Voting Station

Jim Weatherly

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Songwriter

The Resume

    (March 17, 1943-February 3, 2021)
    Born in Pontotoc, Mississippi
    Singer/songwriter
    Recorded the single ‘The Need To Be’ (1974)
    Wrote ‘Midnight Train to Georgia,’ ‘Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye), ‘Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me,’ and ‘Where Peaceful Waters Flow,’ which were hit singles for Gladys Knight and the Pips

Why he might be annoying:

    He was a one-hit wonder as a performer.
    His most famous song started as ‘Midnight Plane to Houston’ until singer Cissy Houston (in a pre-Gladys Knight cover) asked if she could change ‘Plane’ to ‘Train’ and ‘Houston’ to ‘Georgia.’
    As part of her tribute to him, Knight said, ’Neither One of Us’ and ‘Midnight Train’ – I remember him getting his Grammys for those.’ Except he never won a Grammy. (And he did not even get a nomination for ‘Neither One of Us.’)

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was the starting quarterback on the University of Mississippi team that won the SEC title (1963).
    He entertained troops in Vietnam as a supporting act to Nancy Sinatra.
    He won a landmark royalties suit against Universal Music Group, in which the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals effectively struck down contractual limits that allowed artists to only challenge the previous one or two years, ruling ‘A defendant cannot hinder the plaintiff's discovery through misrepresentation and then fault the plaintiff for failing to investigate.’ (2002)
    He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (2014).
    Nashville music publisher Charlie Monk said, ‘He probably was one of the top five most talented songwriters to ever drop into this town.’

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 95 Votes: 54.74% Annoying