About The Song
“Midnight Train to Georgia” later arrived into Gladys Knights’ hands when Weatherly’s publisher passed the song along to the legendary R&B group. The band had just left Motown Records and signed a deal with Buddah Records. 1973’s Imaginations was their first for the new venture, and “Georgia” only their second single there. Quite noticeably, the song landed in very capable hands, and Knight injects the story with a more polished, soulful mood.
“I wanted an Al Green thing going, you know? Something moody, with a little ride to it. I’ve always liked my tracks full: horns, keyboards, and other instruments to create texture and spark something in me,” Knight expressed to the Wall Street Journal in 2013. “While recording that single, I was thinking about my own situation. My husband at the time was a beautiful saxophonist, and so gifted, but he was unhappy that we didn’t have a more traditional marriage, because I was often on the road or recording. Ultimately, it all proved too much for him, like the song said, and we divorced later, in ‘73.”
In her 1998 biography “Between Each Line of Pain and Glory,” Knight expressed how “Midnight Train to Georgia” was “the first song in a long time that felt like it belonged to us,” she wrote. “Our fans must have agreed; it is still selling.”
“He kept dreamin’ / Oh that someday he’d be a star,” she sings, truly digging deep for the emotional punch. “But he sure found out the hard way / That dreams don’t always come true.”
Gladys Knight & the Pips took the song to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Hot Soul Singles chart. Later, it won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus.
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Lyrics
L.A proved too much for the man
(Too much for the man)
(He couldn’t make it)
So, he’s leaving the life he’s come to know, oh
He said he’s going back to find
(Going back to find)
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 (leaving on a midnight train)
Hmm, yeah
Said he’s going back (going back to find)
To a simpler place and time (and when he takes that ride)
Oh yes, he is (guess who’s gonna sit right by his side)
And I’ll be with him (I know you will)
On that midnight train to Georgia
(Leaving on a midnight train to Georgia)
I’d rather live in his world (live in his world)
Than live without him in mine (world, world)
(It’s his, his and hers alone)
He kept dreaming
(Dreaming)
Oh, that someday 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 (dreams don’t always come true)
Oh no (uh-uh, no, uh-uh)
So he hung all his hopes
And he even sold his own car, hmm
Bought a one way ticket back
To the life that he once knew
Oh yes he did
He said he would
I know he’s leaving (leaving)
On that midnight train to Georgia (leaving on a midnight train)
Hmm, yeah
Said he’s going back to find, oh (going back to find)
A simpler place and time (and when he takes that ride)
(Guess who’s gonna sit right by his side)
And, I’m gonna be with him (I know you will)
On that midnight train to Georgia
(Leaving on the midnight train to Georgia)
I’d rather live in his world (live in his world)
Than live without him in mine (world, world)
(It’s his, his and hers alone)
Oh, he’s leaving
(Leaving)
On a midnight train to Georgia
(Leaving on a midnight train)
Yeah, oh yo
Said he’s going back to find
(Going back to find)
Oh, a simpler place and time (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)
I’d rather live in his world (live in his world)
Than live without him in mine (world, world)
(Is his, his and hers alone)
one love
(All aboard) all aboard
A midnight train to ride
(One love) one love
(All aboard) all aboard
Gotta go on the midnight train to go (midnight train to go)
(One love) one love
(All aboard) all aboard
Aha, the midnight train to go (midnight train to go)
My world (one love)
His world (all aboard)
Our world, mine and his alone (midnight train to go)
My world (one love)
His world (all aboard)
Our world, mine and his alone (midnight train to go)
I’ve got to go (one love)
I’ve got to go (all abroad)
I’ve got to go (midnight train to go)
Hey
I’ve got to go (one love)
I’ve got to go (all abroad)
(Midnight train to go)
My world (one love)
His world (all aboard)
My man, his girl
I’ve got to go, I’ve got go
I’ve got to go