Rewinding: Gladys Knight's 'Midnight Train To Georgia'

Gladys Knight and The Pips. (She reminds me of Kelly Rowland) Deep down, I wanted to be born during the Motown era and experience all the music fresh right off the radio. I find this musical time sentimentally inspiring. There was this knack for perfection vocals and perfection melodies where faults were hard to be found. This song possesses such natural soul, but with timeless ease that it’s really soothing. Gladys provide a voice which wasn’t too extravagant and extreme, but could still left listeners in awe. She had great pitch, great vocal dynamics, she meant every note she sang and she had a genuine touch to her personality that gave me such warmth and comfort. Lyrically, you also felt a realistic element that any age can relate to. The song left a space for listeners to interpret their own personal connection to it, which here it could be about the sacrifice for love in having to move somewhere or finding comfort in having to face rejection when following your dreams. When a song can be interpreted in many spheres that in 2011 you can still find true value in it, iconic is the only word.

The Pips were also a colorful addition. They provided a cutesy quality to the song and I love the idea of having men backing up a female singer. There’s such feminine empowerment going on for me. Gladys and The Pips had great vocal runs and adlibs when exchanging to each other during the latter part of the song where you felt The Pips gave the spotlight to Gladys’ singing, but there moves at the back were still pretty comical and legendary. I also bow down to them for making my eyes fixated on their performance the whole time when it was done on simple TV show set with no marketing or million dollar hair and make-up, which in today’s world every televised performance has to be done through pyrotechnics and explosions, which is where the core value of music is greatly lost and questions where true talent lies.

I think that sometime we associate this era too much with Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, Lionel Riche and Stevie Wonder, and give them ultimate praise, which isn’t wrong because they were legendary and paid their dues, but it’s singers like Gladys and Al Green who I feel should receive a bit more recognition for contributing such great tunes for us to all cherish. This was when music meant something more profoundly and not based on going to the club and tries to get laid. This was when music left an imprint on people’s lives.