Talk:The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia

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The article says that the sister "let her brother be executed" but the song lyrics say "They hung my brother before I could say, that the tracks he saw while on his way to Andys house that night were mine." Which I would say means that the narrator wanted to turn herself in. I'll see what you guys think before I change it. LeNoir679 (talk) 16:29, 12 May 2008 (UTC)


Page to be moved because of capitalisation problem, but the latter name was edited separately... jnothman talk 12:01, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

Here's something I can't figure out. When a prisoner is executed in the electric chair, it supposedly requires so much electricity that lights go out all over the state. But the narrator's brother was hanged for Andy's murder, not electrocuted. Why would the lights go out if he was hanged? -- Pacholeknbnj, 11:45 AM EDT, April 14, 2006

Unfortunately for you, this is a page for discussing the article, not the song itself. Sorry ... If we find a web page that meets reliability criteria and discusses such things, we could certainly add it at the end. :) Lawikitejana 00:14, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

"Here's something I can't figure out. When a prisoner is executed in the electric chair, it supposedly requires so much electricity that lights go out all over the state. But the narrator's brother was hanged for Andy's murder, not electrocuted. Why would the lights go out if he was hanged? -- Pacholeknbnj" HA! I asked myself the same question back in 1973. The Night the Lights Went Out is figurative - the lights of justice going out. Not a literal power grid black out. Well, that's my wife says, anyway... - Guest —Preceding unsigned comment added by 151.207.246.4 (talk) 17:01, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] One thought about "The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia"

It has always struck me as odd that this song has always been performed by white country singers. Isn't it fairly obvioius that this song is about a lynching? It takes place in the deep south, and it's about a man who is railroaded by cops and a judge who literally try him and convict him in a matter of hours, without any kind of jury, and then take him out and hang him as soon as the trial is over. What is that if it isn't a lynching? This song became popular in the 1970s. Was there any history at that time, or in the decades preceding it, of white men being lynched in the deep south? Has anyone else ever wondered about this?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 163.192.21.44 (talk) 12:36, 10 June 2008 (UTC)