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| "(Is This the Way to) Amarillo" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 One of side-A labels of the US single | ||||
| Single byTony Christie | ||||
| from the album With Loving Feeling | ||||
| B-side | "Love Is a Friend of Mine" | |||
| Released | November 1971 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length |
| |||
| Label | MCA (UK and Europe);Kapp (US) | |||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Producers | ||||
| Tony Christie singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"(Is This the Way to) Amarillo" is a song written byNeil Sedaka andHoward Greenfield. It is about a man traveling toAmarillo,Texas, to find his girlfriend Marie.
Written by twoAmericans with a strongcountry-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 byTony Christie. Christie's version was a major hit in Europe and a modest success in his nativeUnited Kingdom upon its release, then became even more popular in the mid-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 aneasy listening hit in the U.S. and Canada.
The song is based on a rhythmic feel Sedaka borrowed from "Hitchin' a Ride" byVanity Fare.[1] The song was originally to be titled "Is This the Way to Pensacola" referring toPensacola, Florida, but Sedaka felt that Amarillo worked better than Pensacola.[2]
The song was recorded byTony Christie and released in the UK in November 1971, initially reaching number 18 on theUK Singles Chart. However, it was a substantially bigger hit at that time acrossContinental Europe, including inGermany andSpain, where it reached number one. In the U.S., however, Christie's record stalled at #121 on theBubbling Under the Hot 100. Following the re-issue of Christie's version in 2005 in aid of the charity Comic Relief, promoted with a video featuring comedianPeter Kay, the song reached number 1 in the UK.[3]
In 2006, the song was played at theWorld Cup Final inBerlin and was also played by theCentral Band of the Royal British Legion on Centre Court atWimbledon before the start of the Men's Singles final.[citation needed]
| Chart (1971–72) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Argentina (Top 20)[4] | 3 |
| Australia (KMR)[5] | 10 |
| Austria (Hitradio Ö3)[6] | 1 |
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[7] | 1 |
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[8] | 15 |
| Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[9] | 7 |
| West Germany (GfK)[10] | 1 |
| Ireland (IRMA)[11] | 3 |
| Netherlands (Single Top 100)[12] | 4 |
| Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[13] | 4 |
| South Africa (Springbok Radio)[14] | 6 |
| Spain | 1 |
| New Zealand (Listener)[15] | 2 |
| South African Singles Chart[16] | 6 |
| Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[17] | 3 |
| UK (OCC) | 18 |
| USBillboardHot 100[18] | 121 |
| Chart (2005) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Ireland (IRMA)[11] | 1 |
| UK (OCC)[3] | 1 |
| Chart (1972) | Rank |
|---|---|
| Australia[19] | 68 |
| "Amarillo" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 One of side-A labels of the US single | ||||
| Single byNeil Sedaka | ||||
| from the album A Song | ||||
| B-side | "The Leaving Game" | |||
| Released | May 1977 | |||
| Recorded | 1977 | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 3:07 | |||
| Label | Elektra (US);Polydor (Europe) | |||
| Songwriters | Neil Sedaka,Howard Greenfield | |||
| Producer | George Martin | |||
| Neil Sedaka singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
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". Produced and arranged byGeorge Martin, Sedaka's version of "Amarillo" got to number 44 on the U.S.Billboard Hot 100 and number four on theAdult Contemporary chart in 1977; in Canada, Sedaka reached number two on the Adult Contemporary chart.[20]
| Chart (1977) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| CanadaRPM Top Singles[21] | 54 |
| CanadaRPM Adult Contemporary[20] | 2 |
| U.S.BillboardHot 100[22] | 44 |
| U.S.BillboardAdult Contemporary | 4 |
| "(Is This the Way to) Amarillo" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
_Amarillo.jpg) | ||||
| Single byTony Christie featuringPeter Kay | ||||
| Released | March 14, 2005 (2005-03-14)[23] | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:12 | |||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Producer | Tony Christie | |||
| Peter Kay singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
In 2002,Tony Christie's version was used in theChannel 4 sitcomPhoenix Nights. The song was then re-released on March 14, 2005, to raise money forComic Relief. The video features Peter Kay, Tony Christie and other celebrities, includingWilliam Roache,Anne Kirkbride,Jim Bowen,Ronnie Corbett,Michael Parkinson andGeoffrey Hayes.
In the accompanying video,Peter Kay mimed the song accompanied by various celebrities includingBrian May,Roger Taylor,Shakin' Stevens,Shaun Ryder,Bez,Paddy McGuinness,Michael Parkinson,Heather Mills,Danny Baker,Ronnie Corbett,Mr Blobby,Jim Bowen,Jimmy Savile, look-alikes ofMahatma Gandhi andCliff Richard,William Roache,Anne Kirkbride,Sally Lindsay,Bernie Clifton,Keith Harris andOrville the Duck,Sooty,Sweep,Geoffrey Hayes andBungle as well asTony Christie himself.
