40 Years Ago Today: George Strait Releases “Amarillo By Morning”
When enumerating the greatest country songs of all time, it’s without a doubt that “Amarillo By Morning” must be near the top. And like all of the greatest country songs and performances, the song hasn’t become exposed or dated as time has gone on. “Amarillo By Morning” has only grown better and more important over time.
On January 14th, 1983, George Strait released the song as the third single from his second album Strait from the Heart. The album had already birth’s Strait’s first ever #1 song in “Fool Hearted Memory,” and he would score another #1 with the fourth single from the album “A Fire I Can’t Put Out.” “Amarillo By Morning” was a hit as well, but surprisingly, it wasn’t one of Strait’s record number of #1s. It stalled at #4.
Though “Amarillo By Morning” is synonymous with George Strait, he wasn’t the first to record it. And like many of his biggest hits, Strait didn’t write it either. Terry Stafford was a singer and songwriter who grew up and lived in Amarillo, and had the huge hit in 1964 with the Elvis-inspired “Suspicion.” He got the idea for the song after performing at a rodeo in San Antonio with his band, and then driving back to his home in Amarillo afterwards.
“Amarillo By Morning” drew further inspiration from another and more unlikely place: a FedEx commercial. At the time, the parcel carrier was bragging how it could “get your package to places like Amarillo by the next morning.” At the time, the Texas panhandle town was synonymous with the middle of nowhere for many people in America (and it still is for many). Being from Amarillo, it piqued Terry Stafford’s ear.
Simultaneously, Terry Stafford also happened to be writing a movie score with fellow songwriter Paul Fraser. When Stafford got the idea for “Amarillo By Morning,” he called Fraser up, and the two agreed they’d try to write the song together the next morning. But feeling inspired by the idea, Paul Fraser sat down at his kitchen table that night, and basically wrote out “Amarillo By Morning” in about an hour. The two songwriters met the next morning, and the song was finalized.
Recording the song in 1973 at Jack Clement’s Recording Spa in Nashville, Terry Stafford’s version took on a decidedly pop version of country, with a lush arrangement complete with xylophone and chorus singers—far from the rugged and Western version George Strait would record nearly a decade later. Terry Stafford’s version didn’t do terrible. It peaked at #31 on the Billboard country chart, which showed the song’s promise, but didn’t spoil it as something someone else could record later.
Before George Strait went into the studio with the song, Chris LeDoux also covered “Amarillo By Morning” in 1975 as he was making big strides on the rodeo circuit as an independent artist. But it’s was George Strait’s decidedly neotraditional version that became the definitive one, with the fiddle start off and the mournful fiddle ending, and George Strait communicating the lonesomeness and despondency the song looks to capture perfectly.
“They took my saddle in Houston, broke my leg in Santa Fe. Lost my wife and a girlfriend somewhere along the way. Well, I’ll be looking for eight when they pull that gate. And I hope that judge ain’t blind. Amarillo by morning, Amarillo’s on my mind…”
Like many of the greatest songs in country music, it’s not just what George Strait sings. It’s the emotion that the song evokes—how it inspires a mood unlike anything else where you can almost feel exactly what that lonesome cowboy must have felt as he was driving through the night. The inspiration for “Amarillo By Morning” may have been a bit matter-of-fact, but that’s not how the song comes across.
Many love to chide George Strait for not writing many of his signature songs, but “Amarillo By Morning” in many ways proves Strait’s worth. Even if he didn’t write ’em, he sure could pick ’em, and as he was just starting his career as an artist who wanted to re-instill the roots back into country music, “Amarillo By Morning” was the perfect composition for him to hit out of the park.
Even though “Amarillo By Morning” never hit #1, the momentum of the song only grew over time. It’s Strait’s only single from the 80s to be certified Double Platinum. On streaming services, it’s either Strait’s 1st or 2nd most streamed song. And 40 years after it was released, “Amarillo By Morning” is as relevant and resonant as it ever was. That’s how you know you’ve got a great song—when it withstands the test of time.
January 14, 2023 @ 10:29 am
“Amarillo” was a No. 1 hit in Cash Box. I am not sure why the Strait team does recognize that. In 1983 Cash Box was considered a major publication. For that matter “If You’re Thinking You Want a Stranger” (1982) and “Drinking Champagne” (1990) were also Cash Box No. 1 hits. All the other big artists of the time period, Twitty, Haggard, Milsap etc, utilized Cash Box. If the Strait team did he would have 63 No. 1 hits to his tally. They use Radio & Records, Gavin and Mediabase. Perhaps it’s just an over site on team Strait snd UMG.
