Is this the way to Amarillo

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Mon, 2005-04-18 11:19

Melodically Ithought this is kindof OK with its sort of double singalong anthem and opportunity for audience participation after each of the Sha la la lala lalalas. Hate to admit it's very catchy and Christie has a great voice, kind of operatic I think.

Not sure about the one/two? bar vamp before it gets going though (very dated)or the Archies Sugar Sugar melody rip off at the start of the verse.

As for the lyrics I like the line in the chorus which goes:

"and sweet Marie who waits for me", because it neatly conveys a lot of info and explains his obsession with this obscure Texan town, all in just seven words. OK it's mostly a tacky song, but credit where credit is due.

But why does he pre-empt that line by singing in the first verse "Marie who's waiting for me there"? Certainly the writers Sedaka-Greenfield could have produced something less repetitive and more imaginative.

For me the really really bad part comes at the end of the second verse with:

"just beyond the highway, there's an open plain
and it keeps me going through the wind and rain"

My guess is by this point the writers had the guts of the song worked out and couldn't wait to get it off to the artist, so they throw in a junk couplet just to finish it off. Its clear these lines are driven by the need to fill space and rhyme rather than to convey meaningful data about the protagonist.

If you think about what it says it is nonsense. How can an open plain keep you going and anyway isn't the climate quite good in Texas? Telling us about unlikely adverse weather conditions, it adds nothing to our understanding of the character or his motivation.

I would also like to know more about Marie, who is she, why were they separated, why does she wait for him. I have feeling she may have moved on to someone else. A third verse would have been nice. I know I know the writers are leaving it to our imaginations, but I just think bollocks.

Overall I think it's a great song with some niggling flaws.

Sha la la lala lalala
Sha la la lala lalala
Sha la la lala lalala

When the day is dawning on a Texas Sunday morning
how I long to be there
with Marie who's waiting for me there
every lonely city where I hang my hat
ain't as half as pretty as where my baby's at

Is this the way to Amarillo
every night I've been hugging my pillow
dreaming dreams of Amarillo and sweet Marie who waits for me
show me the way to Amarillo
I've been weeping like a willow
crying over Amarillo
and sweet Marie who waits for me

Sha la la lala lalala Sha la la lala lalala
Sha la la lala lalala and Marie who waits for me

There's a church bell ringing
hear the song of joy that it's singing
for the sweet Maria and the guy who's coming to see her
just beyond the highway, there's an open plain
and it keeps me going through the wind and rain

Sha la la lala lalala Sha la la lala lalala
Sha la la lala lalala and Marie who waits for me

Tue, 2005-04-19 16:03

Radiodenver

San Jose isn't too bad a place. It's south of San Francisco and has nice weather. Wichita, Tuscon, Amarillo...like most other places are just regular old shit-hole towns. Philadelphia is the armpit of the east coast. Denver...now Denver is a nice place but I can only think of one popular song about Denver, Bob Segar..."Get out of Denver baby, go)...but I would consider most American towns a joke for writing about. I can see the romance of New York, New York, or maybe I left my heart in San Francisco. Both are interesting places to go. I think it all falls within the realm of "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence"...The best places are places you've never heard of....Telluride, Big Bear, Paducah but then again...who wants to write about some nice place and then have it ruined by tourists?

Tue, 2005-04-19 16:23

mississippi

I've heard of all those places, Denver. Telluride used to have a brilliant annual music festival. Don't know if it still runs. Elvis Presley frequently toured with the Duke of Paducah back in his pre-fame days.

Tue, 2005-04-19 16:34

Radiodenver

Telluride Music Festival....June 22nd. They do a Blue Grass festival (July), a Blues Festival...Jazz Festival...(you need to go there George, you may never want to leave) Every musician worth a squat plays there sooner or later. You can cruise across snow-capped peaks of the Rockies in your VW Microbus, run around naked and pretend it is 1968. I'm ridiing up on a Harley in July.

