Amos Moses
| "Amos Moses" | ||||
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| Single by Jerry Reed | ||||
| from the album Georgia Sunshine | ||||
| B-side | "The Preacher and the Bear" | |||
| Released | October 19, 1970 | |||
| Genre | Country rock | |||
| Length | 2:19 | |||
| Label | RCA | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Jerry Reed | |||
| Producer(s) | Chet Atkins | |||
| Jerry Reed singles chronology | ||||
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| Alternative cover | ||||
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German album artwork of the 7" release of Amos Moses
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"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. This record was Reed's highest-charting single on the Billboard Hot 100, bowing at #97 on 31 October 1970 and peaking at #8 on 27 February - 6 March 1971. The song has been used ever since as a line dance taught at local YMCAs. "Amos Moses" was certified gold for sales of 1 million units by the RIAA. It also appeared on charts in several other countries and was #28 on Billboard's Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1971.
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 and Hanna Milsap, who lives "about 45 minutes southeast of Thibodaux, Louisiana" (which, at the rate of a mile per minute, would be near Galliano, Louisiana), putting that town on the map, so to speak. It covers Amos' 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 town sheriff "snuck in the swamp [to] get the boy, but he never come out again".
The song appears in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on the country music radio station K-Rose.
The song was featured in an episode of the TV show My Name Is Earl.
It's been covered and recorded by Les Claypool twice. First appearing on Primus' Rhinoplasty EP and then 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.
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