What's the story behind Reba McEntire's song "The night the lights went out in Georgia"?

Question

I just don't get that song.. talking about her brother.. and she cheated.. why does the judge have blood stains on his hands? who was the innocent man hung? why did the lights in georgia go off?

Answer 1

OK the brother was out of town for awhile. When he came back his friend let him know what his new wife had been up to, namely cheating on him. The friend say hey don't get too mad cause I'm just trying to let you know, and to be honest I have been with her myself. So simple part there is that this woman has been running around. The people he mentions never really specifies of a connection. So the brother goes home and is enraged. He goes back home to get teh only thing that their father left him and that was a gun. He plans to kill his friend out of rage. Well he goes to his friends house and when he gets there he finds his buddy is already dead. Sees the sheirff going by so he fires a shot to get his attention, as the song says just to flag him down. Well it works sort of. The cop comes up and says why'd you do it. I mean all the evidence on the scene says that the brother killed the friend. Rather then investigate they just take him in and give him a "make-believe" trial. In other words he walks in already guilty. Nothing he can say will get the Judge to say otherwise, as this is an easy to solve murder. Makes the Judge and Sheirff look good at the next election. Well what they didn't know was that the sister killed the friend. The new wife will never be found as the sister killed her as well and hid the body. The brother was on the way there and she didn't get a chance to hide that body is the likely backround to that. The night the lights went out in Georgia is a metaphor. The innocent man was her brother. The Judge KNEW there was no investigation and didn't care, hence he has blood on his hands. He was part of the crime of killing HER BROTHER. The idea of don't trust your soul to a backwoods Southern Lawyer is also a refrence to there being no trial. Even though the brother was innocent his Judge couldn't do anything to help him.
OK to the goof who says that the wife is killed in retaliation learn to listen and understand. She said that she never had the chance to tell the brother that it was her who went there, and his cheating wife NEVER LEFT TOWN and that's one body that will never be found see little sis don't miss when she aims a gun. She killed the new wife BEFORE killing Andy. The brother finding the footprints means they were likely fresh, meaning she was likely going to hide Andy's body as well had her brother not started there.

Answer 2

http://www.webfitz.com/lyrics/Lyrics/1973/111973.html

Reading the song you can follow the story. The song was originally done by Vikki Lawrence. Her brother's wife cheated on him. Andy said he had been with her. Her bother went off to Andy's house looking for his wife and saw that Andy was dead. Then the patrol man came up and say him standing there and arrested him for Andy's murder even though he didn't do it. His sister had killed Andy and his cheating wife and hid his wife's body. The Night the Lights went out in Georgia was also a movie made in 1981.

AND IT IS NOT A TRUE STORY. It has nothing to do with Reba. She just sang the song. You have singers and then you have songwriters.

Answer 3

Vicky Lawrence, who was on the Carol Burnett show (and later on Mama's Family), recorded the song in 1973 - it was written by her husband Bobby Russell.
From what I remember, Lawrence said that her husband came up with the phrase "The Night that the Lights went out in Georgia" after hearing some newscaster talking about someone being executed in Georgia's electric chair. From that phrase, he decided to write a song.
There's no actual case here - Russell just thought of having a sister exact revenge and feeling guilty after her brother was killed for the crime she committed, and wrote the song fairly quickly.

The story in the song is that a man arrives home to find his wife having an affair. He finds out that his wife also had an affair with Andy, his best friend. The guy goes to get his gun to kill Andy, but finds that Andy has already been killed. After "firing a shot" to alert a passing Patrol car, they arrest him for the crime. He was wrongly convicted and hung for the crime. - His sister killed both Andy and her brother's wife.

The words don't always make sense, but they add to the eerie story - and it gave Vicky Lawrence a surprise number one hit. Reba McIntyre had a hit with her cover and video in 1992.

Answer 4

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What's the story behind Reba McEntire's song "The night the lights went out in Georgia"?
I just don't get that song.. talking about her brother.. and she cheated.. why does the judge have blood stains on his hands? who was the innocent man hung? why did the lights in georgia go off?

Answer 5

Hi there! Reba McEntire is my favorite singer, and this is probably one of my favorite songs of hers. Anyway, the innocent man hung was her brother because he took the blame for her shooting. The lights went out in Georgia because that is when the whole story takes place, as soon as her husband and his lover turned out the lights. You should see the video, it is awesome, they age Reba by 40 years. =)

Answer 6

This song actually came from a true story. Reba is singing from a third party view of the story. Her brother came home and found his wife cheating on him. Someone killed the man she was cheating with and the murder was pinned on her husband. The judge sentenced hin to death and they hung him.Reba, in retaliation, goes back and kills his wife, and buries her body. That was the night that the lights went out in Georgia.

Answer 7

This is a song originally sung by Vikki Lawrence of the old Carol Burnett show. it was written by her husband and she had a hit with it in the 1970's. It is supposed to be about corruption in a small Georgia town.

Answer 8

the lights going out represent that justice was not done, that people turned away from the injustice, they didn't look at it, so they could deny the truth

the judge has bloodstains on his hands is also symbolic - he knew the man was innocent, that he, as a judge could stop the miscarriage of justice, but didn't.

sorry, i don't remember the song well enough for the other part of the question.

Answer 9

Vickie Lawrence sang this tune originally. She was the lady that played "Mama" on Mama's Family back in the early 80's.

Answer 10

It's a cover anyway.
Vicki Lawrence, "Mama" on "Mama's Family," had a hit with it in the early 70's.