The track Georgia On My Mind from Annie Lennox’s new album Nostalgia is now available to download from iTunes.

On Annie’s own website she questions whether Georgia is actually a person or a place.

The song was written in 1930 by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell . Although it is frequently asserted that the lyrics were written not about the state of Georgia, but rather for Carmichael’s sister, Georgia Carmichael, Hoagy Carmichael himself contradicted this view with his recounting of the origin of the song in his second autobiography Sometimes I Wonder.

Carmichael wrote that the song was composed when bandleader Frankie Trumbauer’s suggested that he write about the state of Georgia. According to Carmichael, Trumbauer also suggested the opening lyrics should be “Georgia, Georgia …”, with the remaining lyrics coming from Gorell. Carmichael made no mention at all of his sister in his telling of the song’s genesis.[3]

The song was first recorded on September 15, 1930, in New York by Hoagy Carmichael and His Orchestra with Bix Beiderbecke on muted cornet and Hoagy Carmichael on vocals. It featured Eddie Lang on guitar. The recording was part of Beiderbecke’s last recording session.[4] The recording was released as Victor 23013 with “One Night in Havana”. In 2014, the recording was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame.