The fourth post on My 100 Top Tracks.
Midnight Train to Georgia was an early release on the Buddah label after Gladys Knight switched to them from Motown. It's an obvious song of hers to choose but I love it. Another train song. A guy goes to LA to pursue stardom but the place proves 'too much for the man' and 'he couldn't make it'. So he decides to go back to Georgia (as it happens, Gladys Knight's home state) for 'a simpler place and time', on a 'one-way ticket to a place he once knew', a 'world he left behind not so long ago'. He not only decides to go back but on the midnight train, which adds to it all for me. Gladys will go with him, right by his side, because she'd rather live in his world with him than in her world without him (implying her world in LA is an attractive one for her). I like the theme of the disillusion with the glitz and pressure of LA and the desire for a return to a simpler life.
The song was written by Jim Weatherly after a call to the actress Farah Fawcett who was leaving LA on the midnight plane to visit her folks in Houston, the lyrics going through some minor alterations before it reached Gladys Knight. It was released in 1973 but didn't make it in the UK until 1976 when I was 12. I must have heard it then on the radio and TV.
I didn't know until I wrote this blog post that the Pips were family members, her brother and cousins. Great backing singers, they also did lovely synchronised moves. See this great performance of the song, including train actions and the 'hoo hoo' singing of locomotive sounds. Gladys had her trials - serious gambling addiction and a son kidnapped by his father - 'her share of life's ups and downs', and I don't agree with everything she has done.
The song, and the performance of it, is a masterpiece for me. It's one of those that lifts me up the moment I hear the opening drum beats. Gladys has a distinctive voice which I could listen to forever.
Lyrics:
L.A. proved too much for the man
(Too much for the man, he couldn't make it)
So he's leaving a life he's come to know, ooh
(He said he's going)
He said he's going back to find
(Going back to find)
Ooh, what's left of his world
The world he left behind not so long ago
He's leaving
(Leaving)
On that midnight train to Georgia, yeah
(Leaving on the midnight train)
Said he's going back
(Going back to find)
To a simpler place and time, oh yes he is
(Whenever he takes that ride, guess who's gonna be right by his side)
I'll be with him
(I know you will)
On that midnight train to Georgia
(Leaving on a midnight train to Georgia, woo woo)
I'd rather live in his world
(Live in his world)
Than live without him in mine
(Her world is his, his and hers alone)
He kept dreaming
(Dreaming)
Ooh, that some day he'd be a star
(A superstar, but he didn't get far)
But he sure found out the hard way
That dreams don't always come true, oh no, uh uh
(Dreams don't always come true, uh uh, no, uh uh)
So he pawned down his hopes
(Woo, woo, woo-woo)
And even sold his old car
(Woo, woo, woo-woo)
Bought a one way ticket back to the life he once knew
Oh yes he did, he said he would
Oh-oh, he's leaving
(Leaving)
On that midnight train to Georgia, yeah
(Leaving on a midnight train)
Said he's going back to find, ooh
(Going back to find)
A simpler place and time, ooh, yeah
(Whenever he takes that ride, guess who's gonna be right by his side)
I'm gonna be with him
(I know you will)
On that midnight train to Georgia
(Leaving on a midnight train to Georgia, woo woo)
I'd rather live in his world
(Live in his world)
Than live without him in mine
(Her world is his, his and hers alone)
Ooh, he's leaving
(Leaving)
On the midnight train to Georgia, yeah, ooh y'all
(Leaving on the midnight train)
Said he's going back to find
(Going back to find)
Ooh, a simpler place and time, ooh y'all, uh-huh
(Whenever he takes that ride, guess who's gonna be right by his side)
I've got to be with him
(I know you will)
On that midnight train to Georgia
(Leaving on a midnight train to Georgia, woo woo)
I'd rather live in his world
(Live in his world)
Than live without him in mine
(Her world is his, his and hers alone)
For love, gonna board the midnight train to ride
For love, gonna board, gotta board the midnight train to go
For love, gonna board, uh huh, the midnight train to go
My world, his world, our world, mine and his alone
My world, his world, our world, mine and his alone
I got to go
I got to go
I got to go, hey
I got to go
I got to go
My world, his world, my man, his girl
I got to go
I got to go, oh
I got to go
My world, his world, our world, his girl