Sweet Georgia Brown

From Wikipedia:

“Sweet Georgia Brown” is a jazz standard and pop tune written in 1925 by Ben Bernie and Maceo Pinkard (music) and Kenneth Casey (lyrics).

Reportedly Ben Bernie came up with the concept for the song’s lyrics – although he is not the accredited lyricist – after meeting Dr. George Thaddeus Brown in New York City: Dr. Brown, a longtime member of the State House of Representatives for Georgia, told Bernie about Dr. Brown’s daughter Georgia Brown and how subsequent to the baby girl’s birth on August 11, 1911 the Georgia General Assembly had issued a declaration that she was to be named Georgia after the state, an anecdote which would be directly referenced by the song’s lyric: “Georgia claimed her – Georgia named her.”

The tune was first recorded on March 19, 1925 by bandleader Ben Bernie, resulting in a five-week No. 1 for Ben Bernie and his Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra. […]

The song was covered by The Beatles while working as a backup band for singer Tony Sheridan. Two versions exist; the first was recorded on May 24, 1962 in Hamburg, Germany, using the original lyrics. The second (but the first version released) was released in 1964 during the wave of Beatlemania, with Sheridan having re-recorded the vocals with notably more tame lyrics featuring the added verse “in Liverpool she even dares / to criticise the Beatles’ hair / with their whole fan-club standing there / oh Sweet Georgia Brown.” Recently, bootleggers have utilized the two recordings to produce an instrumental featuring only the Beatles’ instruments and backup vocals, entirely eliminating Sheridan. Roy Young played the piano.

Officially appears on

Live performances

Paul McCartney has never played this song in concert.