Level: 2
Tuning: Standard

Today most people associate “Georgia On My Mind” with Ray Charles (though Willie Nelson had a huge hit with it), but Hoagy Carmichael (music) and Stuart Gorrell (lyrics) wrote it in 1930. It’s hard to tell if the song is about the state or the girl, but Hoagy said he wrote it on the suggestion of band leader Frankie Trumbauer that he write a song about the state of Georgia. There were many hit recordings of “Georgia” in the ‘30s, and it was usually played at a brighter tempo than Ray Charles’ ballad version. It has an AABA form: an 8-bar phrase is repeated (AA) followed by and 8-bar bridge (B) and another repeat of the A phrase. In this Eb version of the tune, you’ll find many circle-of-fifths chord sequences in which you move up by fourths, as in D9, Gm7, C9, Fm7, Bb13, Eb. The bridge seems to ramble a bit, but the chords are nearly all in the Eb chord family: Eb, Ab, Bb and the relative minors Cm, Fm and Gm. The coda is a tip of the hat to Ray Charles’ ending. The introductory verse, rarely heard, is a bonus! A practice suggestion: become familiar with the backup arrangement first, before attempting to learn the chord-melody solo. Play the backup chords several times and the solo will come easier, as it’s mostly based on the same chord shapes.