1. Content

2. Appearances in other media

3. Chart performance
    Weekly charts   Year-end charts  

4. References

5. External links

"Amos Moses" is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Jerry Reed. It was released in October 1970 as the fourth and final single from the album Georgia Sunshine and was his highest-charting single on the Billboard Hot 100, bowing at #97 on October 31, 1970 and peaking at #8 on February 27 & March 6, 1971. It has been used ever since as a line dance taught at YMCAs. "Amos Moses" was certified gold for sales of 1 million units by the RIAA. It was #28 on Billboard's Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1971 and also appeared on several other countries' charts.

Content

The song tells the story of a one-armed Cajun alligator hunter named Amos Moses, who was named "after a man of the cloth," son of "Doc Milsap" and his pretty wife Hannah, who lived "about 45 minutes southeast of Thibodaux, Louisiana," putting that town on the map, so to speak. It covers Amos's history ("[his] daddy would use him for alligator bait") and his troubles with the law for illegal alligator hunting, including a description of how the sheriff "snuck in the swamp [to] get the boy, but he never come out again."

(There is no concrete proof that the father's name spoken in the song is "Doc Milsap", as the lyric is difficult to interpret from the recording. Different incantations have been assumed over the years, such as "Doc Mills South" and most commonly "Duckbill Sam". The latter is given credence from existing video of Reed in comedy sketches involving the song, where it appears he may in fact say "Duck Bill Sam", and also the assumption that a "doctor" (Doc) wouldn't fit the bill as a father throwing his son in the swamp as "alligator bait". Lyric sheets from CMT and other reputable sources cannot be relied upon: some fail to even spell "Thibodaux" correctly, billing it as "Tibido" or even "Tippietoe".)

Appearances in other media

The song appears in the video game San Andreas on country radio station K-Rose.^[2]

The song was featured in an episode of the TV show My Name Is Earl.

It was covered by Les Claypool twice: on Primus's Rhinoplasty EP and on his 2014 Duo de Twang album. It's also been covered by Alabama 3 on their album M.O.R. and by the Pleasure Barons on their 1993 album Live in Las Vegas, with Mojo Nixon on lead vocals. Cross Canadian Ragweed covered the song on 1999's Live and Loud at the Wormy Dog Saloon.

A rock version of "Amos Moses" featured on The Sensational Alex Harvey Band's 1976 album SAHB Stories.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

• {{MetroLyrics song|jerry-reed|amos-moses}}

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