January 14, 2023 @ 10:36 am
I had a whole paragraph here about George Strait’s #1s and how they’re tabulated, and I took it out because it’s just too complicated and bogged the story. I understand that Cash Box was a big publication back in the day, but ask Sammy Saddler how he feels about it. Ultimately, Billboard is usually the best to go with, if for no other reason than they’re still around and so there is some continuity there that you don’t get with Cash Box. And of course, Cash Box very well could have been taking cash for favors back in the day.
January 14, 2023 @ 11:27 am
Yes, I realize by the late 80’s Cash Box had major problems. Not so sure about the 82/83 time period though. It seems to be a generational thing with Cash Box in most cases. In addition to Strait, other artists Reba (“Fancy”), Alan Jackson (“Mercury Blues”), Alabama (“Tar Top”), etc do not promote their Cash Box No. 1 hits. The generation before however did— Twitty, Haggard, Jones, Cash and Milsap, etc. And if Cash Box is taken away those particular artists’ tallies fall. But on the other side of the coin that generation never utilized Gavin. In doing so some of those legends will gain, namely Conway Twitty with “I Couldn’t See You Leavin” from 1991. But I am not 100% sold that Billboard was the most accurate. Twitty alone had several singles that topped the charts in Cashbox, Radio & Records and Record World at the same time, yet went to No. 2 or No. 3 in Billboard. If I’m an artist and three out of four chart me as No. 1 I’m claiming it. I guess ultimately it’s up to the artist what to claim.
January 17, 2023 @ 8:19 am
For those of us in radio in the 1980’s Cashbox was considered the LEAST credible chart. They notoriously accepted ads or other favors that influenced their chart positions. That practice dated back many years. Some huge country hits in the late 60’s registered lesser Cashbox chart performances when their labels or management failed to pay up.
Billboard, Radio & Records and Record World had the most reliable chart info. However all trade charts had various issues until electronic monitoring of songs played on the radio came into use by 1990. That made chart manipulation less likely. Back in the day some stations reported “paper adds,” Those were songs listed on their official station chart but did not actually receive airplay. Stations also inflated the amount of airplay some songs received or assigned higher positions on their numerical chart in return for some type of consideration.
Chart performances of songs are generally influenced by two factors: the overall popularity of the song and the strength of the other songs that it competes with on the chart. During its 12 week Billboard chart run “Amarillo By Morning” spent just three weeks in the top ten moving from #9 to #5 to #4. The week that it peaked at number four the #3 song in Billboard was “American Made” by the Oak Ridge Boys (slipping from #1 the previous week) The #2 record was Shelly West’s career solo hit “Jose Cuervo” and the top song for that week was Reba McEntire’s second #1 hit “You’re The First Time I’ve Thought About Leaving.” Hot on George’s heels were future #1 hits “Whatever Happened To Old Fashioned Love” by B.J. Thomas at #5 and John Conlee with “Common Man” at #6. Strong competition that week.
In early 1983 George Strait had been a familiar name in country music for less than two years. He had not yet become the legendary artist that he is today. George had just one #1 hit to his name along with three other top ten singles. His name did not carry the cachet that it would just a few years later that helped to supercharge his future releases. By late April 1983 MCA had pushed that single as far as it could go. When radio stations that had added the song immediately after its release began to drop it from their current list the song lost stations and it slipped out of the Billboard top ten down to #14. In that era trade magazines did not track recurrent play so when a song was removed from a station’s current playlist it was no longer tabulated. Had today’s chart methodology been in effect in 1983 the song may have performed a bit better and had more longevity. Not to mention that had George released the single a few years later after his career had exploded it likely could have been a #1 hit across the board.
Amarillo By Morning peaked at #5 on the Radio & Records Country chart so the Cashbox #1 ranking is the outlier.
January 17, 2023 @ 8:47 am
So in your opinion when it comes to those legends mentioned, Twitty, Haggard, Milsap, etc, should their Cashbox totals not be counted in their total No. 1 hits? Twitty only had two No. 1 hits to exclusively only reach No. 1 in Cash Box alone— “She’s Got A Single Thing in Mind” (89) and “Crazy in Love” (90) and both of them went to No. 2 in Billboard, not a far stretch from the Cashbox totals.
