, Dave Crawford on piano, Cornell Dupree and Jimmy O'Rourke on guitar, Harold Cowart on bass, Tubby Ziegler on drums, and Toots Thielemans on harmonica.[4]

Included on his "come-back" album Brook Benton Today, the melancholy song became an instant hit. In the spring of 1970, the song had topped the

Adult Contemporary chart. In Canada, the song made #2 on the RPM Magazine
Hot Singles chart, #2 on the AC Chart, and #58 in the 1970 Year End Chart.

The

List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
.

Randy Crawford version

Randy Crawford's version from the album Secret Combination reached No. 18 in the UK Singles Chart in 1981.[6]

References

  1. ^ "Brook Benton - Rainy Night in Georgia".
  2. ^ Shasho, Joe (January 24, 2014). "If Elvis Presley played swamp rock he'd be Tony Joe White – Interview". The Classic Rock Music Reporter. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
  3. .
  4. ^ The Best Of Brook Benton: 30 Original All Time Classics (liner notes). Brook Benton. Soul Jam. 2021. 806193.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  5. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 54.
  6. .