Vicki Lawrence sang the original hit song, which went to #1 and gold in 1973. The film uses nothing but the song title, and Lawrence had nothing to do with the film.
The brunette fur coat of the dog actress Lulu McNichol was too dark for motion picture photography and needed to be lightened according to an article published in the 6th February 1981 issue of 'The Los Angeles Times' newspaper. Its owner, actress and co-star of the movie, Kristy McNichol, took her pet to her own hairdressers at the ''Tina Cassaday Salon'' in Beverly Hills, California, USA. There, her personal hairdresser, Joey Corsaro, dyed the dog's hair lighter with a mixture of blond and ivory tones, changing pet Lulu McNichol into the ''Boogie Woogie'' canine character of the movie. Ironically, the following year, actress Kristy McNichol starred in a Samuel Fuller film called White Dog (1982).
Debut theatrical feature film of dog actress Lulu McNichol. This was actress Kristy McNichol's real life pet dog appearing in the film. The canine's character name in the movie was ''Boogie Woogie''. In the film's end credits, the dog's real name is actually billed as Lulu McNichol.
According to Wikipedia, 'The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia' is "a Southern Gothic song" written by Bobby Russell and performed in 1972 by his then-wife Vicki Lawrence. Reba McEntire covered it in 1991.