As the election came down to Pennsylvania and Georgia last night I Googled for YouTube videos of Georgia On My Mind. I wasn't the only one. Every video had comments about the election in the comments.
I found an old audio classic of Ray Charles:
And a concert video:
Of course it is Ray Charles who is most associated with the song. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine named the Ray Charles version of "Georgia on My Mind" the 44th greatest song of all time. His version is the official state song of Georgia. He decided to record this song after his driver suggested it. He kept singing it while riding in the car. Charles was born in Albany, Georgia. His family moved to Florida when he was still a baby but he still literally can be called a son of Georgia.
It is daring when any other singer sings it, especially in a concert. Usher, who makes Atlanta his home, did this in 2016 with Michelle and Barack Obama in the audience. Now that is audacious.
As I listened and watched this my eyes welled up with tears, and when they cut to Michelle and Barack for a mere second they started streaming down my face. This represents America as it should be, black and white together.
Here’s a very different version by the great Billie Holiday, and one from croner Dean Martin.
It turns out that The Ray Charles Foundation has permitted The Lincoln Project to use him singing “America” in the background:
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Once the dust has settled and Biden has been officially declared the winner all eyes will turn to who controls the Senate, which means that if both Republican David Perdue and Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Raphael Warnock are engaged a runoff election which would be held on January 5th they will have to decide how much campaigning they should do alone and how much together.
Regardless of what they decide to do about solo vs. joint campaigning, I think they should try to open their rallies with Stacey Abrams and with Usher singing “Georgia On My Mind” and “America” whenever possible.
While Usher isn’t literally a native son of George having been born in Dallas, Texas, and moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, he finally moved to Atlanta at the age of 14. His mother put him in local music competitions until A&R noticed him and the rest is music history. He has maintained his position as one of the very top musical artists of the modern era.
I have little doubt that Usher would enthusiastically help out with this most crucial election. Consider:
Usher wears 'Don't Trump America' jacket to BET Awards
and this:
If, as we hope, Perdue is forced into a runoff, control of the legislative agenda will depend on whether Georgia sends two Democrats to the Senate.
You can be certain that Democratic Party star power will be helping them. Georgia’s own Stacey Abrams will be omnipresent and I anticipate that Barack and Michelle Obama will make appearances as well.
Joe Biden had Lady Gaga and other A list singers. Ossoff and Warnock hopefully will have Usher.
To say that Usher is well known and well liked in Georgia is an understatement. He is their adopted native son. Even his mom is famous:
Usher’s mom to open J’s Kitchen Culinary Incubator in the spring
Usher's New Look is a non-profit organization founded by Usher in 1999, with the help of his mother Jonetta Patton. The organization is aimed at improving the lives of disadvantaged children and adolescents.
I anticipate, and truly hope, that both Stacey Abrams with the stem-winder of a speech we know she can deliver and Usher will be omnipresent in the campaign for control of the Senate.
If you haven’t already, watch the video of him singing “Georgia On My Mind” and the Lincoln Project ad as see if you agree that Usher can sing these two songs as anthems of the campaign for control of the Senate.
The word exhaustion hardly describes how we all feel but fate if anything can be fickle.
We put so much into the effort to defenestrate Donald, now we have to make sure we emasculate Mitch.
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