The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia

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This article refers to the 1973-song. For the 1981 movie with the same title, see The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia (film).

"The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" is a song by songwriter Bobby Russell and performed by Vicki Lawrence.

Released in 1973, it is about a man called Seth who meets his best friend Andy in a bar called Webs for a drink after a two week trip. Andy reveals that Seth's wife has been cheating on him with another man, whose last name is Amos. Andy also reveals that he has "been with her(Seth's wife) himself." Later that evening, Seth gets his gun and goes to Andy's house to kill him, but finds that someone has already killed Andy. The police arrive after Seth shoots his gun to catch their attention and Seth is arrested at the scene, is tried, and wrongly hanged. The narrator then reveals that she is Seth's sister and was the one who shot Andy, and killed her brother's wife.

In the 1992 film Reservoir Dogs, Nice Guy Eddie tells that he recently heard the song and for the first time realized that Vicki Lawrence is the one who shot Andy.

The song was a number-one one-hit wonder for Lawrence on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, and also reached the top forty of Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart. "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" was first offered to Cher, but her then-husband and manager Sonny Bono reportedly turned it down (he was said to be concerned that the song might offend Cher's southern fans).^[1] (A year and a half later, Cher would have similar bad luck in turning down another song that would be a number-one hit, this time for Helen Reddy, "Delta Dawn.")

[edit] 1992 cover by Reba McEntire

"The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" enjoyed a renewed push in popularity in 1992, when country music singer Reba McEntire released her own version of the song. The song, included on McEntire's 1991 For My Broken Heart album, hit the top fifteen of Billboard magazine's Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart; the song also had a hit music video, which has seen extensive airplay on The Nashville Network, GAC, and CMT.

Preceded by: "Killing Me Softly with His Song" by Roberta Flack

Billboard Hot 100 number one single (Vicki Lawrence version) April 7, 1973

Succeeded by: "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Ole Oak Tree" by Dawn featuring Tony Orlando