Amanda (Don Williams song) explained

Amanda
Type:single
Artist:Don Williams
Album:Don Williams Volume One
A-Side:Come Early Morning
Released:May 1973
Recorded:ca. March 1973
Genre:Country
Length:3:08
Producer:Allen Reynolds
Prev Title:The Shelter of Your Eyes
Prev Year:1973
Next Title:Atta Way to Go
Next Year:1973
Amanda
Cover:Amanda_-_Waylon_Jennings.jpg
Type:single
Artist:Waylon Jennings
Album:Greatest Hits
B-Side:Lonesome, On'ry, and Mean
Released:April 1979
Recorded:
  • July 15, 1974 (original)
  • 1979 (new overdubs for single release)
Genre:Country
Length:2:56
Producer:Waylon Jennings
Prev Title:Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out of Hand
Prev Year:1978
Next Title:Come with Me
Next Year:1979

"Amanda" is a 1973 song written by Bob McDill and recorded by both Don Williams (1973) and Waylon Jennings (1974). "Amanda" was Waylon Jennings's eighth solo number one on the country chart. The single stayed at number one for three weeks on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart.[1]

As recorded by Jennings, "Amanda" had been a track on his 1974 album The Ramblin' Man, but was not released as a single at that time; two other tracks, "I'm a Ramblin' Man" and "Rainy Day Woman," were. More than 4½ years later, new overdubs were added to the original track and placed on his first greatest hits album. In April 1979 the song was issued as a single, and it soon became one of the biggest country hits of 1979. "Amanda" is a love song of a man approaching middle age and reflecting how his life is and how his wife could have done better without him.

Other versions

"Amanda" was first recorded and released as a single by country singer Don Williams in the summer of 1973 as the flip side of his No. 12 hit "Come Early Morning." Williams' version reached No. 33 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart.[2]

The master for both "Come Early Morning" and "Amanda," along with Williams' other recordings for JMI Records, were sold to ABC-Dot Records in 1974.

Chris Stapleton covered this song on the 2017 tribute album to Don Williams "Gentle Giants: The Songs of Don Williams".[3]

Billy Joe Royal released a version of the song.[4]

Charts

Waylon Jennings

Chart (1979)Peak
position
Canadian RPM Country Tracks1
Canadian RPM Top Singles67
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks7

Year-end charts

Notes and References

  1. Book: Whitburn, Joel. Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. 2008. 208. 978-0-89820-177-2.
  2. Whitburn, p. 463
  3. Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton to Appear on Don Williams Tribute Album. . 6 February 2017.
  4. http://www.allmusic.com/song/mt0002309217 Billy Joe Royal, "Amanda"
  5. Book: Kent, David. David Kent (historian). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. illustrated. Australian Chart Book. St Ives, N.S.W.. 1993. 0-646-11917-6. 338.
  6. Hot Country Songs – Year-End 1979. Billboard. July 18, 2021.