Ten Favorite City Vs. Country (City) Songs: City Lights (#1)

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And so another series comes to a close. This one has looked at my favorite songs with the word "city" in the title. Up next will be a travelogue of sorts, with songs with cities' names in the title. Meanwhile, here's my favorite "city" song. City Lights - Ray Price In 1957 a 19-year-old college freshman went to the roof of the radio station he worked at in Commerce, Georgia. He looked at the scant lighting from the town and wrote, "A bright array of city lights as far as I can see." Thus began the Hall of Fame career of Bill Anderson. A Texas country singer named Dave Rich recorded "City Lights," but the recording didn't get too popular. Thankfully, it was popular enough to be played on the radio one morning as Ernest Tubb and Ray Price were on the way to play a round of golf. As the story goes, Tubb hounded Price about the song they had heard on the radio, and how Ray should record it. Finally (probably to get Ernest to shut up so Ray could concentrate on his putting ) Price said he would record it. The rest is history. "City Lights" became the first hit in Anderson's career as a songwriter and put him on the road to being a successful singer as well. (And yes, Bill Anderson is still a very active songwriter: among his more recent compositions that became hits is "Whiskey Lullaby."). And, of course, the song became one of the signature songs in Ray Price's Hall of Fame career as well. This song is as country as country can be, with that great fiddle work, Price's heartbreak delivery, and those lyrics telling of "the cabarets and honky tonks, their flashing signs invite a broken heart to lose itself in the glow of city lights." All of that from a 19-year-old University of Georgia student. Thanks for reading. City Lights Written by Bill Anderson Recorded by Ray Price Released as a single, 1957 They paint a purty picture: