Rainy Night in Georgia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Rainy Night in Georgia" is a song written by Tony Joe White in 1962 and popularized by R&B vocalist Brook Benton in 1970. In 1969, Benton was returning to music after over four years out of the spotlight and at a new record label, Atlantic Records. Brought to the attention of producer Jerry Wexler, Benton recorded the song with producer Arif Mardin. Taken from his "come-back" album Brook Benton Today, the melancholy song became an instant hit. In the spring of 1970, the song had topped the Billboard Magazine Black Singles chart. It also reached #4 at the Pop Singles and #2 at the Adult Contemporary charts, respectively. It also was #498 on List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song has been covered by a number of musicians, including Ray Charles, Randy Crawford, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Hank Williams, Jr., by the duet of Conway Twitty and Sam Moore, and, most recently, by Aaron Neville.