# Dissecting "The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia" Lyrics **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 28, 2008, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissecting-the-night-the-lights-went-out-in-georgia-lyrics/461497 "2008-08-28T01:18:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissecting-the-night-the-lights-went-out-in-georgia-lyrics/461497/21 "2008-08-28T14:26:18Z")
//hijack// OOOH, speaking of murder ballads, [look](http://www.amazon.com/People-Warning-Ballads-Disaster-1913-1938/dp/B000ULQV20/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1219933450&sr=8-1) what I got for my birthday! //return// ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissecting-the-night-the-lights-went-out-in-georgia-lyrics/461497/22 "2008-08-28T14:28:53Z")
Another mystery: Sis plugs Andy and the cheating wife, but what ever happens to that Amos boy, Seth? PS: Did anyone else on first hearing the song think the line sounded like “Andy Warhol said hello” and wondered why the hell they’d use that name? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissecting-the-night-the-lights-went-out-in-georgia-lyrics/461497/23 "2008-08-28T14:42:46Z")
wait… Amos and Andy? never noticed that before ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissecting-the-night-the-lights-went-out-in-georgia-lyrics/461497/24 "2008-08-28T15:08:47Z")
I will re-post my thoughts from the last time we discussed this song in [November 2006](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=397282&highlight=night+lights+Georgia): I think the hanged brother’s name is Seth, not the Amos boy. Andy is saying, “Hey Seth, you’re wife’s been cheatin’ with the Amos boy.” So the cast of characters includes: 1. Seth 2. Seth’s wife, who cheats on him at least once, and maybe twice 3. Andy Wolloe, Seth’s friend, who sleeps with (2) while (1) is out of town 4. Seth’s sister, who kills (2) and (3), allows (1) to be hanged for the crime, and narrates the song. 5. The mysterious Amos boy, mentioned once and forgotten. Andy’s style of confession is very peculiar. The husband of his lover returns from out of town, and he makes it a point to tell him that his wife has been cheating . . . but he tries to pin it on the Amos boy. Why? To deflect attention from himself? As a trial balloon to see how Seth reacts? Is it even true about the Amos boy? One suspects not. At any rate, when Seth gets really pissed, then Andy tells him that his wife has “also” been cheating with himself. This is odd. Is he suddenly concerned for the hapless Amos boy? Does he think Seth will back off just because Andy is his friend? “Oh well, no point in offing the Amos boy, since she’s also been humping my friend, and I can’t off him.” Given that the rather ruthless narrator, who “don’t miss when she aims her gun”, never mentions the Amos boy again, I’d say that part of Andy’s story is a fabrication. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissecting-the-night-the-lights-went-out-in-georgia-lyrics/461497/25 "2008-08-28T16:31:53Z")
[QUOTE=Sigmagirl] //hijack// OOOH, speaking of murder ballads, [look](http://www.amazon.com/People-Warning-Ballads-Disaster-1913-1938/dp/B000ULQV20/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1219933450&sr=8-1) what I got for my birthday! //return// [/QUOTE] I glanced at the track listing for that and this jumped out at me: 1. Wreck Of the Old 97 Skillet Lickers I spent a few seconds wondering how 97 Skillet Lickers would get into a wreck before I realized that none of the track listings had any dividing mark between the title and the artist. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissecting-the-night-the-lights-went-out-in-georgia-lyrics/461497/26 "2008-08-28T17:09:32Z")
“97 skillet lickers” sounds like some spam i’ve been getting lately. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissecting-the-night-the-lights-went-out-in-georgia-lyrics/461497/27 "2008-08-28T17:25:17Z")
Heh. Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers are ur-country, on the Bristol Sessions, whence Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissecting-the-night-the-lights-went-out-in-georgia-lyrics/461497/28 "2008-08-28T21:21:48Z")
Before looking too deeply into this song’s lyrics, don’t forget it was written by Vicki Lawrence’s husband at the time, Bobby Russell, who was also responsible for Little Green Apples and Saturday Morning Confusion. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissecting-the-night-the-lights-went-out-in-georgia-lyrics/461497/29 "2008-08-28T22:45:54Z")
Wait a minute – “Amos” and “Andy”? ---
**Author:** ![SSG\_Schwartz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SSG\_Schwartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSG_Schwartz)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissecting-the-night-the-lights-went-out-in-georgia-lyrics/461497/30 "2013-04-05T04:01:56Z")
> [@The\_Punkyova](#): > > The power outage is because when the brother is electrocuted, the power drawn to the chair causes the other lights in town to dim/go out. > > This isn’t accurate, but it’s a common enough trope. I suspect it originated in old prison movies, where dimming the lights in the rest of the prison was an easy shorthand for “condemned man just died.” I know enough not to poke Zombies, but I just figured this out. If there was power in that part of GA at the time of the shooting, little sister would have been seen going to Andy’s house. It would have also left enough house lights on for the brother to be seen showing up late to the murder. If all the lights in town are off, you can’t be sure who was in the house at the time of the killing. SFC Schwartz ---
