Talk:The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia

Ownership of Song

During a performance at Casino Rama, Viki Lawrence related that it was while she and her husband were splitting up, that she discovered the song headed foe the trash bin, and asked if she could have it, if he were throwing it out.Suzanne 16:17, 12 July 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by YrHelperInfonut (talk • contribs)

Intent of Narrator?

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 Move

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

Title?

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)

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)

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 obvious 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)

No, it isn't all obvious that the song is about a lynching. 24.16.177.215 (talk) —Preceding undated comment was added at 07:53, 10 December 2008 (UTC).

In my opinion, this was not a "lynching" in a historical sense, but more of a "kangaroo court". IMHO a lynching is what is portrayed in media as a mob or even a 'emotional posse' that takes on the rolls of investigator, judge, jury, and executioner all as one continuous action rather than separating the functions into different groups to help keep logic and due process in tact. Jack (talk) 13:33, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

Historical

I have wondered is this a literary work or a revamping of a mostly historical set of events. If so, I would like to see historical reference in the article. If it could not be supported with citations, please put it on this page, marked appropriately, of course. To me this seems like it could be a plausible real event documented in song.

I could see this kind of event as happening in the '60s and '70s era (yes, I am old enough to remember them first hand) Jack (talk) 13:40, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

Whose analysis?

Whose analysis is the "plot of song" section? It seems a tad OR. --jpgordon^{::==( o )} 01:49, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

Reservoir Dogs

Isn't the mention of it in Reservoir dogs worthy of mention in "Cultural References"?

"lyrical interpretation"

This section was tagged as unsourced because it was unsourced. It was tagged as original research because it likely was someone's interpretation of what the song is about. Whether that "someone" was one editor here or several dozen editors here is immaterial. The lyrics of the song are a primary source. Interpretation of primary sources is original research. It is woefully easy to misinterpret songs. - SummerPhD^v2.0 04:29, 8 February 2017 (UTC)

Musical structure

Is this in 4/4 time or what? 2600:6C67:1C00:5F7E:BD44:8D7F:7C84:BF33 (talk) 01:53, 31 October 2022 (UTC)