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 in 1973 by Vicki Lawrence; Reba McEntire later covered it in 1991.

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

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. This dialogue foreshadows the ending of the film, as Eddie (played by Chris Penn) is shot and killed following a Mexican stand off, though the quickness of the scene leaves some question as to who exactly did it. Careful examination of the scene reveals that Mr. White, whose real name is Larry (short for Lawrence), was actually the one who shot Nice Guy Eddie. Whether this was intentional or coincidental is unknown.

The song was a number-one one-hit wonder for Lawrence, then a regular on The Carol Burnett Show, 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, "Delta Dawn." "Delta Dawn" was originally recorded by country star Tanya Tucker in 1973 and became a number one hit for Helen Reddy.)

[edit] 1991 cover by Reba McEntire

"The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" enjoyed a renewed push in popularity in 1991, when country music singer Reba McEntire released her own version of the song. The song, included on McEntire's For My Broken Heart album, hit #12 on Billboard magazine's Hot Country Songs 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 — April 14, 1973

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