City Lights (Ray Price song)

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"City Lights"
Single by Bill Anderson
B-side "No Song to Sing"
Released1958 (1958)
Recorded1957
Studio University of Georgia
Genre Country [1]
Label TNT
Songwriter(s) Bill Anderson
Producer(s) Bob Ritter
Bill Anderson singles chronology
"Take Me"
(1957)
"City Lights"
(1958)
"That's What It's Like to Be Lonesome"
(1958)
"City Lights"
Single by Ray Price
B-side "Invitation to the Blues"
ReleasedJune 1958 (U.S.)
RecordedMay 29, 1958
Genre Country
Length2:59
Label Columbia
Songwriter(s) Bill Anderson
Ray Price singles chronology
"Curtain in the Window"
(1957)
"City Lights"
(1958)
"That's What It's Like to Be Lonesome"
(1958)
"City Lights"
Single by Mickey Gilley
from the album City Lights
B-side "Fraulein"
ReleasedNovember 1974 (U.S.)
Recorded 1974
Genre Country
Length2:48
Label Playboy 6015
Songwriter(s) Bill Anderson
Producer(s) Eddie Kilroy
Mickey Gilley singles chronology
"I Overlooked an Orchid"
(1974)
"City Lights"
(1974)
"Window Up Above"
(1975)

"City Lights" is an American country music song written by Bill Anderson on August 27, 1957. He recorded it on a small Texas label called TNT Records in early 1958 to little acclaim. The song was first cut by Anderson in 1957 at the campus of the University of Georgia. In June 1958, Ray Price recorded it and his version hit number 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs singles chart in August 1958. Mickey Gilley's version also hit number 1 in June 1975.

Contents

About the song

"City Lights" was one of Anderson's earliest major successes. Released in June 1958, Price's version of "City Lights" stalled at #2 on the Billboard magazine Most Played C&W by Disc Jockeys chart later that summer. When Billboard introduced its all-encompassing chart for country music (called "Hot C&W Sides") on October 20, "City Lights" was the new chart's first #1 song. It remained atop the chart for 13 weeks, its last week being January 12, 1959. The song spent a total of 34 weeks on the chart. The song was popular enough to cross over to US Hot 100, where it peaked at #71. [2]

Cover versions

References

  1. "Bill Anderson -- "City Lights" (1958, Vinyl)". Discogs . Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  2. Whitburn, Joel (2013). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 14th Edition: 1955-2012. Record Research. p. 676.
  3. Jerry Lee Lewis, Country Songs for City Folks Retrieved June 15, 2012.
  4. Whitburn, Joel (2013). Hot Country Songs 1944–2012. Record Research, Inc. p. 337. ISBN   978-0-89820-203-8.