 | "Midnight Train to Georgia"
Gladys Knight and the Pips
 |  |
Inspired by the relationship of a 70s celebrity couple, "Midnight Plane To Houston" became "Midnight Train to Georgia" – and Atlanta R&B group Gladys Knight and the Pips' best-known tune.
"Midnight Train To Georgia" was written by long-time Pips collaborator, composer Jim Weatherly. It started life as "Midnight Plane To Houston".
The song's poignant lyrics of a journey back home were inspired by 70s celebrity couple "bionic man" Lee Majors and "Charlie's Angel" Farrah Fawcett, who were friends of Weatherly's. Apparently the idea came to him after Farrah told him she was taking the midnight plane from Major's home in Los Angeles to Houston, where her family lived.
 | |
"It was a great song as "Midnight Plane To Houston", but as "Midnight Train To Georgia", it became a great record, and turned out to be a classic." |
The lyrics were famously changed so that plane became train, and the destination of the song's protagonist became Georgia. Singer Cissy Houston had also recorded the song as "Midnight Train to Georgia" but it was Gladys's version that became the best known.
 | |
"I've gotta believe it before I can make you believe it, so how about we do 'Midnight Train to Georgia'?" |
"Midnight Train To Georgia" appeared on Gladys Knight and the Pips' best-selling album Imagination, but wasn't released as a single in the UK until 1976 when it went into the top 10. After their success with Imagination, Gladys and her three Pips –William Guest, Edward Patten and brother, Bubba Knight – went on to work with Curtis Mayfield on the soundtrack for the film, Claudine.
"Midnight Train …" became the band's best-known and loved song – and a tribute to their home state of Georgia, as Pip Bubba Knight explains.
| |
"It's a special, special song to us. We've always wanted to have a song with our home state in it." |
A musician in his own right, writer Weatherly had a hit in the US with an easy listening tune, "The Need To Be" and released a single in the UK, "I'll Still Love You", which failed to reach the charts. His biggest successes were with The Pips - "Midnight Train to Georgia" was just one of three US Top 5 hits from Imagination.
In 1974, "Midnight Train To Georgia" won Gladys Knight and the Pips a Grammy award for Best Rhythm and Blues Vocal Performance By A Duo, Group or Chorus.
| | Test your knowledgeTake the "Midnight Train To Georgia" quiz! |
|
Like this song? Try these...Walk On By
Dionne Warwick
 | | | DON'T MISS | | | |  | | Doves
Special guests on Dermot's show this week
| |
|
|
Full Schedule
Find out more about writing your own songs in our 
Newsletter sign-up