City Lights (Bill Anderson song)
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| “City Lights” | ||
|---|---|---|
| Single by Ray Price | ||
| A-side | "City Lights" | |
| B-side | "Invitation to the Blues" | |
| Released | June 1958 (U.S.) | |
| Format | 7" | |
| Recorded | May 29, 1958 | |
| Genre | Country | |
| Length | 2:59 | |
| Label | Columbia Records 41191 | |
| Writer(s) | Bill Anderson | |
| “City Lights” | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Mickey Gilley from the album City Lights |
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| Released | November 1974 (U.S.) | ||||
| Format | 7" | ||||
| Recorded | 1974 | ||||
| Genre | Country | ||||
| Length | 2:48 | ||||
| Label | Playboy Records 6015 | ||||
| Writer(s) | Bill Anderson | ||||
| Mickey Gilley singles chronology | |||||
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"City Lights" is an American country music song written by Bill Anderson, and twice became a No. 1 hit — once in the 1950s and again in the 1970s.
Ray Price recorded the original version in 1958, with his version becoming a long-running No. 1 hit later that year. Up-and-coming country artist Mickey Gilley recorded a cover version in 1974, and his version also became a No. 1 hit early in 1975.
Contents |
[edit] About the song
For Anderson, "City Lights" represented one of the Atlanta, Georgia native's earliest major successes. He wrote the song in when he was just 19, and it was picked up by Price in the spring of 1958, at the time country music's predominant honky-tonk singer and stylist.
According to country music historian Bill Malone, "City Lights" documents the theme of prsonal isolation and "the estrangement of the individual in a world of urban anonymity." Price's "hard, lonesome vocal" and Texas suffle beat (the styling hallmarks of his recordings from the mid 1950s through early 1960s) were prominent on his rendition.[1]
Released in June 1958, Price's version of "City Lights" stalled at No. 2 on the Billboard magazine Most Played C&W by Disc Jockeys chart later that summer. When Billboard introduced its all-encompassing chart for country music (it was called "Hot C&W Sides") on October 20, "City Lights" was the new chart's first No. 1 song. It remained atop the chart for 13 weeks, its last week coming on January 12, 1959. All told, the song spent 34 weeks on the chart.
[edit] Mickey Gilley cover version
Several artists have covered Anderson's "City Lights" through the years. The most successful of these versions was by Mickey Gilley, an up-and-coming artist who had successfully covered country standards by George Morgan ("Room Full of Roses") and Carl Smith ("I Overlooked an Orchid"). Gilley continued to enjoy his run of success, taking his piano-backed honky-tonk rendition to No. 1 in February 1975, his third chart-topper in a row.
Anderson recorded his own version of the song, with additional cover recordings by Jerry Lee Lewis, Debbie Reynolds, Connie Smith, Rick Trevino, Conway Twitty and Dottie West.[2]
[edit] Succecssion
[edit] Ray Price version
| Preceded by "Bird Dog" by Everly Brothers |
Billboard Hot C&W Sides number one single by Ray Price October 20, 1958-January 12, 1959 |
Succeeded by "Billy Bayou" by Jim Reeves |
[edit] Mickey Gilley version
| Preceded by "(I'd Be) A Legend in My Time" by Ronnie Milsap |
Billboard Hot Country Singles number one single by Mickey Gilley February 1, 1975 |
Succeeded by "Then Who Am I" by Charley Pride |
[edit] Sources
[edit] References
- ^ Malone, Bill, "The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Country Music" ((booklet included with The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Country Music 8-volume set). Smithsonian Institution, 1981).
- ^ [1] "City Lights" at All Music Guide.
[edit] See also
- Whitburn, Joel, "Top Country Songs: 1944-2005," 2006.
- Whitburn, Joel, "Top Pop Singles: 1955-2006," 2007.
