"Lucille" is a song written byRoger Bowling andHal Bynum, and recorded by Americancountry music artistKenny Rogers. It was released in January 1977 as the second and final single from the albumKenny Rogers. It became Rogers' first major hit as a solo artist after leaving the successful country/rock groupthe First Edition the previous year. An international hit, it reached number one on theBillboard Country Singles chart and number 5 on theBillboard Hot 100.[2] Overseas, "Lucille" reached the top of theUK Singles Chart in June 1977,[3] the first of Rogers' two number one singles there.[4]
The song, told by the narrator (Rogers), tells the story of a man in a bar inToledo, Ohio, 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.
