Midnight Train to Georgia

Memories are funny, aren't they? You find them like Easter eggs, hidden all over the place, in smells, colors, songs, and in a flash you're transported somewhere else entirely. In high school, that's how I crafted my mix tapes. Each song was a personal Easter egg, that would whisk me to a specific place or a time in my life.

"Midnight Train to Georgia" by Gladys Knight and the Pips is a very powerful memory-inducing song for me. I heard it on my drive home tonight. It's one of those songs that when I chance to find it on the radio, I literally throw a fist in the air in glee. (Really. I spend too much time with my car radio.) "Midnight Train" leads me through a number of memories, as this particular song has been woven in the my life for a long time.

We used to listen to Gladys Knight and the Pip's Greatest Hits on tape on car trips when we were kids. (For the record, I also love the song, "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me," which was at the end of one of the sides of the cassette.) My mother used to turn it up when it got to "Midnight Train," and we'd crowd up to the front of the minivan and sing along at the top of our lungs.

Although my brother, sister, and I love the song, we cannot sing it very well. Which we learned on a family cruise, when the three of us got up to sing it at karaoke night on the ship. Wow were we off tune. We laughed throughout it, after we completely fumbled the first couple of lines. That was a fun trip.

This song takes me all throughout my memory. I love that. Did you hear any good songs today?

Comments

[Mar]

That is a fabulous song! I in fact remember my own (possibly drink-ehanced) karaoke experience with this song except it may have involved me co-opting some stranger's rendition of it by trying to add some harmony. If I recall, she was not amused. Oops. But when the song moves you...!

[blue girl]

I am a HUGE Gladys Knight fan. Huge. I love her voice so much.

Midnight Train to Georgia is a great song as is You're the Best Thing that Ever Happened to Me. Neither One of Us (Wants to be the First to Say Goodbye) is another awesome song. So sad! One of those sad songs that I could just wallow in for hours on end.

And yes, I did hear a good song today on my way to get a haircut. Heard Blue Sky by the Allman Brothers. Do you know it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEC5s3nzVzo

You're my blue sky
You're my sunny day
Lord you know
It makes me high
When you turn your love my way
Turn your love my way, yeah

Turned down a couple of side streets to drag out my drive a bit so I could hear the whole song. :)