South (composition)

{{about|the 1924 jazz composition|other uses|South (disambiguation)}}

"South" is a jazz composition by Thamon Hayes and Bennie Moten.William Emmett Studwell and Mark Baldin: The Big Band Reader: Songs Favored by Swing Era Orchestras and Other Popular Ensembles. Haworth Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7890-0914-5}}. p.222 It was introduced by Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra in 1924 and recorded again in 1928, when it became a national hit.{{cite book |title=Jazz in Its Time |url=https://archive.org/details/jazzinitstime00will |url-access=registration |last=Williams |first=Martin |year=1991 |publisher=Oxford University Press US |isbn=0-19-506904-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/jazzinitstime00will/page/164 164]}} It was Moten's most popular composition.Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra and Stephen Thomas Erlewine: All Music Guide to Jazz: The Definitive Guide to Jazz Music. Backbeat Books, 2002. {{ISBN|0-87930-717-X}}. p. 917

Originally an instrumental piece, Ray Charles (a pseudonym for Charles Carpenter) later wrote lyrics for the tune.