The other day, for some reason, Midnight Train to Georgia came in my head.
I was only familiar with this song through that Will & Grace episode where they sing with Sandra Bernhard. Now, in that episode, they get super into the song and it looks like a whole lot of fun. So I thought this was some awesome song with little train sounds and such. But no!
I downloaded it on iTunes and actually listened to the song the whole way through for the first time.
This song is devastating!
So, to me, there is nothing sadder than someone not fulfilling their dreams. (This is why I often grasp the wrong morals of movies or root for the “wrong” people. While many people are rooting for love, I’m just rooting for people’s careers to flourish.) It breaks my heart when people’s dreams come to a halt.
So, I’m listening to this wildly heartbreaking song.
“L.A. proved too much for the man…” It talks about how he couldn’t make it out here. He sold everything he has just to go back to the life he once knew. (And you just know that when he gets back to Georgia, it’ll never be the same to him… That life he once knew will not be the same one he goes back to.)
When Gladys Knight sings that “dreams don’t always come true,” I was ready to just sob. (Okay, I sobbed a bit upon multiple listenings of the song.)
Then, if it’s not bad enough that this man is totally giving up and going back to Georgia with his tail between his legs – the woman would rather live in his world than live without him in hers?!
Is that or is that not the most devastating thing you’ve ever heard sung?
Don’t give up your whole life for some man – who, by the way, is totally giving up on his own life! HEART BREAKING.
I feel like I’m pretty sure I can never perform this song at karaoke or a cabaret or anything like that because I think it’s maybe supposed to be a fun song, maybe? (I mean, I don’t see how it possibly can be. But the beat’s fun and some people perform it in a fun manner.) But if I ever perform it anywhere, I will do it with tears in my eyes, probably writhing around the floor in pain midway through the song.