Don't Trust Your Soul to No Backwoods Southern Lawyer

About

"Don't Trust Your Soul to No Backwoods Southern Lawyer" is a lyric from the song "The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia," first recorded by Vicki Lawrence and later popularized by country music singer Reba McEntire. In 2021, the lyric saw increased usage in memes as a reference to joke about the murder trial of Alex Murdaugh, a wealthy South Carolina lawyer accused and later convicted of murdering his wife and son in early 2023.

Origin

"The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia" was first recorded by Vicki Lawrence in 1972 (shown below, left). In 1992, Reba McEntire then released a cover of the song (shown below, right). The lyric "Don't trust your soul to no backwoods Southern lawyer" appears in the chorus of the track.

In the summer of 2021, South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh reported to police that his wife and 22-year-old son had been shot. Police later identified Murdaugh as a person of interest in the case, becoming a nationwide story over the following months.

Memes connecting "The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia" began appearing in September 2021 as media coverage of the murders spread. The earliest known example was posted on September 16th, 2021, by Twitter user @hwilkes1001^[1] (shown below). While the tweet didn't gain any likes or retweets, a screenshot matching the text of the tweet was posted to the subreddit /r/southcarolina^[2] on September 18th, gaining over 320 points in roughly a year and a half.

Spread

Alex Murdaugh was later arrested and indicted for the murder of his wife and son in late 2021, and the case became a media spectacle leading up to the trial date, which began on January 25th, 2023. On February 22nd, Netflix released a true-crime documentary about the case.^[3] Shortly after, memes referencing the "Southern Lawyer" lyric resurfaced online.

On TikTok, the relevant clip from the song became a prevalent sound for videos discussing the Murdaugh trial in early 2023. For example, on February 25th, TikToker miranda.0608 posted a clip with the song that gained over 103,000 likes in one week (shown below, left). On February 28th, TikToker @conoversamantha used the song in a video showing her watching the Netflix series, garnering over 32,000 likes in four days (shown below, right).

Other viral TikToks include a February 25th, 2023, TikTok by @tayoreddaily that gained over 162,000 likes in one week (shown below, left), and a March 2nd TikTok by @kaylinceleste that gained over 63,000 likes in one day (shown below, right).

On March 2nd, 2023, Murdaugh was found guilty of murdering his wife and son, and the following day was sentenced to life in prison.^[4] Following the conclusion of the trial, the "Backwoods Southern Lawyer" meme continued spreading online.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References