Lucille (Kenny Rogers song)

"Lucille"
Single by Kenny Rogers
from the album Kenny Rogers
B-side	"Till I Get It Right"[1]
Released	January 24, 1977
Format	7" single
Genre	Country
Length	3:42
Label	United Artists
Writer(s)	Roger Bowling Hal Bynum
Producer(s)	Larry Butler
Certification	Gold (RIAA)
Kenny Rogers singles chronology
"Laura (What's He Got That I Ain't Got)" (1976) "Lucille" (1977) "Daytime Friends" (1977)

"Lucille" is a song written by Roger Bowling and Hal Bynum, and recorded by American country music artist Kenny Rogers. It was released in January 1977 as the second and final single from the album Kenny Rogers. The song is about a man in a bar who meets a woman who has left her husband. It became Rogers' first major hit as a solo artist after leaving the successful country/rock group The First Edition the previous year. An international hit, it reached number 1 on the Billboard Country Singles chart and number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[2] Overseas, "Lucille" reached the top of the UK Singles Chart in June 1977,^[3] the first of Rogers' two number one singles there.^[4]

Content

The song, told by the narrator (Rogers), tells the story of a man in a bar in Toledo, Ohio, who acquaints himself with a downhearted married woman named Lucille. An inebriated Lucille admits her unhappiness in life and a longing for adventure. Her husband arrives and approaches her and the intimidated narrator. The brokenhearted husband, starting to shake, scorns her for her inconvenient timing in abandoning him "with four hungry children and a crop in the field," leaving him with a "hurtin'" that refuses to heal. After the husband leaves, Lucille and the narrator make their way to a hotel room. The beautiful woman comes to the narrator, but is blindsided by his odd, sudden change of heart. In his mind, he recalls the recurring haunting words of her husband and feels unable to respond to her advances.

Chart performance

Chart (1977)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	5
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	1
Canadian RPM Top Singles	1
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks	1
UK Singles Chart[3]	1
Irish Singles Chart	2
New Zealand Singles Chart	2
Swiss Singles Chart	3
Australia Singles Chart	7
Austria Top 40	8
Dutch Top 40	17

Cover versions

• In 1977, Tex Lecor covered this song in french under the same title.
• A cover version was recorded by Canadian artist Cœur de pirate, for her 2014 fifth-season soundtrack for the Canadian TV show, Trauma.
• A cover version was recorded by American country music artist Billy Currington on his 2005 Doin' Somethin' Right album.
• A cover version was recorded by American country music artist Waylon Jennings on his 1977 album Ol' Waylon
• A German version, called Musst du jetzt grade gehen, Lucille?, was recorded by Michael Holm on his 1977 album called Poet der Straße.
• A German version, called John Peel, was recorded by Norwegian singer Wencke Myhre on her 1978 album called Album.
• South African singer Ray Dylan recorded a cover on his album Goeie Ou Country - Op Aanvraag.^[5]
• The song was recorded in Spanish (as "El Hombre del Norte") by Juan Pardo.

References

1. Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. pp. 360–361. ISBN 0-89820-177-2.
2. Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition. Record Research. p. 537.
3. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 340. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
4. "Kenny Rogers | Artist". Official Charts. Retrieved 2014-03-28.
5. Ray Dylan (2009-03-01). "Ray Dylan, Goeie Ou Country - Op Aanvraag, CDs, Musica A World awaits - 6005298026996". Musica.co.za. Retrieved 2014-03-28.

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics