"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 BillboardHot Country Songs singles chart in August 1958. Mickey Gilley's version also hit number 1 in June 1975.
"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 magazineMost 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]
Mickey Gilley recorded a piano-backed honky-tonk rendition on his 1975 album, City Lights, and his version hit number 1 on the country charts in February 1975.
Mel Tillis's 1989 version peaked at number 67 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart.[4]
