The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia

Album

Welcome Interstate Managers

Label

Bell Records

Genre

Country pop

Composer(s)

Bobby Russell

Entered Chart

Feb 10, 1973

Peak Date

Apr 7, 1973

Released

7 November 1972

Recorded

October 24–26, 1972

Catalog #

Bell 45303

This song tells the tale of a man who finds out from his friend Andy that his wife had cheated on him with both Andy and a guy named Seth. This being Georgia, he gets a gun and sets out to kill Andy, but when he gets there Andy is already dead. The police show up, arrest him for killing Andy and he is hanged. The singer then reveals that she is the man's sister and that she shot Andy and also killed her brother's wife. This was the only hit for Lawrence. She was an actress on The Carol Burnett Show and starred in Mama's Family. She briefly had her own talk show, called Vicki! This was written by Bobby Russell, who was Lawrence's husband at the time. They divorced soon after this was released. Russell also wrote "Honey," which was a hit in 1968 for Bobby Goldsboro. He died of a heart attack in 1992. Russell didn't think much of this song when he wrote it, and couldn't find anyone to record it. Lawrence liked it and recorded a demo of it. Producer Snuff Garrett decided she should do the song and recorded it with her. This was offered to Cher, but Sonny Bono thought it would offend Cher's Southern fans and turned it down on her behalf. Cher didn't know until years later that she was offered the song. The song was the basis for a movie of the same name in 1981 starring Kristy McNichol. The version used for the soundtrack was sung by Tanya Tucker and has alternate lyrics to fit the plot of the film. Reba McEntire recorded a version in 1991 that was a Country hit. In her version of the song, she uses the word "Daddy" instead of "Papa," >> In the 2003 Malcolm In The Middle episode "Kicked Out," Gretchen (Meagen Fay) sings a partly German-language rendition of this while her nephew plays the piano. This is referenced in the 1992 Quentin Tarantino film Reservoir Dogs when Nice Guy Eddie (Chris Penn) talks about the song's twist ending. He says: "I'm listening to it this morning, and this is the first time I ever realized that the girl singin' the song is the one who shot Andy."

He was on his way home from Candletop.
(He'd)Been two weeks gone and he thought he'd stop
At Webb's and have him a drink 'fore he went home to her.
Andy Wardlow said, "Hello."
And he said "Hi, what's doin', Wo?"
He said, "Sit down, I got some bad news that's gonna hurt."
He said, "I'm your best friend and you know that's right,
But your young bride ain't home tonight.
Since you been gone she's been seein' that aimless boy, Seth."
Well, he got mad 'n' he saw red.
And Andy said, "Boy, don'tcha lose your head,
'Cause to tell ya the truth, I been with her myself."

[Chorus]
That's the night that the lights went out in Georgia.
That's the night that they hung an innocent man.
Well, don't trust your soul to no backwoods Southern lawyer
'Cause the judge in the town's got blood stains on his hands.

Well, Andy got scared and left the bar
(And went) Walkin' on home 'cause he didn't live far.
(You) See, Andy didn't have many friends and he'd just lost him one.
(And) Brother thought his wife must'a left town,
So he went home and finally found
The only thing Papa had left him, and that was a gun.
And he went off to Andy's house,
Slippin' through the backwoods quiet as a mouse--
Came upon some tracks too small for Andy to make.
He looked through the screen at the back-porch door,
And he saw Andy lyin' on the floor
In a puddle of blood. And he started to shake.

Well, the Georgia Patrol was a'makin' their rounds,
So he fired a shot just to flag 'em down,
And a big-bellied sheriff grabbed his gun and said, "Why'd ya do it?"
And the judge said, "Guilty," in a make-believe trial,
Slapped the sheriff on the back with a smile,
And said, "Supper's waitin' at home and I gotta get to it."

[Chorus]

Well, they hung my brother before I could say
That the tracks he saw while on his way
To Andy's house, out back, that night were mine.
And his cheatin' wife had never left town;
And that's one body that'll never be found!
See, little sister don't miss when she aims her gun.

That's the night that the lights went out in Georgia.
Oh-oh-aah
That's the night that they hung an innocent man.
Ah-huh-unh
Well, don't trust your soul to no backwoods Southern lawyer

'Cause the judge in the town's got blood stains on his hands.