Tony Christie to be Number One this weekend, you guys.

"Amarillo" is apparently outselling the rest of the top 20 singles chart put together.

I rather like that new anthology. Certainly miles better than rubbish like Human After All.

Buy the anthology! Why the warning though, it's about a billion times better than that Stereophonics song that was number one last week.

(xpost)

(Xpost !)

It dealt mainly in house clearances, the secondhand clothes were piled high in the shop if you can remember.

And "The First Man In Space" with Phil Oakey should have been a single.

I guess that the Relaxed Muscle and I, Monster albums are both follow-ups in their own way, but I know what you mean - it would be nice to see another ASI album.

I'm currently feeling quite nostalgic about that whole late '90s carboot Brit-electro thing, Add N To X and what have you. Hugely underrated.

the All Seeing I album is good. 'Walk Like A Panther', 'FMIS' and 'Drive Safely Darlin' especially

no way, i mean *surely*?

Me and the mister were thinking of going to see Tony Christie in Glasgow on Friday. He's playing at the Armadillo. Is This The Way To Armadillo! Do you see? Would this be a good idea, do you think?

I draw the line at a Sydney Devine revival, however.

(he's the one on the left)

I don't know this All Seeing I.

Tell that to the editor of the Bellshill Speaker. In the '70s it was always "Bellshill-born Sydney Devine" in their pages.

It's v. good. Picked up a used copy out of here some years back.

http://www.amarillo.com/stories/031605/new_1502476.shtml

Post the text please?

Here's the text:

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'Amarillo' sweeps UK

Old song takes on comic twist, new life in Britain

By GREG CUNNINGHAM
[email protected]
Amarillo Globe-News

"Is this the way to Amarillo?

"Every night I've been hugging my pillow,

"Dreaming dreams of Amarillo and sweet Marie who waits for me."

It's not exactly Shakespeare, but "(Is This the Way to) Amarillo" is apparently good enough to take the United Kingdom by storm.

The firmly tongue-in-cheek revival of the 1971 Tony Christie hit is bringing a little English attention to the Panhandle and catapulting the song about the road to Amarillo to the top of the British charts.

"The song was re-released Monday, and we understand it debuted at number one," said Vikki Taylor, media officer for Comic Relief in the UK. "In fact, we have heard it is selling more copies than the entire top 20 put together."

The incredible enthusiasm for Christie's biggest hit has touched off a wave of interest among British media, who all of a sudden find themselves fascinated by Amarillo.

"Who would have ever thought that a song about Amarillo would be number one in the UK?" asked Lyndy Ohayon, community relations coordinator for Amarillo, who was interviewed on BBC radio Tuesday morning. "She (the interviewer) asked me if I thought this would increase tourism in Amarillo, and I said I hope so. It was really the cutest thing."

"(Is This the Way To) Amarillo" was a big hit for English crooner Christie, now 61, and even had a brief life in the United States, but it took an immensely popular British comic mocking the lounge-singer stylings of Christie to resurrect it for a new generation.

Taylor said comedian Peter Kay breathed new life into the song when he used it in a bit for the most recent Comic Relief fund-raising event, known as Red Nose Night Live '05.

"It was an ironic, tongue-in-cheek performance of what is really a pretty cheesy song," Taylor said. "He (Kay) mimed the song with a few old celebrities from the UK popping up behind him where you wouldn't expect them."

Cheesy seems to be the main descriptor of the song from those who have heard it.

Ohayon said the BBC crew played her the song, and it reminder her of something you would hear in a lounge back in the Las Vegas glory days.

"It's very much a novelty song," Ohayon said. "I can see why it's so popular. It's really catchy, and it reminds me of a Tom Jones kind of song. That's the best way I can describe it."

The Comic Relief bit got so much attention that the single is being reissued with several different mixes and even a copy of the video.

Funds from the sale go to Comic Relief, which tackles such issues as poverty and social injustice in both England and Africa.

"It's kind of a funny little story about a funny little song, but we hope it will do a lot of good on some very serious issues," Taylor said.

"(Is This the Way To) Amarillo"

Sha la la lala lalala

Sha la la lala lalala

When the day is dawning

on a Texas Sunday morning

how I long to be there

with Marie who's waiting for me there

every lonely city where I hang my hat

ain't as half as pretty as where my baby's at

Is this the way to Amarillo

every night I've been hugging my pillow

dreaming dreams of Amarillo

and sweet Marie who waits for me

show me the way to Amarillo

I've been weeping like a willow

crying over Amarillo

and sweet Marie who waits for me

Sha la la lala lalala

Sha la la lala lalala

Sha la la lala lalala and Marie who waits for me

There's a church bell ringing

hear the song of joy that it's singing

for the sweet Maria

and the guy who's coming to see her

just beyond the highway, there's an open plain

and it keeps me going through the wind and rain

I also don't think Peter Kay's love of this song is either ironic or tongue-in-cheek.

http://www.planearium.de/pics/pics-602-5.jpg

This could equally describe the Teenage Fanclub, or indeed 90% of the Glasgow indie mafia.