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"Lucille" is a song written by Roger Bowling and
Hal Bynum Harold L. Bynum (September 29, 1934 – June 2, 2022) was an American songwriter associated with the Outlaw country movement in the 1970s. Bynum wrote more than 200 songs for popular country artists, including Kenny Rogers (" Lucille"), Patty ...
, and recorded by American
country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
artist
Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted mo ...
. It was released in January 1977 as the second and final single from the album ''
Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted mo ...
''. 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 Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sa ...
chart and number 5 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Overseas, "Lucille" reached the top of the
UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
in June 1977, the first of Rogers' two number 1 singles there.


Content

The song, told by the narrator (Rogers), tells the story of a man in a bar in
Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Ohio, Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnat ...
, who acquaints himself with a downhearted married woman named Lucille. An inebriated Lucille admits her unhappiness in life and her longing for adventure. Her husband arrives and approaches the two; the narrator is intimidated by the man. The brokenhearted husband, starting to shake, scorns her for her inconvenient timing in abandoning him "with 4 hungry children and a crop in the field", leaving him with a " hurtin' " that won't heal. After the husband leaves, Lucille and the narrator make their way to a hotel room. Once there, however, the narrator is unable to engage romantically, in spite of her willingness and her beauty. He keeps recalling the husband's haunting words.


Chart performance


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


References

{{authority control UK Singles Chart number-one singles 1977 singles 1977 songs Kenny Rogers songs Waylon Jennings songs Billy Currington songs Songs written by Roger Bowling (songwriter) Songs written by Hal Bynum Song recordings produced by Larry Butler (producer) RPM Top Singles number-one singles United Artists Records singles Number-one singles in South Africa