Your mournful ’70’s soul song of the day is Brook Benton’s “Rainy Night in Georgia.” This big hit went to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, #1 on the Best Selling Soul Singles chart, and #2 on the Adult Contemporary chart in the spring of 1970. It was a big comeback for Mr. Benton, who had a string of hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including “It’s Just a Matter of Time,” “Endlessly,” “Thank You, Pretty Baby,” “So Many Ways,” “A Rockin’ Good Way (To Mess Around and Fall In Love),” “Kiddio,” “Think Twice,” “The Boll Weevil Song,” “Revenge,” “Hotel Happiness,” and “Baby (You’ve Got What It Takes)” with Dinah Washington, but nothing big since 1965 or so.
“Rainy Night in Georgia” was written (in 1967) by Tony Joe White, who you might better know for his 1968 hit “Polk Salad Annie,” which went to #8 on the Hot 100. “Rainy Night in Georgia” was one of the first songs he wrote, after he had moved to Texas, about the many rainy nights he spent while living with his sister in Marietta, Georgia. He used to drive a dump truck for for the highway department and when it rained, he got to stay home and play guitar. He also ate a lot of polk salad, apparently.
“Rainy Night in Georgia” was recorded at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida, with Arif Mardin producing. Musicians on the track included Cornell Dupree and Jimmy O’Rourke on guitar, Billy Carter on organ, Dave Crawford on piano, Harold Cowart on bass, Tubby Ziegler on drums, and the legendary Toots Thielemans on harmonica. It’s a mournful song about a lonely man and his guitar walking through the rain, missing his woman. It’s a rainy night in Georgia, the lyrics say, and he feels like it’s rainin’ all over the world. Mr. Benton really sells it with his soulful baritone. It was a classic from the minute it was released.
Brook Benton logged a total of 49 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, including 8 in the top ten. He released a few more records after “Rainy Night” but didn’t have any more big hits. After suffering a bout of spinal meningitis, he died of pneumonia in 1988, aged 56. He was just 38 when he made his comeback with “Rainy Night in Georgia,” even though he sounds older, more world weary, than his years suggest.
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