The whole thing's got something to do with Stagger Lee. Nick Cave's Stagger Lee is definitely more influenced by Vikki Lawrence than Lloyd Price. Nick It was back in '32 when times were hard He had a Colt forty-five and a deck of cards Stagger Lee He wore rat-drawn shoes and an old stetson hat Had a '28 Ford, had payments on that Stagger Lee His woman threw him out in the ice and snow And told him, "Never ever come back no more." Stagger Lee So he walked through the rain, and he walked through the mud Till he came to a place called The Bucket Of Blood Stagger Lee He said "Mr. Mother****er, you know who I am?" The barkeeper said, "No, and I don't give a good goddamn." To Stagger Lee He said, "Well, bartender, it's plain to see I'm that bad mother****er called Stagger Lee." Mr. Stagger Lee Barkeep said, "Yeah, I've heard your name down the way And I kick mother****ing asses like you every day." Mr Stagger Lee Well, those were the last words that the barkeep said 'Cause Stag put four holes in his mother****ing head Vikki He was on his way home from Candletop. (He'd)Been two weeks gone and he thought he'd stop At Webb's and have him a drink 'fore he went home to her. Andy Wardlow said, "Hello." And he said "Hi, what's doin', Wo?" He said, "Sit down, I got some bad news that's gonna hurt." He said, "I'm your best friend and you know that's right, But your young bride ain't home tonight. Since you been gone she's been seein' that Amos boy, Seth." Well, he got mad 'n' he saw red. And Andy said, "Boy, don'tcha lose your head, 'Cause to tell ya the truth, I been with her myself."
I don't particularly like The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia either, although I am compelled to give it the edge over the aforementioned Dark Lady or Angie Baby (the rest of the "trio of terror" LOL). Due to morbid curiosity (and I think the dictionary definition is right here), I have on occasion (mostly back in the '70s) attempted to listen to the lyrics to decipher what was going on, but it was too convoluted. All I managed to figure out was (i) the hanging judge was sober, he hadn't had a drink; (ii) the only person on the scene missing was the Jack of Hearts
Geez and I thought it was bad when people were discussing the lyrics to Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me for page after page! I shudder to think what's going to happen when we reach Seasons In The Sun.
Ironically, after Ms. Lawrence's time on Bell ran out (either at the point Clive Davis took over or before), she went on to Private Stock. There's a postscript to all this. When her Bell contract ended, the label lost the rights to all her material recorded there (this was apparently something that producer Snuff Garrett negotiated - certainly the rights to her Bell masters reverted to Mr. Garrett), which is why you never saw a "Flashback" reissue of "The Night The Lights..." b/w "He Did With Me" (the follow-up) in the Arista years. A reissue of this, however, did turn up on, of all labels, Soma (of Fendermen "Mule Skinner Blues" and Castaways "Liar, Liar" fame): Apparently, the owners of Soma negotiated directly with Mr. Garrett himself to put this out.
Agree. The Gladys Knight song is so much better. Though I liked The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia when I was a kid, I'm not of the same feeling anymore. It's pretty bad. Yes, the decline has begun...