**Author:** ![johnnymalibu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/848f3c/32.png) [@johnnymalibu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnnymalibu)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissecting-the-night-the-lights-went-out-in-georgia-lyrics/461497/31 "2016-01-27T22:11:44Z")
Well this hasn’t been replied to in years but the song popped in my head and I thought I would give my two cents. First, calling him “that Amos boy” is like saying them Duke boys Bo and Luke from Hazzard. It just implies he’s from that family. The bar I am almost certain is Webbs. Andys last name may be Wollos. It kinda sounds like Wuornos, like serial killer Eileen Wuornos. The chorus , I believe is symbolic, not literal. The lights going out is life leaving his body when hanged, similar to the saying “knock someones lights out”. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissecting-the-night-the-lights-went-out-in-georgia-lyrics/461497/32 "2016-01-27T22:26:09Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Dave Barry says he was once on a program with Vicki Lawrence, and took the opportunity to ask her backstage what the song was about. She said she had no idea. > Right. Well, her freaking husband WROTE the song, so why didn’t she just ask him? Besides which, even in Georgia, nobody was getting hanged for murder in 1973, much less hanged the very night of his “make believe” trial. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissecting-the-night-the-lights-went-out-in-georgia-lyrics/461497/33 "2016-01-28T16:01:16Z")
> [@johnnymalibu](#): > > Well this hasn’t been replied to in years but the song popped in my head and I thought I would give my two cents. First, calling him “that Amos boy” is like saying them Duke boys Bo and Luke from Hazzard. It just implies he’s from that family. The bar I am almost certain is Webbs. Andys last name may be Wollos. It kinda sounds like Wuornos, like serial killer Eileen Wuornos. The chorus , I believe is symbolic, not literal. The lights going out is life leaving his body when hanged, similar to the saying “knock someones lights out”. Just chiming in to say I agree with this, especially the last part. Also, I don’t know why Vicki Lawrence is so confused about the song’s meaning. Seems pretty cut and dried to me, Andy’s ill conceived confession notwithstanding. I wish wacky songs like this were still popular. I’m sure they still are on country music stations but back when this was popular you’d hear it on any one of the three available AM stations and it was apt to be preceded by \*Seasons in the Sun \*or followed by _Stairway to Heaven_. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissecting-the-night-the-lights-went-out-in-georgia-lyrics/461497/34 "2016-01-28T18:05:29Z")
Am I the only nerd compelled to sing “the night they hanged an innocent man”? ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissecting-the-night-the-lights-went-out-in-georgia-lyrics/461497/35 "2016-01-28T21:26:27Z")
The narrator blames the judge for railroading her brother, and the defense attorney for allowing it, but in my opinion, the brother probably confessed to the crime, in order to protect his sister. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissecting-the-night-the-lights-went-out-in-georgia-lyrics/461497/36 "2016-01-28T21:30:58Z")
They hung her brother before she could say what she did because, I don’t know, her nails were drying or something. There’s enough blame to go around. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissecting-the-night-the-lights-went-out-in-georgia-lyrics/461497/37 "2016-01-28T23:15:32Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > The narrator blames the judge for railroading her brother, and the defense attorney for allowing it, but in my opinion, the brother probably confessed to the crime, in order to protect his sister. He probably felt he was guilty at least by intent. He had after all gone home, got his gun, and gone to Andy’s house. It seems pretty clear he was planning on killing Andy and the only thing that stopped him was his sister had already killed him. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissecting-the-night-the-lights-went-out-in-georgia-lyrics/461497/38 "2016-01-28T23:38:31Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > They hung her brother before she could say what she did because, I don’t know, her nails were drying or something. There’s enough blame to go around. She was out of town burying his wife’s body. That lyric as sung by Vicki makes the hairs on my arms raise every time. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissecting-the-night-the-lights-went-out-in-georgia-lyrics/461497/39 "2016-01-29T00:08:12Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Am I the only nerd compelled to sing “the night they hanged an innocent man”? They said he was hung! ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissecting-the-night-the-lights-went-out-in-georgia-lyrics/461497/40 "2016-01-29T00:31:12Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > They said he was hung! Not well enough to keep his wife at home. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissecting-the-night-the-lights-went-out-in-georgia-lyrics/461497.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissecting-the-night-the-lights-went-out-in-georgia-lyrics/461497.md?page=3)