I know that the song sung by Vicki Lawrence preceded the film. But what I want to know is whether the phrase "the night the lights went out in Georgia" existed before the song was written. I don't suppose there was really a night that the lights went out in Georgia!
It's such an iconic phrase now (just check out the 2nd episode of "Designing Women" and you'll see what I mean!) and I just wondered if it all came from just that original song.
Thanks in advance!
Excellent question! It's a rather obscure phrase to be absorbed in pop culture, and I've always though the chorus of the song doesn't completely fit the verses leading up to it.
I assume the "lights" that went out referred to the execution of an innocent man, as opposed to a power failure. I had never heard that phrase before I heard the song, and it seems like every time I've heard the phrase since has been in reference to the song. So I suspect the songwriters just embedded themselves in popular culture, much like the Starland Vocal Band did with "Afternoon Delight."
But if anyone else has any theories, I'd love to hear them.
I think that's the allusion. However, if it refers to the electric chair, it's contradictory to then turn around and say "That's the night that they hung an innocent man." Unless in that case, it's taken figuratively. I wouldn't think too hard about it, or your head will hurt. (I mean, why "fire a shot just to flag him down?")
shareIndeed, you'd think flashing the headlights at the "big-bellied sheriff" would have been enough to flag the patrol down. As for whether "hung" is literal or figurative, it seems to me it should be "hanged" in either case. If the brother was hung, that's a completely different topic unrelated to execution.
I wonder: Do songwriters spend as much time choosing their words as we spend debating them?
Best IMDB thread ever!
shareIt *should* be "hanged." I swear, whenever I sing the Vicky Lawrence song, I cannot help singing "hanged"!
shareRight. It wouldn't have hurt the song at all to make it grammatical, in terms of both rhyme and meter. In fact, it would be a better song because the grammar nerds wouldn't cringe.
Bad grammar in pop songs is one of my pet peeves. I think the worst offender is Wings' "Live and Let Die": "And if this ever-changing world in which we live in ..." Why could they have just made it "in which we're living"?
in which we live in
*Shudder.* That's as bad as "where are you at?" (And I don't mean in the cute, N'Awlins yat dialect way, I mean from those who have no excuse. I want to scream "Where implies the preposition!!!! 'At' is redundant!!")
That said, although I know "hung" is wrong in that context and I cannot help singing the proper term--the fact is, the kind of down-home character who sings the song, a country girl who avenges her brother with a gun, would never, ever say hanged--she'd say hung. But it still makes me cringe :) I always chide my friends (they put up with a lot from me) "PICTURES are hung; PEOPLE are hanged."
Whenever I read a book that takes place in the South and a hanging is referenced, it seems the characters say "hung" instead of "hanged." So I guess it's just a rural thing. Like saying "deers" instead of "deer."
share[deleted]
What are you talking about first off Hung is past tense which is correct in the song. Second you are forgetting it's Georgia their talking about which in the south.
shareWhen you're talking about people, the correct term is hanged, especially since the events in the song take place at least 40 years ago. (Some more modern dictionaries list both hanged and hung as correct.) The lyric should read "they hanged an innocent man." (For everything else--laundry, pictures, whatever, yes, the past tense is hung, but for people it's hanged.)
What do Georgia or the South have to do with it? The same rules of grammar apply there as everywhere else. (If you mean that because they're rural, they may be less educated and therefore less likely to know the proper term, I see your point, but that has nothing particular to do with Georgia or the South.)
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The big laugh that I am getting from this whole thread is the fact that the Vicki Lawrence/Reba McEntire version of the song that you are all referring to here is NOT the theme song to this movie. It is the same tune, but not the same lyrics. Tanya Tucker sang the theme to the movie and the story of that song follows along more the plot of the film. I am not saying that wondering about the phrase is an interesting notion, but the two (that song and this movie) are very different. If you want to hear the movie version, you can find it on You Tube when you look up the movie title.