Tue, 2005-04-19 18:42

mississippi

I have a double vinyl album somewhere of a 70's festival with lovely pics of the area. Now I suppose I'll have to go dig it out and listen to it again for the first time in 25yrs.

Tue, 2005-04-19 01:37

Smiley

Ely: I seem to remember it was the theme to the 'Protectors' with Rober vaughn not totally certain mind.

Mon, 2005-04-18 11:29

Schmeichel

One other thing I forgot to say, it is really tacky the way her name changes from Marie to Maria just to fit the rhyme.

Mon, 2005-04-18 11:45

emily yaffle

Christie also did the much-better and overlooked "I did what I did for Maria" - clearly something about the name had resonance for him. I'm not sure that you can complain about a Sixties song being very dated, though.

Tue, 2005-04-19 08:45

martin_t

it was the protectors... or war it the persuaders?

Mon, 2005-04-18 11:51

#10

Schmeichel

Fair point emily, I guess I was disappointed that it held up so well in so many other respects, but that terrible vamping bit gave it away. You'd only get something like that today if the artist was being ironic I think.

Tue, 2005-04-19 08:45

#11

martin_t

war it?

Tue, 2005-04-19 08:48

#12

emily yaffle

The Persuaders song has no words, it is just a sort of xylophone-cum-bell thing going Na-nang-nang Ner-nang, doo-doo- ner-nang. Top series though. Danny Wild and Brett Sinclair - Roger Moore designed all his own clothes for that series, top boy!

Tue, 2005-04-19 08:52

#13

martin_t

ah yes, nyree dawn porter as Contessa Caroline di Contini (had to google for that) she was one of my faves....very sexy

Tue, 2005-04-19 08:53

#14

martin_t

she died in 2001....

Mon, 2005-04-18 13:34

#15

ely whitley

I've often wondered, was "in the avenues and alleyways" the theme to "the streets of San Francisco" or any other tv show? It's a great song with a very heavy opening that needs a bloody deep breath to get started.

Tue, 2005-04-19 10:23

#16

mississippi

It war.

Tue, 2005-04-19 12:21

#17

ely whitley

weird, went to that link and nothing rings any bells and yet that song was one of the first I can remember knowing in terms of theme tunes.

Tue, 2005-04-19 14:57

#18

Radiodenver

If you take Interstate 25 south, after going over Raton Pass, take highway 85 east from Raton, New Mexico...that's the way to Amarillo. They have a place there where if you can eat a 2000 ounce steak, you don't have to pay for it. It is roughly the size of a dead moose. On I-40 about another 200 miles east from Amarillo, you'll see the largest cross in the Western Hemisphere, right off the old Route 66. There is also a gas station and a grain silo there. Be warned though, Amarillo is no where near as romantic a place as you may think.

Tue, 2005-04-19 15:34

#19

mississippi

What? You mean Marie gave up waiting and left?

Tue, 2005-04-19 15:38

#20

Radiodenver

Was Marie's front teeth missing? She may still be there.

Tue, 2005-04-19 15:42

#21

mississippi

Don't tell me she got into a fight with Peter Kay and he clouted her!

Tue, 2005-04-19 15:50

#22

Radiodenver

I think it was John Kay.

Tue, 2005-04-19 15:50

#23

Schmeichel

Radio maybe this is something you can clear up. Here in little old England we hear a song about any old American town like Tulsa or Witchita or San Jose or Tuscon or even Amarillo and we think it's dead romantic. However, if we heard a song about any of our equivalent towns say Swindon, Leicester, Bradford, Luton, Watford, Croydon, Huddersfield or Scunthorpe it would be considered a bloody joke. Why is that? Do you ever react like that to songs like Philadelphia Freedom or By The Time I Get To Phoenix or New York, New York? Are there any American towns you couldn't write a romantic song about, because it would sound like a joke?

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