Is This the Way to Amarillo?
| "(Is This The Way To) Amarillo" | |
|---|---|
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| Single by Tony Christie | |
| B-side | "Love Is a Friend of Mine" |
| Released | November 1971 |
| Recorded | 1971 |
| Genre | Pop, schlager |
| Length | 3:35 |
| Label | MCA (UK and Europe); Kapp (US) |
| Writer(s) | Neil Sedaka, Howard Greenfield |
| Producer(s) | Tony Christie |
| "Amarillo" | |
|---|---|
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| Single by Neil Sedaka | |
| from the album A Song | |
| B-side | "The Leaving Game" |
| Released | May 1977 |
| Recorded | 1977 |
| Genre | Pop |
| Label | Elektra (US); Polydor (Europe) |
| Writer(s) | Sedaka/Greenfield |
| "(Is This the Way to) Amarillo" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
_Amarillo.jpg) |
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| Single by Tony Christie featuring Peter Kay | ||||
| from the album Is This the Way to Amarillo | ||||
| Released | March 14, 2005 | |||
| Format | Digital download, CD, DVD | |||
| Genre | Pop, schlager | |||
| Length | 3:40 | |||
| Writer(s) | Neil Sedaka, Howard Greenfield | |||
| Producer(s) | Tony Christie | |||
| Peter Kay singles chronology | ||||
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"(Is This The Way To) Amarillo" is a song written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield. It is about a man traveling to Amarillo, Texas to find his girlfriend Marie. The reason that Amarillo was chosen for the song was because it was the only place name that Sedaka could think of that rhymed with "willow" and "pillow". The song was originally to be titled "Is This the Way to Pensacola" referring to Pensacola, Florida, but Sedaka felt that Amarillo worked better than Pensacola.
Written by two Americans with a strong country-western lyrical theme, the song was first released in Europe, where it has become much more popular than in the composers' native country, with a big-band/orchestral pop arrangement sung by Tony Christie. Christie's version was a major hit in Europe and a modest success in his native United Kingdom upon its release, then became even more popular in the early 2000s when the song was reissued. As Christie's version failed to make a major impact in the U.S., Sedaka released his own recording of the song in 1977, which narrowly missed the top 40 but was an easy listening hit in the U.S. and Canada.
The song was recorded by Tony Christie and released in the UK in November 1971, initially reaching number 18 in the UK Singles Chart. However, it was a substantially bigger hit at that time across Continental Europe, notably in Germany and Spain, where it made number one. In the U.S., however, Christie's record stalled at #121 on the Bubbling Under the Hot 100. Following the re-issue of Christie's version in 2005, promoted with a video featuring Peter Kay, the song gained even greater prominence, reaching number 1 in the UK.
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Wikipedia