“Georgia on My Mind,” most often associated with the singer Ray Charles, was the answer to a clue Friday on Jeopardy! during an appearance by Atlanta guest-host Sanjay Gupta.
The question came during Final Jeopardy, the last question of the show. The clue was “Written in 1930, this song was a No. 1 hit in 1960 & was covered by The Band to support a 1976 presidential candidate.”
None of the three contestants guessed correctly, “What is ‘Georgia On My Mind’?” Gupta mentioned that the candidate was Jimmy Carter.
The song was played during Carter’s campaign against then-President Gerald Ford. In 1979, It became the official state song of Georgia, while Carter was president and also was used for a long time in a video montage on Georgia Public Broadcasting.
A blog post on the blog Don’t Forget the Songs 365 reports The Band performed the song on Saturday Night Live shortly before Carter beat Ford that November.
The AJC’s Melissa Ruggieri reported that Willie Nelson also sang the song for Carter during his 2002 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.
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