"By the Time I Get to Phoenix" was written by Jimmy Webb. by Johnny Rivers in 1965, it was covered by American country music singer Glen Campbell. BMI named it the third most performed song from 1940 to 1990. The song was ranked number 20 on BMI's Top 100 Songs of the Century. Frank Sinatra called it "the greatest torch song ever written."
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.
Webb stated that the song was not intended 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."
However, the drive is actually possible, diving at an average of about an average of 65 mph. If he leaves Los Angeles around midnight, he can drive the 373 miles to Phoenix in about six hours to arrive when she "rises" at 6:00 am. If she "stops at lunch" to "give him a call" at 12:30 p.m. when he is in Albuquerque, it gives him six-and-a-half hours to make the 420-mile drive. The drive from Albuquerque to the Oklahoma border is about 390 miles, giving her plenty of time to get home and go to sleep.
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 left his lover, Webb did not leave Horton.
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