Here's the chart the last week Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia topped the chart. There's some good songs on there, but it's not that interesting a chart, imo. US Top 40 Singles Week Ending 14th April, 1973 TW LW TITLE –•– Artist (Label)-Weeks on Chart (Peak To Date) 1 1 THE NIGHT THE LIGHTS WENT OUT IN GEORGIA –•– Vicki Lawrence (Bell)-10 (2 weeks at #1) (1) 2 2 NEITHER ONE OF US (Wants To Be the First To Say Goodbye) –•– Gladys Knight and the Pips (Soul)-12 (2) 3 6 TIE A YELLOW RIBBON ROUND THE OLE OAK TREE –•– Dawn Featuring Tony Orlando (Bell)-9 (3) 4 4 AIN’T NO WOMAN (Like the One I Got) –•– The Four Tops (Dunhill)-11 (4) 5 7 SING –•– The Carpenters (A&M)-8 (5) 6 10 THE CISCO KID –•– War (United Artists)-7 (6) 7 8 DANNY’S SONG –•– Anne Murray (Capitol)-15 (7) 8 5 BREAK UP TO MAKE UP –•– The Stylistics (Avco)-10 (5) 9 3 KILLING ME SOFTLY WITH HIS SONG –•– Roberta Flack (Atlantic)-12 (1) 10 11 CALL ME (Come Back Home) –•– Al Green (Hi)-9 (10) 11 14 MASTERPIECE –•– The Temptations (Gordy)-8 (11) 12 20 LITTLE WILLY –•– The Sweet (Bell)-13 (12) 13 16 STIR IT UP –•– Johnny Nash (Epic)-10 (13) 14 9 ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA (2001) –•– Deodato (CTI)-11 (2) 15 18 THE TWELFTH OF NEVER –•– Donny Osmond (MGM)-7 (15) 16 15 SPACE ODDITY –•– David Bowie (RCA)-12 (15) 17 25 YOU ARE THE SUNSHINE OF MY LIFE –•– Stevie Wonder (Tamla)-5 (17) 18 12 LOVE TRAIN –•– The O’Jays (Philadelphia International)-13 (1) 19 24 STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU –•– Stealers Wheel (A&M)-7 (19) 20 23 PEACEFUL –•– Helen Reddy (Capitol)-11 (20) 21 29 DRIFT AWAY –•– Dobie Gray (Decca)-8 (21) 22 17 DEAD SKUNK –•– Loudon Wainwright III (Columbia)-12 (16) 23 13 LAST SONG –•– Edward Bear (Capitol)-18 (3) 24 28 WALK ON THE WILD SIDE –•– Lou Reed (RCA)-9 (24) 25 21 THE COVER OF “ROLLING STONE” –•– Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show (Columbia)-20 (6) 26 31 WILDFLOWER –•– Skylark (Capitol)-9 (26) 27 35 DAISY A DAY –•– Jud Strunk (MGM)-9 (27) 28 22 HUMMINGBIRD –•– Seals and Crofts (Warner Brothers)-13 (20) 29 39 REELING IN THE YEARS –•– Steely Dan (ABC)-6 (29) 30 40 OUT OF THE QUESTION –•– Gilbert O’Sullivan (MAM)-7 (30) 31 19 DUELING BANJOS –•– Deliverance (Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell) (Warner Brothers)-14 (2) 32 37 ONE MAN BAND (Plays All Alone) –•– Ronnie Dyson (Columbia)-9 (32) 33 34 A LETTER TO MYSELF –•– The Chi-Lites (Brunswick)-10 (33) 34 43 HALLELUJAH DAY –•– Jackson 5 (Motown)-5 (34) 35 32 COOK WITH HONEY –•– Judy Collins (Elektra)-10 (32) 36 38 BITTER BAD –•– Melanie (Neighborhood)-9 (36) 37 45 PINBALL WIZARD / SEE ME, FEEL ME (Medley) –•– The New Seekers (Verve)-8 (37) 38 42 STEP BY STEP –•– Joe Simon (Spring)-9 (38) 39 47 FUNKY WORM –•– The Ohio Players (Westbound)-8 (39) 40 44 OH LA DE DA –•– The Staple Singers (Stax)-6 (40) THIS WEEK’S DROPS 44 36 MASTER OF EYES (The Deepness Of Your Eyes) –•– Aretha Franklin (Atlantic)-10 (33) 69 26 AUBREY –•– Bread (Elektra)-11 (15) POWER PLAYS 41 59 FRANKENSTEIN –•– The Edgar Winter Group (Epic)-6 (41) 42 49 “CHERRY CHERRY” FROM HOT AUGUST NIGHT –•– Neil Diamond (MCA)-5 (42) 43 60 THE RIGHT THING TO DO –•– Carly Simon (Elektra)-3 (43) 45 55 HOCUS POCUS –•– Focus (Sire)-7 (45) 46 77 DANIEL –•– Elton John (MCA)-2 (46) 47 51 I’M DOIN’ FINE NOW –•– New York City (Chelsea)-7 (47) 48 41 SUPERMAN –•– Donna Fargo (Dot)-8 (41) 49 56 BLUE SUEDE