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Here is a 30 second clip of one of Ray Charles' live performances of his magnum opus "Georgia on my Mind." It was not this exact version, but an extremely similar recording that was the first song to ever make me cry. I remember distinctly riding back to Houston from San Antonio on a bus, late at night coming from a drum recital, this song came on as I had my head between my knees and was about to nod off. The song was familiar to me, at least enough to be among the music on my iPod, but when Ray hit that high note I felt like I was hearing it, and music in general really, for the first time. One thing from the video that stuck out to me was the way that Charles moves as if the song is prying its way out of his soul and directly into his hands and just how blind musicians may differ from sighted ones in terms of their ability to perform live. I would love to dive into this piece of music that still remains so tender to me, and especially this 30 second clip of it, in order to find what exactly provoked such an emotional response from me at age 15. I know that the undeniably unique, saxophone-esque timbre of Charles' voice, and his incredibly earnest phrasing will no doubt prove to mount a touchstone that warrants revisiting time and time again (at least for me). I'm looking forward to this more than I probably should, but I honestly cannot wait to begin working on this.
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