With a contract to Mercury Records (1975), McEntire began her professional career singing heavily pop-influenced ballads, a far cry from the neotraditionalist movement she would help lead a few years later.
"I Don't Want To Be A One Night Stand" became her first charting single in 1976. Her first Top 10 hit "(You Lift Me) Up to Heaven" followed four years later, and in 1982 she scored her first #1 hit with "Can't Even Get The Blues."
Frustrated at her limited commercial success, McEntire left Mercury and signed with MCA Records in 1984. 1984's "Just A Little Love" wasn't much different form her Mercury material and was only moderately successful. However, another album followed later that same year, titled "My Kind of Country." This was a return-to-roots record, complete with fiddles and steel. It was comprised largely of covers of classic country songs, as well as original songs such as "How Blue" and the Harlan Howard-penned "Somebody Should Leave", both of which reached #1 on the Billboard country singles chart.
In the early 1990s McEntire expanded her audience by adopting a softer, more pop-oriented sound. She became one of the best-selling country artists of all time, releasing three volumes of greatest hits collections.
Since that first #1 hit in 1982, she's forked out 21 more chartbusters, which are all recapped on "Reba #1s" released on November 22nd, 2005. The 2-disc compilation features all 22 number one singles (according to Billboard magazine) in chronological order, including two new tracks "You're Gonna Be" and "Love Needs A Holiday." "Reba #1s" also contains 11 singles that reached the #1 spot in publications other than Billboard.
She won the Female Vocalist of the Year award from the Country Music Association four times in a row (a record she holds with Martina McBride), and had dozens of Top Ten hits during the 80s. For her contribution to the recording industry, Reba McEntire has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Blvd. In 1995, she was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
She is one of only six solo women (others include Shania Twain, Barbara Mandrell, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, and Taylor Swift), to win the Country Music Association's highest honor, "Entertainer Of The Year". McEntire continued to hit the charts through the 2000s, as well as appearing in television and film, most notably Tremors, a cult horror movie series, Forever Love, and One Night at McCool's. She also starred as Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun on Broadway, receiving critical acclaim.
From 2001 to 2007, Reba starred in the hit WB television show, Reba (with Texan actor Christopher Rich as her philandering ex-husband), even getting a visit from fellow country star Dolly Parton who played Reba's character's supervisor at a real estate firm.
By The Time I Get To Phoenix
Reba McEntire Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
He'll find the note I left hangin' on his door
And he'll laugh when he reads the part that says I'm leavin'
'Cause I've left that man so many times before
By the time I make Albuquerque he'll be workin'
He'll probably stop at lunch and give me a call
But he'll just hear that phone keep on ringin'
By the time I make Oklahoma he'll be sleepin'
He'll turn softly and call my name out low
And he'll cry just to think I'd really leave him
Though time and time I've tried to tell him so
Oh, he just didn't know I would really go
I would really go
The lyrics to Reba McEntire's song "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" are about a woman who has left her partner many times before and is leaving again, but this time for good. The song tells the story of her journey as she drives away, leaving a note on the door for her partner. She knows that he will find the note and find it amusing that she is "leavin'" again, but this time it is for real. Her partner is familiar with this pattern as she has left him numerous times before.
As the woman drives further away, she thinks about her partner, imagining what he is doing at that moment. When she reaches Albuquerque, he is at work, and she imagines that he might call her during his lunch break, but the phone will just keep ringing. When she reaches Oklahoma, he is sleeping, and he calls out her name softly in his sleep. She knows that he will be upset when he wakes up and realizes that she is really gone, as she has tried to leave him before but always ended up returning.
The lyrics are a poignant message about the consequences of taking someone for granted and not realizing what you have until it's gone. The woman has left her partner many times before, but this time it is for good, and he doesn't realize it until it's too late.
Line by Line Meaning
By the time I get to Phoenix he'll be risin'
By the time I arrive in Phoenix, he would have already woken up
He'll find the note I left hangin' on his door
He will discover the letter I left on his door
And he'll laugh when he reads the part that says I'm leavin'
He will chuckle when he reads that I'm leaving him
'Cause I've left that man so many times before
I've abandoned that man on numerous past occasions
By the time I make Albuquerque he'll be workin'
When I arrive in Albuquerque, he will be working
He'll probably stop at lunch and give me a call
He might take his lunch break and try to call me
But he'll just hear that phone keep on ringin'
But he will only hear the telephone ringing without any answer
Off the wall, that's all
That's all he'll hear, just the sound of the phone ringing, keeping him hanging
By the time I make Oklahoma he'll be sleepin'
When I reach Oklahoma, he will most likely be sleeping
He'll turn softly and call my name out low
At some point he might wake up and call my name softly
And he'll cry just to think I'd really leave him
He will weep because he won't believe I had serious intentions to leave him
Though time and time I've tried to tell him so
Despite my repeated attempts to communicate this to him
Oh, he just didn't know I would really go
He never truly understood that I would leave him for good
I would really go
I had the intention to leave him for good
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: JIMMY WEBB
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind