Story Behind the Song: ‘Lucille’ by Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers' song "Lucille" was heard around the world. It was a huge international hit.
It was released in January 1977. It became Rogers' first major hit as a solo artist after leaving the successful country/rock group The First Edition the previous year.
Kenny says the story of Lucille began in the summer of 1958 when he was near Tulsa, Oklahoma to help his uncle cut hay. During that time, a local TV station there was broadcasting something.
It was the voice of a heartbroken man whose wife had left him. His words were, "You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille, with four hungry children and a crop in the field. We had some good times and we had some bad times..."
The man's words haunted Kenny for years and he felt there was a great song in those few lines. Kenny Rogers kept those words in his head and later got help from some other songwriters.
He turned to Roger Bowling and Hal Bynum. Together they took the lines that Kenny had heard in 1958 and created a song which became one of Kenny Roger's greatest hits.
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