Gary Puckett & The Union Gap (initially credited as The Union Gap featuring… Read Full Bio ↴Gary Puckett & The Union Gap (initially credited as The Union Gap featuring Gary Puckett) was an American pop rock group operating in the late 1960s. Their biggest hits were "Woman, Woman," "Young Girl," and "Lady Willpower." Singer Gary Puckett (born October 17, 1942, Hibbing, Minnesota) grew up in Yakima, Washington - close to the city of Union Gap - and Twin Falls, Idaho. He began playing guitar in his teens, and graduated from Twin Falls High School before attending college in San Diego, California. There, he quit college and played in several local bands before joining the Outcasts, a local hard rock group comprising bassist Kerry Chater (born August 7, 1945, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada),[1] keyboardist Gary 'Mutha' Withem (born August 22, 1946, San Diego), tenor saxophonist Dwight Bement (born December 28, 1945, San Diego), and drummer Paul Wheatbread (born February 8, 1946, San Diego).
In 1966, the band toured the Pacific Northwest without Wheatbread, who was recruited as the house drummer on the television series, Where the Action Is; he later rejoined the line-up. Under manager Dick Badger, the band were renamed The Union Gap in early 1967, and fitted themselves out with Union Army-style Civil War uniforms as a visual gimmick. They then recorded a demo, which was heard by CBS record producer and songwriter Jerry Fuller. Impressed by Puckett's baritone voice and the band's soft rock leanings, Fuller signed them to a recording contract with Columbia Records.
The band recorded their first single, "Woman Woman", a song written by Jim Glaser and Jimmy Payne, in August 1967. It became their first hit, reaching #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and being certified as a gold disc. This was followed during the next two years by "Young Girl" (#2), "Lady Willpower" (#2), "Over You" (#7), and "Don't Give In To Him" (#15). All were produced by Fuller, who also wrote "Young Girl," "Lady Willpower," and "Over You". Although the band never had a #1 record in the United States, "Young Girl" reached #1 on the UK singles chart, and #6 when it was reissued in the UK six years later. Controversial at the time and later for its risqué lyrical references to underage romance, Allmusic labeled the groups lyrics "bizarrely pedophilic". "Young Girl" was the second million selling disc for the band, which it reached less than two months after issue; "Lady Willpower" and "Over You" also won gold discs. The band headlined at a White House reception for Prince Charles and at Disneyland in 1968, and were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1969, losing out to José Feliciano.
The band, however, wanted to write and produce its own material, and Puckett resented singing the power ballads written by Fuller. In 1969 Fuller prepared a 40-piece studio orchestra to record a new song he had written, but Puckett and the group refused to record it, the session was canceled, and Fuller never again worked with the group. The band returned to the charts with "This Girl Is a Woman Now," produced by Dick Glasser, but later releases failed to make the Billboard Top 40. Chater and Withem left the band; Bement took over on bass guitar and keyboardist, Barry McCoy, and horn player, Richard Gabriel, were added. In 1970 Puckett began recording as a solo act, but with limited success; the Union Gap remained his live backing band until they were dismissed following an appearance at the 1971 Orange County Fair. Puckett's recording contract was terminated one year later.

In 2009, Gary Puckett & The Union Gap were inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.

By the Time I Get to Phoenix
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap Lyrics

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By the time I get to Phoenix
She'll be rising
She'll find that note
I left hanging on her door

And she'll laugh when she reads the part
That says, "I'm leaving"
Cause I've left that girl so many times before

By the time I make Albuquerque
She'll be working
She'll probably stop at lunch and to give me a call
But she'll hear that phone keep on ringing
Off the wall
That's all

By the time I make Oklahoma
She'll be sleeping
She'll turn softly in her sleep and call my name out low

And she'll cry just to think I'd really leave her
Though time and time I've tried to tell her so

She just didn't know
I would really go

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" by Gary Puckett & The Union Gap are a poignant tale of a man leaving a woman whom he has left many times before, despite the fact that she doesn't want him to go. The song starts with the man saying that by the time he reaches Phoenix, the woman he loves will be rising and find a note that he left behind on her door. The note informs her that he is leaving her once again, something that he has done many times before. He knows that she's going to laugh when she reads the note because she's seen it so many times before, but he is still determined to leave.

As the song continues, he sings about how he'll be in Albuquerque and she'll be at work, but she'll take a break to call him. However, she won't be able to reach him because he has left his phone off the hook. When he makes it to Oklahoma, he knows that she'll be sleeping and will softly call his name out in her sleep. He knows that she would be devastated if he actually left her, despite the fact that he's told her many times before that he was going to go. The woman just didn't know that he would really go.

The lyrics of "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" are a powerful reminder of the pain that relationships can cause when one person wants to leave and the other person doesn't want them to go. Despite the fact that the man is leaving the woman, it's clear that he still loves her deeply and that the decision to leave wasn't an easy one for him.

Line by Line Meaning

By the time I get to Phoenix
After a long journey to Phoenix

She'll be rising
The sun will be rising in Phoenix

She'll find that note
She will discover the note I left for her

I left hanging on her door
Which was hanging on her door when I left

And she'll laugh when she reads the part
She will chuckle when she reads a certain section

That says, "I'm leaving"
Which says that I'm departing

Cause I've left that girl so many times before
Because I have done this multiple times in the past

By the time I make Albuquerque
After I have traveled to Albuquerque

She'll be working
She will be employed and working when I arrive

She'll probably stop at lunch and to give me a call
She will likely take a break from work to call me

But she'll hear that phone keep on ringing
However, she will hear the phone ringing constantly