Is This the Way to Amarillo

"(Is This The Way To) Amarillo"
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

"(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. 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.[1]

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.

Tony Christie version

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.

In 2006, the song was played at the World Cup Final in Berlin and was also played by the Central Band of the Royal British Legion on Centre Court at Wimbledon before the start of the Men's Singles final.

Neil Sedaka version

"Amarillo"
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

In the United States, Neil Sedaka, the writer of the song and a man who had recently returned to prominence as a pop singer in the mid-1970s after a decade of relative obscurity, recorded his own version of the song, released under a shortened title of "Amarillo." Sedaka's version of "Amarillo" got to number 44 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and number four on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1977; in Canada, Sedaka reached number two on the Adult Contemporary chart.[2]

Chart performance

Weekly singles charts

Chart (1977) Peak
position
Canada RPM Top Singles [3] 54
Canada RPM Adult Contemporary [2] 2
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [4] 44
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary 4

Tony Christie featuring Peter Kay version

"Is This the Way to Amarillo"
Single by Tony Christie featuring Peter Kay
from the album Is This the Way to Amarillo
Released March 14, 2005
Format Digital download, CD single, DVD single
Genre Pop, schlager
Length 3:40
Writer(s) Neil Sedaka, Howard Greenfield
Producer(s) Tony Christie
Peter Kay singles chronology
"(Is This the Way to) Amarillo"
(2005)		 "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)"
(2007)

In 2002, Tony Christie's version was used in the Channel 4 sitcom Phoenix Nights. The song was then re-released on March 14, 2005 to raise money for Comic Relief.

Music video

In the accompanying video, Peter Kay mimed the song accompanied by various celebrities including Brian May, Roger Taylor, Shakin' Stevens, Shaun Ryder, Bez, Paddy McGuinness, Michael Parkinson, Heather Mills, Danny Baker, Ronnie Corbett, Mr Blobby, Jimmy Savile, Jim Bowen, look-alikes of Mahatma Gandhi and Cliff Richard (the same lookalike is used in the Phoenix Nights spin off Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere), William Roache, Anne Kirkbride, Sally Lindsay, Bernie Clifton, Keith Harris and Orville the Duck, Sooty, Sweep, Geoffrey Hayes and Bungle, as well as Tony Christie himself.

Within the first few cameos, Max and Paddy from Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights and its spin-off appear together, arguing and eventually fighting in the Granada studios' corridor. This is one of many appearances of characters from Kay's TV series, including Paddy's tennis playing cell mate Cliff from Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere, and both a midget football team and Brian Potter from Phoenix Nights. The video consists almost entirely of Kay walking towards the camera flanked by different pairings of the celebrities, in front of increasingly bizarre and unlikely backgrounds.

From 2012 onwards any repeat airing of the music video on television is now a new re-edited version which takes out the appearance of Jimmy Savile. In October 2012, revelations emerged which revealed that Savile was one of the worst paedophile sex abusers in Britain, and so his appearance on this charity video which helped raised funds for disadvantaged children in Africa and Britain had to be edited out for future broadcasts. The re-edited version is mainly the same as the original except the short 15 second scene with Savile who joined Peter Kay and actress Sally Lindsay is now re-edited to show Sally and Peter only, with a slowed down and repeated showing of Sally on her own next to Peter to fill the gap left by the absence of Savile, thus eliminating Savile from the 15 second section. The original version remains on YouTube.

Chart performance

This time around, the song peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart,[5] and remained there for seven weeks[6] before finally being knocked off by "Lonely" by Akon.[7] It went on to become the UK's best-selling single of 2005.[8] During its success, the song was credited in chart rundowns and other media appearances to "Tony Christie featuring Peter Kay". However, Kay does not appear on the record, since it is a re-issue of the original version and not a re-recording.

