29 Black Music Milestones: Ray Charles' 'Georgia' Becomes State Song. While the song Georgia On My Mind had been around for thirty years when Ray Charles -- at the suggestion of his driver -- learned the words and recorded it in 1960, it wasn't until the piano man sang the tune that it became a hit... and the official Georgia state song. On March 7, 1979, Georgia On My Mind became Georgia's state song. To celebrate the moment, Charles was invited to perform it for state legislators, their wives and children at the state capital building in Atlanta.