Also, what’s your thoughts on Gavin? Strait has five or six No. 1 hits exclusively with that publication.
January 17, 2023 @ 9:19 am
Because of all the issues that Cashbox had it is hard to give their charts credibility. Granted a #2 record in another trade magazine that ranked #1 in Cashbox is possible as the reporting panel of radio stations to each trade magazine is generally not exactly the same. But when it comes to Cashbox, knowing their history, I’m very skeptical of their charts. They seemed to have more credibility back in the 50’s & early 60’s although there are some higher ranking Cashbox country titles from that era that saw little success elsewhere and it makes you wonder (???)
Bill Gavin was a man of high integrity well respected by the broadcast industry. I never doubted the credibility of his chart. But the criteria to be a reporting radio station was that the station just had to subscribe to The Gavin Report. There were a lot of radio stations in larger cities with significant country audiences that were not part of that Gavin panel. And there were a lot of stations in smaller cities that were reporters. In many cases they subscribed just to receive better service from the record labels.
Gavin’s most important function was that they were a good barometer for records from new acts to see which ones were receiving good initial reaction. The smaller country stations usually had larger playlists of current songs so they exposed more new music. With so many new records released each week it was another way to gauge which ones might have the most potential.
January 14, 2023 @ 10:52 am
I have a friend who had to drive several hours through the night to get to Amarillo “by morning” and unfortunately he was driving a drunk lady who kept singing the chorus over and over. I might like to hear him tell that story as much as the song itself!
January 15, 2023 @ 6:20 am
There’s gotta be a song in that story as well…
January 15, 2023 @ 12:14 pm
Yeah for sure! My buddy lives in Japan so I really should email him to have him give me the details. I’m actually working on something based on a story a guy posted on Reddit about how he got into Jimmy Buffett because he was all depressed going through a break up living with his uncle. He had been glued to his lazy boy for days and one night his uncle came home from his job at the Lane Bryant bra and panty factory with some Maui Wowie and they smoked some and listened to Jimmy’s double live album. He was cured! I’m always looking for a good story but 2022 was a slow year for songs.
January 17, 2023 @ 2:40 pm
I never get tired of that song. I always think of riding around with my dad in his truck or working on things with him while the country station was on. Good stuff, neat background on the song too
December 23, 2023 @ 2:55 am
It is now my favorite song “Amarillo by morning “ I lived there
for 7 years and it is the best place I have ever lived. When
I would drive back to family for holidays 1790 miles to my mom’s house I played nonstop. My son didn’t like it but my twin daughters did. They are older now and have different favorite songs. But I still play it when I drive or fly back to Amarillo. It’s always played at country bars. If released today I believe it would be his longest standing #1 hit on billboard.
January 14, 2023 @ 11:00 am
My favorite song of all time. Timeless, indeed.
January 14, 2023 @ 12:56 pm
Such a great song. I like Ronnie Dunn’s recent cover as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CQJyrin_Wk
January 14, 2023 @ 1:05 pm
I like the crying steel guitar in Terry Stafford’s version, and the imperfections of Chris LeDoux’s. I’m told it was a Texas dancehall standard not just for pre-fame Strait, but many late 70’s/early 80’’s Texas troubadours. I’d say it’s a song that no one can mess up, but I did have the unfortunate pleasure of hearing two Cajun guys do a karaoke version one night called “Catahoula By Morning” (up from Lafayette).
January 14, 2023 @ 2:31 pm
I’ve always felt that “Amarillo” is George Strait’s greatest single recording….by a longshot. I knew that it did not make it to #1, but I thought it made, it to #2. I was surprised that, per Wikipedia, it only made it to #4 in Billboard in 1982. That’s almost certainly because George was still a relatively new artist at the time and not yet the force that he was about to beome.
Also per Wikipedia, “Amarillo” was the third single to be issued off of George’s “Strait from the Heart” LP. Could some radio stations have jumped the gun and started playing it before it was officially released as a single? Or did the MCA country promotion unit drop the ball for some reason and fail to promote it, not realizing what an all-time gem they had?
The rodeo is the settng in “Amarillo,” but the song and the emotions are completely undestandable to anybody, whether they’ve seen a rodeo or been to Texas or not.
January 14, 2023 @ 6:08 pm
The rodeo songs that Strait picked can be applied in more than just a rodeo setting – Like a metaphor. You don’t have to be thinking rodeo stuff to relate to the essence of the song. My favorite Strait song is this way: I Can Still Make Cheyenne.
