John Legend Shares Cover of Ray Charles’ “Georgia On My Mind” In Celebration Of The State Of Georgia Turning Blue For Biden

John Legend shared an cappella version of him singing part of Ray Charles’ “Georgia on My Mind” on Twitter at about 4:30 a.m. Nov. 6 after the state of Georgia turned blue in the 2020 presidential election. The state has not elected a Democrat for president in almost three decades, when it voted for former president Bill Clinton. 

“Georgia on My Mind” is a 1930 song written by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell, but is often associated with Ray Charles, a native of Georgia. He recorded the song for his 1960 album The Genius Hits the Road. In 1979, Georgia designated Charles’ version of the song as the official state song. In 2003, Rolling Stone named Charles’ version the 44th greatest song of all time. Willie Nelson also recorded a version of the song on his 1978 album Stardust. 

Legend recorded himself sitting and singing a soft, heart-filled version of the song and posted it to Twitter to celebrate Georgia turning blue for Biden. 

Former Georgia Representative Stacey Abrams, who was on the list to be considered as Joe Biden’s vice president, has largely been credited with Georgia’s flip to supporting Biden, according to The New York Times. Celebrities, voters and activists celebrated her for building a network of organizations to take on voter suppression in Georgia and for inspiring about 800,000 Georgia residents to register to vote.  

As the presidential election continues to drag on with Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Alaska still not reporting final results, slew of musicians have been reacting to the election online. Phoebe Bridgers retweeted a clip uplodated by one Twitter user showing Michigan and Wisconsin turning blue to the tune of The 1975’s “Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America,” which features her vocals. Several memorable moments from the election have also been remixed into songs. 

On Nov. 4, Kanye West conceded his presidential campaign after earning around 60,000 votes in the twelve states where he appeared on the ballot. West was excluded from the ballots in his home state of Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio and West Virginia and failed to meet ballot requirements in Virginia, Arizona and South Carolina ahead of their deadline.