Songwriter known for 1960s hits

Joe South, a singer-songwriter who wove confrontational lyrics into bouncy pop hits of the late 1960s and early ’70s, including “Games People Play,” “Walk a Mile in My Shoes” and “(I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden,” died Wednesday at home in Flowery Branch, Ga., north of Atlanta. He was 72.

The cause was apparently a heart attack, said Judy Thompson, a longtime friend.

Mr. South’s best-known song became a hit when it was recorded by someone else. “Rose Garden,” sung by Lynn Anderson, reached No. 3 on the Billboard pop chart in 1971, four years after Mr. South wrote it. The chorus — “I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden/Along with the sunshine there’s gotta be a little rain sometime” — reflected a world-weariness characteristic of his writing.

In 1969, he targeted religion and insincerity in “Games People Play,” which thrust him toward stardom: “People walking up to you/Singing glory hallelujah,/ And they’re tryin’ to sock it to you/In the name of the Lord.”

It won a Grammy for song of the year in 1970.

Joseph Alfred Souter was born Feb. 28, 1940, in Atlanta. He changed his name years later after going into music.

Mr. South’s father gave him a guitar when he was 11, and he was performing on local radio by the age of 12. He built small radio stations of his own with limited signal range, partly so he could play his songs.

“He would even put it in his car and ride around so that the FCC and anybody else couldn’t track him down,” said Butch Lowery, referring to the Federal Communications Commission. Mr. Lowery’s father, Bill, ran a radio station and eventually became Mr. South’s publisher and manager.