I think Merle Haggard is the greatest country artist ever, but George’s music is the pinnacle of country music.
January 14, 2023 @ 7:25 pm
As a life long truck driver this song could very well fit .The grind of the rodeo circuit and of a trucker,or anyone thats makes their living on the road.Ive seen numerous drivers up in age,their lives have passed them by in a blink of an eye.They dont quit because its all they know.Back in the day,a conversation between a truck stop waitress was the only interaction he had that day,and most days.Life is short and not guaranteed.A good song on the country radio does wonders.
January 15, 2023 @ 2:59 pm
I referenced this song in a truck driver (or rodeo circuit) song I’m working on::
“Adios, Amarillo;
By morning I’ll be in Abilene…”
January 14, 2023 @ 3:07 pm
Wonderful song and probably my favourite by Strait. The fiddle playing especially at the end is superb.
January 14, 2023 @ 6:44 pm
I remember a nice version in 1980 by the Terry Bullard Band. It was played on Las Cruces and El Paso stations couple of years before George Strait’s.
January 14, 2023 @ 3:10 pm
One of those beautiful songs that made me love country music and persuaded me to create my blog Country Music France.
As you say, it’s not only the song and the lyrics but the way that George Strait sings and what it evokes that creates such emotion. This timeless gem is the quintessence of country music !
January 14, 2023 @ 3:28 pm
I believe that the song is definitely in the top 25 of all country songs ever recorded. With that said, can you even imagine how many countless hours George Strait has spent resting his right arm, wrist and hand on the top of his guitar while performing that song over the past 40 years?
January 14, 2023 @ 3:59 pm
I dont think folks buy tickets to his show to watch him play guitar
January 14, 2023 @ 7:14 pm
Then why does he use it as a prop?
January 14, 2023 @ 8:34 pm
Does George Strait literally never play the guitar in his live performances –or does he hold it all the time and play it occasionally? I’m guessing that he strums or picks it in spots.
George Jones was not much of a guitar player, either. The one time I got to see him, live, was during a stretch when he had injured his arm and was forced to perform without a guitar strapped on his neck for a prop. He got by, fine.
January 14, 2023 @ 9:25 pm
Strait does, occasionally, strum the guitar. But the question you ask is akin to asking, “Does Chet Atkins ever sing?” Jones was much more the guitarist than Strait has ever thought about being; to the point that I have witnessed Jones adjust his capo MID-SONG in order to strum in the correct key after a bridge.
As I have stated before on this site, when Strait (or anyone else for that matter) stands on the stage and performs using his guitar as not much more than a prop, it is an insult to all guitarists. What would you think if you went to a Ronnie Millsap concert and his performance consisted of sitting on the end of the piano bench, facing the crowd, singing his songs, and, once or twice during each song, swiveling on the bench, hitting one or two chords on the ivories, then turn back to the crowd and perform for several more minutes before once again banging a couple of times on the keyboard? Would you think that he was using the piano as nothing more than a prop?
January 14, 2023 @ 6:16 pm
I read somewhere that he doesn’t work on or play music unless he’s on tour.
It looks better than the country artists on 90’s TNN recordings who would loosely hold the microphone like it was a cracked ice cream cone and they were standing in the gift shop at Cracker Barrel waiting for their table to become available. Ray Price and Bill Anderson looked much cooler when you could only hear them.
January 14, 2023 @ 7:11 pm
My favorite George Strait song.Been to a number of his show.At the end of the song when the fiddle fades out,I swore I went deaf.You could have heard a pin drop in the 15,000 seat arena.That tells you something about the song.
January 14, 2023 @ 4:07 pm
Country music can’t get much better than this song.
January 14, 2023 @ 8:06 pm
It got to number 1 on the Canadian charts. I remember on the Elvis and Beatles number one hit compilations they put the hits that got to number one in the US or UK.
January 14, 2023 @ 8:08 pm
Anyone can jump in here:
It’s a question that could be asked about many legacy performers:
For someone like myself, who sort of recognizes the name and a few songs, would you recommend exploring each album chronologically from ‘82, or should I familiarize myself with the hits first and pick and choose from there deep tracks I see other fans consistently mentioning?
