Last week when Rob’s brother gave me goose bumps when he sang Georgia on my Mind, I recalled a question posed to me a while back by The Quietly Sinister Linda, one of the Usual Suspects. She asked, “Is that song about the state, or is it about a woman named ‘Georgia’?”

I immediately answered, “Of course, it’s about the state,” but then she suggested that I consider the lyrics. When I did so, I was less sure about my knee-jerk response, and now I admit to not knowing the answer.

Pointing out that Georgia on my Mind is the official song of the State of Georgia doesn’t answer the question. This is so, because Georgia on my Mind became the state song in 1979, but Stuart Gorrell wrote the lyrics to Hoagy Carmichael’s beautiful melody forty-nine years earlier.

In addition, we typically don’t hear all the lyrics. The lyrics that one customarily associates with the tune (e.g. Ray Charles’, Willie Nelson’s, and Billie Holiday’s versions) consist of only the refrain.

Georgia, Georgia, the whole day through

Just an old sweet song keeps Georgia on my mind.

Georgia, Georgia, a song of you
Comes as sweet and clear as moonlight through the pines.
Other arms reach out to me

Other eyes smile tenderly
Still in peaceful dreams I see
The road leads back to you.
Georgia, Georgia, no peace I find
Just an old sweet song keeps Georgia on my mind.

To me, the words of the refrain, taken at face value, could either refer to the State or to a woman, no?

The version, adopted by the Georgia State Legislature (which presumably is the version actually penned by Stuart Gorrell) contains a verse (in italics) before the refrain.

Melodies bring memories
That linger in my heart

Make me think of Georgia
Why did we ever part?
Some sweet day when blossoms fall

And all the world’s a song
I’ll go back to Georgia
‘Cause that’s where I belong

Georgia, Georgia, the whole day through

Just an old sweet song keeps Georgia on my mind.

Georgia, Georgia, a song of you
Comes as sweet and clear as moonlight through the pines.
Other arms reach out to me
Other eyes smile tenderly
Still in peaceful dreams I see
The road leads back to you.
Georgia, Georgia, no peace I find
Just an old sweet song keeps Georgia on my mind.

It seems to me that the words to the not-often-sung verse likewise do not provide an answer to the question.

I’m stumped.

Last fall in Helen, Georgia at the Blogtoberfest, I posed the question to my friend “Georgia,” who lives in the State of Georgia (and who also attended the recent drunken brawl “Georgia Writers Workshop”). She instantly replied, “The State of Georgia is a woman.”

I kinda like that answer.

Waddya think?