Reba McEntire’s “The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia” was originally written by Bobby Russell, who did not think much of it because he deemed the song flat. Thankfully, Bobby was married to actress Vicki Lawrence, or “Mama” from Mama’s Family, and she took it up.
Vicki, a Golden Globe nominee, recorded the song in 1973, making it the only music of her career. Contrary to Bobby’s thoughts, “The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia” topped the charts while divorced, making it the most impactful outcome of their union.
Reba remade ‘The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia’ before Bobby’s death
A year before Bobby died, Reba got permission to do a cover as she loves long-style ballads like that. Before that, Cher was offered the opportunity; however, her then-husband, Sonny Bono, prevented its recording for fear of the song’s connotations upsetting her Southern fans.
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Like the original, Reba’s cover was a success among country music lovers, and it made a comeback last year during the trial of disgraced South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh. Gen-Z TikTok users started a trend by emphasizing the line from the song that says, “Well, don’t trust your soul to no backwoods Southern lawyer.”
More to the song
The song tells the story of a man who came home from a two-week trip only to find out from his best friend that his wife had been cheating on him with “that Amos boy, Seth.” To make things worse, the friend Andy Wo-Lo had been with his wife as well, so he made out to murder Andy.
On getting to Andy’s, the man “came upon some tracks too small for Andy to make” and found his friend dead on the floor. Out of fear, he shot in the air to alert the Georgia Patrol nearby but was arrested in the murderer’s place. Sadly, he was declared guilty and sentenced to death by hanging.