“Midnight Train to Georgia” was released by Gladys Knight and the Pips in 1973 and became a huge international hit and went on to become perhaps the signature defining single of their career.
As someone who was around when the song came out and who has always loved it even to this day, I never questioned its origins. It was simply a “Gladys Knight song” and that was that. And although the group did make it their own forever, the facts are a little more nuanced than that.
The actual story involves SEC Football, country music, Farrah Fawcett Majors, Houston Texas, and a singer-songwriter little known to most audiences today, named Jim Weatherly.
Jim Weatherly was a backup quarterback and subsequently a starter for the two time SEC champion University of Mississippi football team in 1962 and 1963. He received honorable mention All-American honors in 1964. Upon graduating, he chose to pursue music over a career in football.
Fast forward a couple of years and Jim, who by then was established in the music business, makes a phone call to his friend, Lee Majors. Lee wasn’t home, but his wife (Farrah Fawcett-Majors) answered the phone. She informed Jim that they were taking the midnight plane to Houston. Upon hearing that phrase, inspiration was born, and the song “Midnight Plane to Houston” was well on its way to being written.
Jim wrote and recorded the song himself. Soon, other producers became aware of it. One such producer thought it would be a good fit for another artist, Cissy Houston (Mother of Whitney). They asked for permission to change things around to “Midnight Train to Georgia”. Soon after Cissy Houston’s recording was made, the song was introduced to Gladys Knight’s people. The song was released in August of 1973, and the rest is history.
