"The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" is a Southern Gothic murder ballad, written in 1972 by songwriter Bobby Russell and first recorded by his then wife, singer, comedian, and actress Vicki Lawrence. Lawrence's version, from her 1973 album of the same name, went to number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart after its release. Of several cover versions, the one recorded by Reba McEntire for her 1991 album For My Broken Heart peaked at number 12 on the Hot Country Songs chart. Content The unnamed female narrator tells about how her unnamed brother was hanged for a crime he didn't actually commit (although he had intended to do it): Returning home from a two-week trip to a place called Candletop, a man identified only as "Brother" stops for a drink at Webb's Bar before going home to his wife. While at the bar, he encounters his friend Andy Wolloe, who informs him that while he was gone his bride/wife was having an affair with "that Amos boy, Seth", and then admits that he himself had been with her as well. A now-angry Brother abruptly leaves the bar, and a frightened Andy makes his way home. Assuming his absent wife has left town, Brother goes home and finds the only thing his father had left him, a gun. Brother then makes his way through the backwoods to Andy's house. On the way there, he notices a set of footprints leading to and from the house, but they are not big enough to have been made by Andy. Arriving at his back door, the man finds Andy inside lying dead on the floor from a gunshot. In a panic, Brother fires a shot in the air to get the attention of the police, only to find himself arrested for Andy's murder. In a show trial, the judge wastes little time declaring Brother guilty and sentences him to death by hanging, which is carried out in short order. The story wraps up as the narrator reveals that she is the sister of the "innocent man" and that it was her footprints that Brother saw on his way to Andy's house. She then confesses that she had not only killed Andy, but her brother’s adulterous wife as well, disposing of the latter's body where she is certain nobody will ever find it, saying "That's one body that'll never be found,"