Lyrics to
Amarillo

This version of Amarillo was released by Emmylou Harris in 1975.

Our About Emmylou Harris page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for Amarillo from 1975 as well as all of the other lyrics from Emmylou Harris that we have in our lyrics database.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Emmylou Harris or about the 1970s in general.

My baby never was the cheatin’ kind
But it wasn’t ’cause the ladies didn’t try
Now everywhere we go
They’re walkin’ ’round him slow
Givin’ him a flutter and a sigh
Now I got him past that redhead in Atlanta
Lord I walked all over that black-eyed cajun queen
But outside of Amarillo, he found his thrill, I’ll tell you
Oh, I lost him to a jukebox and a pinball machine

Oh Amarillo what’d you want my baby for
Oh Amarillo now he won’t come home no more
You done played a trick on me
Hooked him in the first degree
While he put another quarter
Push Dolly and then Porter
While he racks up fifty thousand on the pinball machine

If we only hadn’t stopped in there for coffee
If someone hadn’t played The Window Up Above
He’d still be mine today
But he heard those fiddles play
One look and then I knew this must be love
Oh that pinball machine was in the corner
Well he saw the lights and he had to hear ’em ring
And he never was the same after he won his first free game
Oh I lost him to a jukebox and a pinball machine

Oh Amarillo what’d you want my baby for
Oh Amarillo now he won’t come home no more
You done played a trick on me
Hooked him in the first degree
While he put another quarter
Push Dolly and then Porter
While he racks up fifty thousand on the pinball machine

Oh Amarillo what’d you want my baby for
Oh Amarillo now he won’t come home no more
You done played a trick on me
Hooked him in the first degree
While he put another quarter
Push Dolly and then Porter
While he racks up fifty thousand on the pinball machine

---

Want more lyrics and songs by Emmylou Harris?

Emmylou Harris has released many songs over the years besides Amarillo. Emmylou Harris released songs from 1969 to 2003 spanning across albums like Gliding Bird, Elite Hotel, Pieces Of The Sky, Luxury Liner, Quarter Moon In A Ten Cent Town, Light Of The Stable, Blue Kentucky Girl, Roses In The Snow, Cimarron, Evangeline, Last Date, White Shoes, The Ballad Of Sally Rose, Thirteen, Angel Band, Trio, Bluebird, Duets, Brand New Dance, At The Ryman, Cowgirl's Prayer, Wrecking Ball, Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions, Trio II, Red Dirt Girl, and Stumble Into Grace. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Emmylou Harris.

If you're a fan of 1970s music looking for more songs from 1975 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Amarillo by Emmylou Harris

The lyrics to Amarillo are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that Emmylou Harris used when the song was created in 1975. The lyrics to Amarillo have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only Emmylou Harris and any collaborators know all of the inspirations for the song.

If you like etymology or breaking apart phrases and words, it is easy to understand the lyrics to Amarillo by Emmylou Harris. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Amarillo" means the words set to the music of Amarillo, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Emmylou Harris. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Amarillo and the lyrics to Amarillo are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Emmylou Harris who came here looking just for the lyrics to Amarillo, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

More Songs & Lyrics by Emmylou Harris

Visit our Emmylou Harris profile for more Emmylou Harris songs, lyrics & info!

)