Album: Dickey Lee's Greatest Hits (1965)

Charted: 14

License This Song 

• Last night at the dance I met Laurie
  So lovely and warm, an angel of a girl
  Last night I fell in love with Laurie
  Strange things happen in this world
  
  As I walked her home
  She said it was her birthday
  I pulled her close and said
  "Will I see you anymore?"
  Then suddenly she asked for my sweater
  And said that she was very, very cold
  
  I kissed her goodnight
  At her door and started home
  Then thought about my sweater
  And went right back instead
  I knocked at her door and a man appeared
  I told why I'd come, then he said
  
  "You're wrong, son
  You weren't with my daughter
  How can you be so cruel
  To come to me this way?
  My Laurie left this world on her birthday
  She died a year ago today"
  
  A strange force drew me to the graveyard
  I stood in the dark
  I saw the shadows wave
  And then I looked and saw my sweater
  Lyin' there upon her grave
  
  Strange things happen in this world Writer/s: Milton Addington
  Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 8

• Judy from MississippiMiss seeing you Dicky., I am Dales sister. Met you a few times in Jackson, Tenn.
• Jack from MichiganI've run across the story several times, variously titled "Lavender", "A Girl Named Lavender", "Lily", & "The Tweed Topcoat". Showed up in Carl Carmer's "Dark Trees To The Wind" story collection. A girl is picked up beside a road on her way to a dance, afterward on way home she asks for a topcoat as she's cold, the guy gives her his, & drops her off at an old house, forgetting his coat. Remembers it & goes back next day, an old lady answers & says the girl described died years before, & buried in cemetery a ways up the road, "go see her tombstone for your self" or somesuch, he goes to the cemetery & finds his topcoat neatly folded atop an older grave marked "Lily". This was set in upstate New York, near Ramapo River area.
• James from Diamond Bar Ca What a Tune - Dickey Lee sings it perfectly and many Taxi Drivers report picking up Ghosts - Number 14 because some of the big stations wouldn't play it - Too topical and controversial ? If they all played it - Easy Number 1 -
• Larry from Sacramento CaThis story was not that original. In my Spanish class in 1963 we had a reader called "Vente Cuentos del siglo XX" (Twenty stories from the 20th Century) - presumably well-known ones. One of them was this exact story. I am not saying that 15-year old girl plagerized the story - especially if she was not in advanced Spanish. It is a neat and touching story and could have been imagined by more than one person independently. (I'm kinda surprised I never saw it on Twilight Zone...)
  
• Rocky from Fort Smith, ArThis song came out way before I was born. I first heard it at about 5 yrs old on a Halloween radio special. It creeped me out, but I loved it. Years later, I read a book on factual ghost encounters & I saw it in there. Thanks to "Edward of Henderson, NV" because I think the story in the book was on "The Vanishing Hitchhiker." Thanks to Dickey Lee for recording this song & bringing it into the music scene.
• Rotunda from Tulsa, OkThis song was on the charts in 1965 when I was in high school. I liked it because it was spooky. My boyfriend in high school bought the record, but I didn't. Every record store I look in already sold out. Back then, I heard about the story even before I heard the record. I think I read it in a newspaper. Well, anyway these days my kids hear it on these Halloween radio shows & sometimes I even listen in too. It even brings back memories of 1965, like at the teen dance parties we used to have & when this record was played no one would dance to it. Too slow. Too spooky. But it's a good record.
• Edward from Henderson, NvThis story is more familiar today, as the urban legend of "The Vanishing Hitchhiker."
• Joel from Columbia, ScSurely this song had something to do with the movie. Jamie Lee Curtis played Laurie Strode and odd things did keep happening. LOL

More Songfacts:

GreaseFrankie Valli

The song "Grease," sung by Frankie Valli in the 1978 movie, was written by Barry Gibb of The Bee Gees.

1234Feist

Feist's "1234" is "about lost love, and the hope to recapture what you once had," but it's best known for the Sesame Street version about counting to four.

Brown Eyed GirlVan Morrison

Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" was originally called "Brown Skinned Girl," and was about an interracial relationship.

Everyday I Write The BookElvis Costello

Elvis Costello says "Everyday I Write The Book" is a knockoff of Nick Lowe's "When I Write the Book."

Pump Up The JamTechnotronic

The first Eurodance hit in America was "Pump Up The Jam" by Technotronic in 1989. It led to a wave of Eurodance hits from the likes of Black Box, Snap! and C+C Music Factory in the early '90s.

Ring Of FireJohnny Cash

Johnny Cash's wife, June Carter, wrote "Ring Of Fire" about their relationship.

Editor's Picks

Emmylou HarrisSongwriter Interviews

She thinks of herself as a "song interpreter," but back in the '80s another country star convinced Emmylou to take a crack at songwriting.

Wherefore Art Thou Romeo LyricMusic Quiz

In this quiz, spot the artist who put Romeo into a song lyric.

James Williamson of Iggy & the StoogesSongwriter Interviews

The Stooges guitarist (and producer of the Kill City album) talks about those early recordings and what really happened with David Bowie.

Scott Gorham of Thin Lizzy and Black Star RidersSongwriter Interviews

Writing with Phil Lynott, Scott saw their ill-fated frontman move to a darker place in his life and lyrics.

Shawn MullinsSongwriter Interviews

"Lullaby" singer Shawn Mullins on "Beautiful Wreck," beating the Devil, and his writing credit on the Zac Brown Band song "Toes."

Jonathan Edwards - "Sunshine"They're Playing My Song

"How much does it cost? I'll buy it?" Another songwriter told Jonathan to change these lyrics. Good thing he ignored this advice.