Lucille

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Lucille
Kenny Rogers
publication January 24, 1977
length 3:42
Genre (s) Country music
Author (s) Roger Bowling , Hal Bynum
Award (s) Golden record
album Kenny Rogers

Lucille is a ballad by the American country musician Kenny Rogers . The country ballad was released in January 1977 and received a gold record in June 1977, among other awards . It is considered to be the song that founded the later success of Rogers.

content

The country ballad Lucille , played in 6/8 time , is about a woman who takes off her wedding ring in a shabby bar in Toledo , Ohio, and is then approached and flirted with a strange man, the first-person narrator. A short time later, her husband, described as a "guy like a mountain" with calloused hands, enters the bar. Contrary to expectations, he just sits down at the bar and starts shaking and crying. He speaks the words:

"You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille, with four hungry children and a crop in the field."

“Four hungry children are waiting at home, the harvest has to be brought in. Do you have to leave us right now, Lucille? "

- Kenny Rogers : Lucille

He says they've had good times and bad - but this time his pain will probably never end.

Later the woman ends up with her new acquaintance in a shabby hotel room. The man's advances are uncomfortable because he constantly has to think about the husband's words and therefore cannot sleep with her.

background

Kenny Rogers' mother was named Lucille. As Rogers explained, his mother initially complained about the same name because she feared that she would be associated with Lucille's behavior in the song and that she would suffer commercial disadvantages as a result.

Rogers later said that he first heard the chorus line quoted above from a deeply injured man on a small local radio program on a station near Tulsa in 1958 . He himself had helped an uncle with the harvest there. The incredible sadness in the speaker's voice made him remember the phrase for almost two decades before finally proposing it as a song theme to his songwriters Roger Bowling and Hal Bynum.

Publication and Success

The song was released on January 24, 1977 as the second and final single from the album Kenny Rogers . It was his first number one hit as a solo artist, having left country / rock band The First Edition the previous year .

In June 1977 Rogers received a gold record for one million singles sold and subsequently awards and Grammys from almost all established country organizations.

reception

Bettina Granegger from Country Music News sees the song's secret of success as being based, among other things, on the fact that the main character of the song is not portrayed as a strong man, but rather as a vulnerable person who reveals weaknesses. In Die Presse, Samir H. Köck came to the conclusion that the song particularly appealed to the international petty bourgeoisie. Roger's sentimental, somewhat scratchy baritone, combined with the motif of renouncing sexual intercourse at the end of the ballad, met with great approval from this audience, who usually "liked to heroize". Marko Langer described the song on Deutsche Welle as "heartbreaking" and "from the middle of American country life". Rogers paved the way for generations of American singers with such songs.

Chart placements

Charts Top ranking Weeks
Chart placements
Germany (GfK) Germany (GfK) 10 (27 weeks) 27
Austria (Ö3) Austria (Ö3) 8th (24 weeks) 24
Switzerland (IFPI) Switzerland (IFPI) 3 (13 weeks) 13
United Kingdom (OCC) United Kingdom (OCC) 1 (14 weeks) 14th
United States (Billboard) United States (Billboard) 5 (19 weeks) 19th

Cover versions

There are numerous cover versions of the song . Waylon Jennings had a version as early as 1977 . In the following years there were reinterpretations of the song in numerous countries around the world. The timeliness of the song can also be seen in the fact that Billy Currington released it on his album Doin 'Somethin' Right in 2005.

Michael Holms German version Do you have to go now, Lucille? 1977 describes what is happening in the bar, but does not show the action in the hotel room.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Samir H. Köck: Kenny Rogers, a woman's favorite for town and country in the press of March 21, 2020
  2. ↑ Translation taken over by Alan Posener : The truth of his songs was too much for most Germans , world of March 21, 2020
  3. ↑ a b Alan Posener : The truth of his songs was too much for most Germans , Welt Online from March 21, 2020
  4. ↑ Martin Chilton: Kenny Rogers: 10 best songs, from Lady to Lucille in The Telegraph of March 21, 2020
  5. ↑ a b c d Bettina Granegger: 40 years ago Kenny Rogers received gold for Lucille , countrymusicnews.de, June 22, 2017
  6. ^ Joel Whitburn : The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition. , Record Research, 2004, p. 537.
  7. ↑ Marko Langer: Kenny Rogers, The Sound of America , Deutsche Welle, March 21, 2020
  8. ↑ a b c d e Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US