Question for the Brits out there

[figmo]

Re: That song "Is This The Way To Amarillo," were you inundated with that song on the radio for a while this year (we're talking painfully excessive airplay)?

Just curious.

Comments

[pbristow.livejournal.com]

Given that I only ever listen to music radio when I'm forced to (i.e. muzac in cafes and shopping centres), and yet I've heard it multiple times in the space of a couple of weeks... I'd say yes!

Fortunately, I quite like the song, and never got to the point of overdosing on it.

Hell yes!

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

We have a couple of major fundraising "telethon" type things over here. One is Comic Relief, the other is Children in Need, and I think they basically alternate years.

And part of that is that there is a charity single released, which is often sung by comedians, actors etc. to raise money.

This year "Is this the way to Amarillo" was the charity single, with comedian Peter Kay and a large host of other comedians, celebrities and wannabees appearing in the video. It made it to the number one spot in the pop charts for something like five weeks in a row. And since our radio stations are often heavily influenced by "top 40" playlists (and with a non-threatening song that can be listened to/enjoyed by 30+ year olds) it crossed over from the pop stations to the more AOR/MOR stations (like BBC Radio 2) as well.

You probably couldn't go more than two hours on any mainstream music station without hearing it, and it was often on TV (either in the childrens programming, the pop music programming, or just in general entertainment shows ... or when the British soldiers out in some foreign country (?Iraq?) did their own video for it, when it made every news programme and newspaper for a couple of days.

Re: Hell yes!

[pola-bear.livejournal.com]

Children in Need it every year, Comic Relief is every other year, with 'sport releif' being a quite new things in non-comic relief years, although I've never watched that one.

There were two charity singles, I'll point out, the other being by 'McFly'. But yes, 'Is this the way to amarillo' got loads of airplay everywhere.

[gregbo.livejournal.com]

I remember hearing the Neil Sedaka version of that song a lot in the early summer of 1977 in the southeastern New England area.

[johno.livejournal.com]

One of the stories I read about the Brit Army's version, was that the troops receive many tapes/CDs of "live" TV or radio from home, that they invariably contained the song in some form or another.

Sort of like when I was in Australia in the mid '80s and all the MTV or radio tapes invariable had Madonna on them.