In the first few cameos, Max and Paddy fromPeter Kay's Phoenix Nights and its spin-off appear together, arguing and eventually fighting in theGranada Studios' corridor. This is one of many appearances of characters from Kay's TV series, including Paddy's tennis-playing cellmate Cliff fromMax and Paddy's Road to Nowhere, and both a football team for people with dwarfism and Brian Potter fromPhoenix 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 re-edited version which takes out the appearance of Savile. In October 2012,a series of revelations showed Savile to be a prolific repeated child sex offender, thus his appearance in the video was 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 Lindsay and Kay only, with a slowed down and repeated showing of Lindsay on her own next to Kay to fill the gap left by the absence of Savile, thus eliminating Savile from the 15-second section. The original version remains onYouTube.[citation needed]
In October 2020, a re-edited version was released on Peter Kay's official YouTube channel, which eliminated Sally Lindsay's appearance in the video, when she appeared with Peter and Savile – the newly re-edited version has the Tony Christie appearance moved to replace Savile's section, making this version slightly shorter in length.[24]
On April 23, 2020,BBC One broadcastThe Big Night In, atelethon to support those affected by theCOVID-19 pandemic.[25]
As part of the running order, Peter Kay created an updated version of the music video. The video featured updated performances from Kay andTony Christie, combined with repeated footage from the 2005 music video andsubmissions from key workers such asfire-fighters,NHS staff andsocial care workers.[26][27][28]
This time around, the song peaked at number one on theUK singles chart,[29] and remained there for seven weeks[30] before finally being knocked off by "Lonely" byAkon.[31] It went on to become theUK's best-selling single of 2005.[32] 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.[citation needed]
Having sold 1.2 million copies by the end of 2009, "(Is This the Way to) Amarillo" was thefourth best-selling single of the 2000s in the UK, behind "Anything Is Possible"/"Evergreen" byWill Young, "Unchained Melody" byGareth Gates,[33] and "It Wasn't Me" byShaggy featuringRikrok. As of March 2017, it has sold 1.28 million copies.[34]
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
Decade-end charts[edit]
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom (BPI)[43] | 2× Platinum | 1,280,000[34] |
Is This the Way to Armadillo is a spoof video of the song "Is This the Way to Amarillo" produced by theRoyal Dragoon Guards stationed in Iraq atAl-Faw towards the end of their 6-month deployment there. The video was emailed so frequently on May 13, 2005, it crashed a server at theMinistry of Defence.[44] According to theEvening Standard, the crashing of the server caused systems to go down at various British military establishments, and the MoD was forced to issue instructions to delete all instances of the video.[45]
The "Peter Kay" character is credited as "Lucky Pierre", an obscure sexual reference.[46]
| "(Is This the Way to) The World Cup" | |
|---|---|
| Single byTony Christie | |
| Released | 29 May 2006 (2006-05-29) |
| Label | Tug Records |
| Lyricists | Ian Stringer andGeorge Webley |
In 2006, a version of "Is This the Way to Amarillo" was released with lyrics written by Ian Stringer andGeorge Webley and published byTug Records, titled "(Is This the Way to) The World Cup".[47] It was created as a version to support theEngland national football team at the2006 FIFA World Cup. The song reached a peak of No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart, remaining on the charts for 5 weeks.[47]
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Dutch singerAlbert West covered the song in 1988.[48] After the successful re-release of the song in the UK, Tony Christie re-recorded it with theHermes House Band; this version charted in Germany in 2005. There is also a version by theLes Humphries Singers and a version in German byRoberto Blanco. There is also a 1971 version on the MGM label (K 14360) by a band called English House, 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 "Kvítek mandragory" byHelena Vondráčková[49] and as "Napis Na Dverich" by Jiri Hromadka.
In 2003,Gala Bingo ran a series of adverts with ajingle based on the tune of "Is This The Way to Amarillo?".[citation needed]
In April 2020, British comedianPaddy McGuinnesstweeted a video of him singing a parody version referring toDominic Cummings,special political adviser toBritish Prime MinisterBoris Johnson, breaking the rules of the UK'sCOVID-19 pandemic lockdown rules when he travelled from his home inLondon to his father's home inDurham, later taking a day trip toBarnard Castle. The lyrics of the song were changed to "Is this the way to Barnard Castle? Where sweetMary waits for me."[50]
The new version will be issued as a video single next Monday, March 14...