SHOES –•– Johnny Rivers (United Artists)-5 (49) 50 52 DOWN AND OUT IN NEW YORK CITY –•– James Brown (Polydor)-6 (50) DEBUTS THIS WEEK 73 — MY LOVE –•– Paul McCartney and Wings (Apple)-1 (73) 76 — SUPER FLY MEETS SHAFT –•– John and Ernest (Rainy Wednesday)-1 (76) 80 — STEAMROLLER BLUES / FOOL –•– Elvis Presley (RCA)-1 (80) 82 — RIGHT PLACE WRONG TIME –•– Dr. John (Atco)-1 (82) 84 — CLOSE YOUR EYES –•– Edward Bear (Capitol)-1 (84) 85 — NO MORE MR. NICE GUY –•– Alice Cooper (Warner Brothers)-1 (85) 87 — EVERYTHING’S BEEN CHANGED –•– The 5th Dimension (Bell)-1 (87) 88 — AND I LOVE YOU SO –•– Perry Como (RCA)-1 (88) 90 — I’M GONNA LOVE YOU JUST A LITTLE MORE BABY –•– Barry White (20th Century)-1 (90) 93 — I BEEN WATCHIN’ YOU –•– The South Side Movement (Wand)-1 (93) 95 — FOOL LIKE YOU –•– Tim Moore (Dunhill)-1 (95) 97 — FENCEWALK –•– Mandrill (Polydor)-1 (97) 98 — MR. MAGIC MAN –•– Wilson Pickett (RCA)-1 (98) 100 — FRIEND AND A LOVER –•– The Partridge Family (Starring Shirley Jones and Featuring David Cassidy) (Bell)-1 (100)
What an uninteresting, dull cover for the Vicki Lawrence song. No picture of the artist. No gun. No great design. Nothing. It's like the record label didn't do its homework. US Top 40 Singles Week Ending 14th April, 1973
Bell's schlock years were in the early seventies, before it became Arista. In the sixties, it was a whole nother story. The blue-label Bell era released some fine soul music, as well as rock bands like the Box Tops, Syndicate Of Sound, Crazy Elephant and Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels. After 1970, the company took a hard turn towards disposable AM pop. I'll admit to liking a lot of their 70s hits, in a kitschy, guilty-pleasure kind of way. I would never buy a Lobo album, but my 45 of "Don't Expect Me To Be Your Friend" gets a lotta spins around here...great song.
Legendary singer and harmonica player who fronted the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, a highly influential group that did a lot to bring blues to rock audiences in the sixties. ...but that was from the sixties, when Bell wasn't as milquetoast as they'd become in the seventies. 1970 is where you draw the separation line with Bell. The label had a solid R&B stable that nearly rivaled Atlantic's, but all that was gone by the 70s. Bell did release a lot of different things between 1970-74, but AM Gold was their primary emphasis.
From that same year, I thought "Uneasy Rider" was an easier story song to follow. I was six years old and didn't even know that long hair on men was ever considered offensive.
And it likely wasn't a coincidence that this shift in roster emphasis followed Columbia Pictures' takeover of Bell in 1969.
Popular UK choral group who was big for a minute in the early seventies. You may or may not remember "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing"...
They had the Fifth Dimension for a time, so it wasn't all schlock. It's funny...thinking of the hits Private Stock had, the labels might as well said Bell. But I like his taste in harmless fun music.
Whaddaya know...you're right. I do think it'd have been better without the See Me, Feel Me and Listening To You sections, but still...
Lobo was on the Big Tree label. He was never associated with Bell Records. People like what they like, but it baffles me why the "serious" music fans are discussing top 40 hits when they know what that usually consts of.
