Joe South, Composer Of "Games People Play," R. I. P.

Joe South, a singer and songwriter who wrote confrontional lyrics into bouncy hit late 1960s and early 1970s songs such as "Games People Play," "Walk A Mile In My Shoes," and "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden,"  passed away on Wednesday from an apparent heart attack at his Flowery Branch, Georgia home at the age of 72.

Mr. South, who had written a modeslty successul song "The Purple People Eater Meets The Witch Doctor" in 1958, went on to write the three ealirer-mentioned songs and had hit recordings with two of them.

"Rose Garden," Joe's best-known composition, became a huge country-and-western and crossover pop hit in 1971 for Lynn Anderson.