Having sold 1.2 million copies by the end of 2009, "(Is This the Way to) Amarillo" was the third best-selling single of the 2000s in the UK, behind "Anything Is Possible"/"Evergreen" by Will Young and "Unchained Melody" by Gareth Gates.[9] It had sold 1.32 million copies as of June 2013.[10]

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Chart (2005) Peak
position
Scotland (Official Charts Company)[11] 1
UK Download (Official Charts Company)[12] 1
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[13] 1

Year-end charts

Chart (2005) Rank
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[14] 1

Decade-end charts

Chart (2000–09) Rank
UK Singles Chart[15] 3

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/Sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[16] 2× Platinum 1,320,000[10]

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

Spoofs and Live Performances

Track listing

  1. "Is This the Way to Amarillo" - 3:40
  2. "Is This the Way to Amarillo" (All Around the World Mix) - 3:45
  3. "Is This the Way to Amarillo" (music video) - 3:49
  4. "Is This the Way to Amarillo" (making of the video) - 5:14
  1. "Is This the Way to Amarillo" (music video) - 3:49
  2. "Is This the Way to Amarillo" (Club Mix) - 6:14
  3. "Is This the Way to Amarillo" (Instrumental w/Photo Gallery) - 3:40

Chart succession

Preceded by
"All About You/You've Got a Friend" by McFly		 UK number one single
March 20, 2005 – May 7, 2005 		Succeeded by
"Lonely" by Akon
Preceded by
"All About You/You've Got a Friend" by McFly		 Irish Singles Chart number-one single
March 31, 2005 – April 28, 2005 		Succeeded by
"Lonely" by Akon

Other cover versions

The Dutch singer Albert West covered the song in 1988. After the successful re-release of the song in the UK, Tony Christie re-recorded it with the Hermes House Band; this version charted in Germany in 2005. There is also a version by The Les Humphries Singers and a version in German by Roberto Blanco. There was also a 1971 version on the MGM label (K 14360) by a band called English House. It was produced by Terry Slater. The A-side was "Music Is The Voice Of Love" composed by Terry Slater and Phil Everly.

The song has also been covered in Czech as "Kvitek Mandragory" by Helena Vondráčková.[20] and as "Napis Na Dverich" by Jiri Hromadka. The Finnish version, "Amarillo", with lyrics by Pertti Reponen, was first recorded by Johnny Liebkind in 1972, then by Kari Tapio in 1979 and most recently by Danny (Ilkka Lipsanen) in 1987; the latter made the song a staple of Finnish pop music.

Others

References

  1. ↑ "Is This the way to Pensacola? Record columnist Tam Cowan finds it could all have been so different when he meets his lifelong idol Neil Sedaka at his New York apartment". Thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
  2. 1 2
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  5. ↑ Press Association (21 March 2005). "Comic Relief gets 70s star to the top". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  6. ↑ "Christie holds on to chart reign". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  7. ↑ "Akon topples Christie chart reign". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  8. ↑ "Amarillo tops 2005 single sales". BBC News. BBC.
  9. ↑ Bassett, Jordan (December 31, 2009). "Will Young and James Blunt win biggest selling single and album of the noughties". NME. Time Inc. UK. Retrieved August 14, 2015.
  10. 1 2 Lane, Dan (27 June 2013). "Daft Punk's Get Lucky becomes one of the UK's biggest selling singles of all-time!". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Archive Chart: 2005-03-26". Scottish Singles Top 40. Retrieved August 14, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Archive Chart: 2005-04-02" UK Download Chart. Retrieved August 14, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Archive Chart: 2005-03-26" UK Singles Chart. Retrieved August 14, 2015.
  14. ↑ "2005 UK Singles Chart" (PDF). UKChartsPlus. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  15. ↑ "2005 Year-end Charts" (PDF). UKChartsPlus. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
  16. ↑ "British single certifications – Tony Christie featuring Peter Kay – (Is This the Way to) Amarillo". British Phonographic Industry. Enter (Is This the Way to) Amarillo in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select single in the field By Format. Select Platinum in the field By Award. Click Search
  17. ↑ "Amarillo becomes poll soundtrack". BBC News. April 13, 2005. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
  18. ↑ "'Amarillo' soldiers hail response". bbc.co.uk.
  19. ↑ "04.05.2005 - Concert: Queen + Paul Rodgers live at the MEN Arena, Manchester, UK". queenconcerts.com. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
  20. ↑ "Kvitek Mandragory on Helena Vondráčková's website". Retrieved August 15, 2014.
  21. ↑ "Welkom op de website van Albert West". Albertwest.nl. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
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