By the Time I Get To Phoenix - Glen Campbell (cover-live by Bill Sharkey)

By the Time I Get To Phoenix (Glen Campbell, 1967; Issac Hayes, 1969). Live cover performance by Bill Sharkey, Home Studio, Hawaii Kai, HI. 2025-07-07.

"By the Time I Get To Phoenix," written by Jimmy Webb, was Campbell's first top 40 hit landing at the no. 26 position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and no. 2 on the Billboard Country chart in 1967. Issac Hayes' version hit the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1969; his release stalled at no. 37 (Whitburn, 1994, 2013). The song "was written by Jimmy Webb about a love affair he had with Suzy Horton, whom he began dating when they were high school students in Colton, California. She caused him considerable anguish when she ran off to Lake Tahoe to work as a dancer" (songfacts, 2025). What is interesting about the song is that its form is unconditional. Many pop or country songs have some combination of versus and a chorus or two. "By the Time I Get To Phoenix" contains three verses with no chorus, a somewhat rare song structure. However, there are a few other well known songs without a chorus like "Hey Jude" (The Beatles), "Thunder Road" (Bruce Springsteen), "Losing My Religion (R.E.M.), "Money" (Pink Floyd), "White Rabbit" (Jefferson Airplane), "Bittersweet Symphony" (The Verve) or Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen) and a others.

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Lyrics:

By the time I get to Phoenix, she'll be rising
And she'll find the note I left hangin' on her door
And she'll laugh when she reads the parts that says "I'm leavin'"
'Cause I've left that girl so many times before

And by the time I make Albuquerque, she'll be working
And she'll probably stop at lunch
Lord and give me a call
But she'll just hear that phone keep right on and ringin'
Off the wall and that's all

And by the time I make Oklahoma, she'll be sleepin'
She'll turn softly and call my name loud
Lord and she'll cry just to think I'd really leave her
Though time and time I try to tell her so,
I guess she just didn't know, I would really go