January 14, 2023 @ 8:39 pm
It may sound like an easy answer, but starting at the beginning of George Strait’s discography and going from there would not be a bad plan. I would probably start with “Strait From The Heart” because it’s one of his most definitive albums and was his breakout, then go back to “Strait Country,” and move forward from there. If nothing else, the career of Strait has been incredibly consistent, like the pleat in his Wranglers. You’re not going to find a bad album from him, nor one that blows everything else out of the water, though some of his late 90s into his 2000 stuff does have some soft patches.
January 15, 2023 @ 11:36 am
He literally never had a bad album though “Twang” may be my least liked.
“Chill Of An Early Fall” remains my favourite from him. Though I think I’m on that island alone haha
January 15, 2023 @ 8:47 pm
Beyond the Blue Neon is underrated
January 17, 2023 @ 3:11 pm
It’s a great album.
January 14, 2023 @ 8:16 pm
Love this song like all of his songs. They represent the way country music should be song. All his songs have the old time characteristic’s of how country music should be song, not like the way country music is song know a days.
January 14, 2023 @ 9:59 pm
Interesting bit of info that “Amarillo by Morning” was inspired by a Federal Express commercial. I didn’t know that.
A few other country standards were “answers” to TV commercials: Buck Owens’ 1960s hit “I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail” was a reference to a then ubiquitous advertising campaign for Esso–the predecessor to Exxon–gas that featured a cartoon tiger and whose tag line was “Put a tiger in your tank.” Merle Haggard’s “Little Ol’ Wine Drinker, Me” was based on a commercial for a wine called “Italian Swiss Colony,” based in California,” which featured a gnomish character who referred to himself as “Little ol’ winemaker, me.”
Mary Chapin Carpenter’s ’90s feminist anthem, “He Thinks He’ll Keep Her” was a retort to a commercial for Geritol vitamins where a husband standing with his apparently vitamin-consuming wife, smugly stated, “My wife–I think I’ll keep her.” The connection there was so blatant and would have been obvious to all listeners, except that the record came out some two decades after the notorious commercial.
January 14, 2023 @ 10:31 pm
This is definitely his top song far as singles go. Some of his album cuts that didn’t get released are just as good as his hits some even better.
January 15, 2023 @ 7:36 am
Including his version of Merle Haggard’s “Our Paths May Never Cross,” one of my ultimate favorites from Strait’s catalog.
January 15, 2023 @ 3:49 am
I’ve been to several George Strait concerts and when he sings Amarillo by Morning, the fans go crazy. I’ll never forget the first time I heard this song on the radio. And of course when he sings This is Where The Cowboy says Goodbye! I cry every time. These songs are definitely reasons he is the King of Country!
January 16, 2023 @ 1:04 pm
The cowboy rides away.
January 15, 2023 @ 6:48 am
not at all “lonesomeness and despondency”.
alone, yes. bittersweet, perhaps.
the first part of the song is a matter-of-fact recitation of what’s happened as he’s spent his life doing what he loves doing, but it’s not at all a complaint. he’s not dwelling on the lost wife, the broken leg. the third verse says it all, with its upbeat bounce: he is excited. damn, he can’t wait to get to amarillo and ride rodeo.
January 15, 2023 @ 6:39 pm
Alan Jackson is another that sometimes “forgets” to play his guitar. He’s not the icon that George Strait is, but he’s about as close as anyone can get. If he and George want to just rest their hands on their guitars, using them as props, while singing to us like nobody else can, well, that’s alright with me!!
January 17, 2023 @ 8:06 am
Ronnie Dunn barely makes contact with the strings of his guitar, if he does at all. But like Strait and Jackson, no one has ever bought a ticket to a Brooks and Dunn (or Dunn solo) show to listen to Ronnie play the guitar. I’m having definite deja vu here. I think this topic came up in previous article about Alan Jackson, with the same arguments being made. It’s all pretty silly, if you ask me. There’s nothing wrong with a guitar as a prop to complete the stage image of a country star, any more than there’s anything wrong with a hat or boots.
January 15, 2023 @ 8:30 am
After reading all of the comments in this blog ( whatever that is), there is a glaring omission of one name, to me…
Alan Jackson
I’ll say no more, because to me, he singlehandedly revived Country Music.
January 15, 2023 @ 8:52 am
Sirius radio put together a silly list of the top 1000 country songs of all time, they listed George Strait “Amarillo By Morning” at #79. It was an awful list!!!
https://genius.com/Siriusxm-top-1000-country-songs-of-all-time-2022-lyrics
January 15, 2023 @ 9:11 am
It happened to be on in the car one day when I got in. Number 700 and some was a Dustin Lynch song. That’s when I knew it wasn’t a genuine list.