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Indeed, you'd think flashing the headlights at the "big-bellied sheriff" would have been enough to flag the patrol down. As for whether "hung" is literal or figurative, it seems to me it should be "hanged" in either case. If the brother was hung, that's a completely different topic unrelated to execution.
I wonder: Do songwriters spend as much time choosing their words as we spend debating them?
WarpedRecord, that is quite possibly the greatest post ever made in the history of IMDb.
If IMDb had a contest for Best Post Ever, I would nominate yours for it.
And I agree, this is a most excellent thread. I first clicked on it because I originally thought it was a real "duh" question, but when I read the O.P.'s explanation of her question, it then made perfect sense to me, and I am eager to find out what the ultimate answer/consensus is. (I've only begun to read this thread now.)
Oh, and by the way, to answer your question: No, we don't. Which is half the fun of writing songs to begin with. :)
Why thank you, symph0natic, thankyouverymuch!
I've spent a lifetime trying to make sense of lyrics to pop songs, and I shall continue my quest until I find one that actually makes sense!
I just posted the lyrics (as I understand them) on the Music board. I've never heard this saying other than in reference to the song. Yes, it should be "hang" and not "hung," but there are plenty of songs that are grammatically incorrect. I'm a bit of a Grammar Nazi in real life, but when it comes to songs I don't care. There is something called colloquial English acceptable in music and literature. In the original he probably "fired a shot" because they couldn't see him walking through the woods. Also, I've never heard anyone say "deers" instead of "deer" here, and my rather backwoods Georgia relatives have shot (and stuffed and hung, or is it hanged?) many a deer. Now, I have heard "beers" instead of "beer," but that was in Boston. Hmmm... rednecks in Boston?
The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia
They were on their way to a shinin' star
unspoken affection took 'em this far
somewhere south of Nashville, but never quite there.
Sure as heaven is up above
it was a case of sister and brotherly love,
and watchin' dreams come undone didn't seem quite fair.
Turnin' back toward the Georgia line
leavin' all their hopes behind
somethin' happened and sister got caught in-between.
Her big brother had crossed the line,
this young thing made him lose his mind.
Whatever else was lost remains to be seen.
That's the night that the lights went out in Georgia,
and the star they wished on fell in Tennessee.
That's the night that the lights went out in Georgia
'cause what is meant to be will always be.
In the backwoods ??? tales were told
of the night two bodies did unfold
enough to give big brother a reason to stay.
Little sister, she gave it up
said, "folk are folks, and that's enough
tell the truth big brother, just stick to my ways."
That's the night that the lights went out in Georgia,
and the star they wished on fell in Tennessee.
That's the night that the lights went out in Georgia
'cause what is meant to be will always be.
Well, the Georgia Patrol was sittin' still
in a parkin' lot by a coup de ville
where the little sister saw 'em and startin' wonderin' why.
Big brother ran from his hotel room
slightly chilled and surely doomed
as little sister looked on and started to cry.
That's the night that the lights went out in Georgia,
and the star they wished on fell in Tennessee.
That's the night that the lights went out in Georgia
'cause what is meant to be will always be. [repeat]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZCEUlMacyk&feature=related
"Norma...please...paint something cool today." - Mrs. Bronson
There is something called colloquial English acceptable in music and literature.
Its refers to a major power outage in GA . I remember hearing about it on the news back when I was a youngin'. lol. There was something special about that night, it may have been that everyone behaved as opposed to the mass plundering and thievery that occured during the LA fires.
Fortezza
Do you know when this big blackout was? It's strange that the song isn't about a power failure at all.
shareidk I was about 8yrs old at the time.
Fortezza
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I thought the phrase "the lights went out in Georgia" had to do with the Great Macon Tobacco Shortage of '68. It was horrible. Kids were selling butts they found on the side of the road for a dollar a piece.
shareIn Dennis Quaid's imdb biography it says he wrote the song...something I didn't know until a couple minutes ago.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000598/bio
"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing." -
Socrates
Well, you can unlearn that now because the song was written by Bobby Russell. Dennis did write a few songs for the movie, but not that one.
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