Rainy Night in Georgia

"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, after several years without a major hit, Benton had signed to a new record label, Cotillion Records (a subsidiary of Atlantic Records). Brought to the attention of producer Jerry Wexler, Benton recorded the song in November 1969 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 Best Selling Soul Singles chart. It also reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100,^[1] and number two on the Adult Contemporary chart.

The RIAA certified the single gold for sales of one million copies. In 2004, it was ranked #498 on the List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Covers

The song has been covered by a number of musicians, including Ray Charles, Otis Rush, Little Milton, Dolla, Randy Crawford, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Johnny Rivers, Amos Garrett, Hank Williams, Jr., Lord Lanamo, John Holt, by the duet of Conway Twitty and Sam Moore, Aaron Neville, Chris Young, Shelby Lynne, Ken Parker, and reggae bands The Gladiators and The Congos. In 1967 Prince Buster rewrote the lyrics and recorded a very rude reggae version of this song called "Big Five", usually found with certain words bleeped out. Most recently indie folk-rock band Hem released a cover on 'No Word from Tom' (2006). Australian band Ross Hanniford Trio recorded a cover of the song on their 1994 album. David Ruffin recorded a cover version of the song the same year as Benton, however, Motown did not release the album. In 2000, guitarist Eric Essix covered the song from his album "Southbound."^[2] An electronic-influenced downtempo/chillout version was recorded by Boozoo Bajou and Tony Joe White in 2006. Rod Stewart included the song on his 2009 Soulbook.

References