Jimmy Webb is responsible for writing numerous popular and Top 10 hits sung by a disparate group of artists, including Glen Campbell ("Galveston"); Art Garfunkel ("All I Know"); Donna Summer and many others.
Webb's father was a Baptist minister and a former Marine. His mother died when he was a teenager. His most popular songs were all composed when he was between 19 and 21 years of age.
"By the Time I Get to Phoenix" is one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century.
He is noted for having written songs that were hits in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and is the only person to receive Grammy Awards in all three categories: music, lyrics and orchestration. Webb has also written the music for the animated film The Last Unicorn.
Webb is also a performer of his own music, although his solo output has never matched the commercial success of recordings of his work by other performers.
He was elected to the National Academy of Popular Music Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1986.
By the Time I Get to Phoenix
Jimmy Webb Lyrics
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I found him out
He was cheating on me
I thought he loved me
He's been loving my best friend
Spending all my money on her
He ain't no good
He just ain't no good
Should've known
When my dinner wasn't on the table
When I got home from work
I should have known
When he turned his back on me.
Night after night
clways had a headache,
You know, just lots of excuses
Why oh why?
I was so good to him
He ain't no good
I found him out
I'm packing up all my favorite things
cnd I'm leaving him.
By the time I get to Phoenix
He'll be Rising
He'll find the note I left hanging on the door (oh my god)
He will laugh when he reads the part, Im leaving
Cause I've left so many times before (hmph)
By the time I make clbuquerque (why she not answering my phone?)
He'll stop and give me a call
That cell phone will just keep ringing, ringing (Ugh)
No answer at all
By the time, I reach Oklahoma (where's all her stuff)
Hell be sleeping
Turn softly and call my name out loud (is everything gone?)
He'll cry just to think
I really, really left him
Time after time, I've tried to tell him so
He didn't know, id really really go
By the time I get to Phoenix
That's the end.
The lyrics of Jimmy Webb's classic song "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" are loaded with emotional depth and vivid imagery. The song speaks about a man's impending departure from his lover, and the conflicting emotions that accompany the journey of separation. As he makes his way from Phoenix to Albuquerque and eventually to Oklahoma, he is faced with the reality of the hurt he has caused his lover, who cannot believe that he is really leaving her.
The first verse speaks about the man's arrival in Phoenix, just as the sun is rising. He has left a note for his lover on her door, in which he explains that he is leaving her because he has left her so many times before. This line speaks to a pattern of repeated hurt, where the man leaves and then returns, leaving the woman uncertain of his true intentions.
In the second verse, the man has reached Albuquerque, and he knows that his lover is working. He expects her to call him during lunch, but when she does, the phone just keeps ringing. This is perhaps the most poignant verse in the song, as it speaks to the distance that has grown between the two lovers. Despite the man's hope that she will call him, he is ultimately left alone with his own thoughts.
The third verse finds the man in Oklahoma, where his lover is sleeping. She murmurs his name in her sleep, and he knows that she is crying at the thought of him leaving her. In this verse, we see the man grappling with his own guilt and the reality of the pain he has caused his lover. He has tried to tell her that he would leave, but she did not believe him, and now he must confront the consequences of his actions.
Overall, "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" is a powerful exploration of love and loss, of the pain that accompanies the ending of a relationship, and of the difficult journey toward acceptance and closure.
Line by Line Meaning
By the time I get to Phoenix, she'll be rising
I've left her so many times, and by the time I get to Phoenix, she'll know I'm gone again.
She'll find the note I left hanging on her door
Before I left, I wrote her a note that she will find hanging on her door.
She'll laugh when she reads the part that says
When she reads that I'm leaving again, she'll find it comical.
I'm leaving 'cause I've left that girl so many time before
I'm leaving because I've left her multiple times in the past.
By the time I make Albuquerque, she'll be working
When I arrive in Albuquerque, she will be busy with work.
She'll probably stop at lunch and give me a call
She might take a lunch break to call me.
But she'll just hear that phone keep on ringing
If she calls me, she won't hear an answer, only the phone ringing.
Off the wall, that's all
It's just the phone ringing, there's no answer.
By the time I make Oklahoma, she'll be sleeping
When I reach Oklahoma, she'll be asleep.
She'll turn softly and call my name out low
She might wake up, call my name softly, but realize I'm not there.
And she'll cry just to think I'd really leave her
She may cry at the thought of me leaving her for real this time.
Though time and time I've tried to tell her so
Even though I've told her before that I might leave, she still didn't believe me.
She just didn't know I would really go
She never thought I would actually leave, but now she knows that I have.
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