January 15, 2023 @ 9:18 am
Truth is a lot of those lists—especially radio lists—are just randomly generated until you get to the Top 50 or so. Rolling Stone recently put ot a list of the top “singers” of all time. In reality it was just a random music entertainer generator until the Top 50.
January 15, 2023 @ 11:43 am
That rolling stone singers list was horrific. They sorta got the country ones mostly right I think, but otherwise it was a joke. Their defended criteria was laughable really.
I also jokingly thought to myself when I started looking at the list (in order from bottom to top) “let me guess the top 10 will be all black singers” and whaddaya know I was right!
Almost all the 10 on that list should’ve been high no doubt but it felt like they were afraid to put anybody non-black in the top 10.
Also knew going in Aretha was going to be #1 but I can get behind that anyway.
January 16, 2023 @ 1:38 am
@K–I just looked it up the Rolling Stone greatest singers’ list. You’re right. The top 10 were literally all black.
Coming less than 3 years after the murder of George Floyd, anything else would be indelibly and inexcusably racist.
January 19, 2023 @ 9:41 pm
Elvis way down at #17 and Sinatra at #19 are indefensible positions. Bob Dylan at #15? Above two guys who were all-time great vocalists? F#@& off, Rolling Stone!
January 19, 2023 @ 9:44 pm
My top 10 list goes:
1. Elvis
2. Sinatra
3. Ray Charles
4. Hank Williams
5. George Strait
6. Merle Haggard
7. Nat King Cole
8. Sam Cooke
9. Dean Martin
10. George Jones
January 15, 2023 @ 9:20 am
They even placed Eric Church “Springsteen” ahead of He Stopped Loving Her Today………..How does that make sense to anyone.
January 15, 2023 @ 3:20 pm
13. Kenny Chesney – How Forever Feels
Lordy
January 17, 2023 @ 8:14 am
I had “There Goes My Life” as Chesney’s 13th best song, but hey, I suppose … Oh wait.
Yeah. Lordy.
January 15, 2023 @ 9:52 am
I like the song and I don’t have any issue with it being thought of as an all time great song or his signature song but it wasn’t until the cowboy rides away that I became a fan of his. That song is what signifies George to me and one of my all time country faves. Far as him not playing the guitar at concerts and mostly using it as a prop, I don’t care about that kind of stuff. I’m sure he doesn’t wear a cowboy hat all the time but that doesn’t mean he’s offending cowboys everywhere.
January 15, 2023 @ 3:06 pm
“Lost my wife AND a girlfriend somewhere along the way” is one of the best lines ever.
January 16, 2023 @ 1:38 pm
John Arthur Martinez changed that line to “Lost my wife and a good friend.” Kinda works for me.
January 15, 2023 @ 4:26 pm
George Strait is the King of country for a reason! This junk some people call country now days, is plain crap! I grew up and lived in Texas all my life, and I’ve heard a lot of country music! I’m here to tell you George Strait is authentic! He is the real deal!
January 16, 2023 @ 1:41 pm
I believe that lonesome fiddle on Strait’s version is Johnny Gimble. Another one of the greats.
January 17, 2023 @ 7:21 am
Fiddle on Amarillo By Morning was played by the great Buddy Spicher.
January 17, 2023 @ 8:44 am
Surprised that this post did not include the fact that the hit single version of Amarillo By Morning was a remix of the LP version although it is not listed as such on the record label. The intro on the single has a narrower stereo mix with a slightly different fiddle line by Buddy Spicher, more prominent steel guitar from Sonny Garrish and a slightly softer rhythm track. There are some left/right channel differences in Fred Newell’s lead guitar during the final chorus as the single remixed it to the center rather than remaining in the left channel as in the LP mix. To my knowledge the only CD release of the single version so far was on The Early 80’s: Pure Gold volume of the Time/Life Contemporary Country series. All George Strait hit compilations so far have issued the LP mix. Here is the original single version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1LxXGRaAok
January 17, 2023 @ 2:13 pm
I love the Terry Stafford version. It’s epitomizes that early 70’s sound. The steel and lead guitar on it are awesome. The background singers are a little much, though.
February 2, 2023 @ 7:16 am
I AM FROM BLOEMFONTEIN SOUTH AFRICA
I LOVE ALL HIS SONGS BUT HIS VERSION OF “ADALIDA” IS OUTSTANDING