By the Time I Get to Phoenix

The inspiration for "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" originated in Jimmy Webb's breakup with Susan Horton. They remained friends after her marriage to Bobby Ronstadt, a cousin of singer Linda Ronstadt. Their relationship, which peaked in mid-1965, was also the primary influence for "MacArthur Park", another Webb composition.^[8]

Webb did not intend the song to be geographically literal. "A guy approached me one night after a concert [...] and he showed me how it was impossible for me to drive from L.A. to Phoenix, and then how far it was to Albuquerque. In short, he told me, 'This song is impossible.' And so it is. It's a kind of fantasy about something I wish I would have done, and it sort of takes place in a twilight zone of reality."^[9]

Webb called the song a "succinct tale" with an "O. Henry-esque twist at the end, which consists merely of the guy saying, 'She didn't really think that I would go,' but he did." Although the protagonist in the song plans to leave his lover, Webb did not leave Horton.^[9]

In 1990, Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), which monitors songs in its role as a performance rights organisation, listed "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" as the third-most performed song from the period from 1970 to 1990,^[4] and in 1999 listed it as the 20th most performed of the 20th century.^[5] Many cover versions have been recorded. Charted versions include:

• Isaac Hayes' version of the song, included on the album Hot Buttered Soul, runs for 18 minutes and 40 seconds, and recounts the events that transpired before the actual roadtrip.^[10] The track was edited to under seven minutes for single release, hitting #37 on both the U.S. pop and R&B charts in 1969, and #48 in Canada.^[11] Nick Coleman of NME called the full version "the greatest Country & Western ever committed to vinyl."^[12]
• The Mad Lads covered the song in 1969 for Stax Records; their version reached #28 on the R&B singles chart and #56 in Canada.^[13]
• Wayne McGhie and the Sounds of Joy covered it on their 1970 album, which had little success at the time but was reissued on Light in the Attic Records in 2004.^[14]
• Anne Murray and Glen Campbell recorded a medley of "I Say a Little Prayer" and "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" in 1971. The track hit #1 on the Canadian country charts and charted on the U.S. country charts and the U.S. and Canadian pop charts (#19^[15]).
• Isaac Hayes and Dionne Warwick released the song as a live medley with "I Say a Little Prayer" in 1977. The single reached #65 on the R&B singles chart.^{[citation needed]}
• By The Time I Get To Phoenix is the title of experimental hip-hop group Injury Reserve's 2021 album, the group's final record as group member Stepa J. Groggs died unexpectedly while the album was being recorded.^[16]