About The Song
“London Homesick Blues” appears as the closing track on Jerry Jeff Walker’s album ¡Viva Terlingua!, released in November 1973 by MCA Records. The song was written by Gary P. Nunn and features Nunn on lead vocals, with production credited to Michael Brovsky. The recording runs approximately 7 minutes and 46 seconds. The album itself reached a peak position of number 160 on the Billboard 200 chart and was later certified gold by the RIAA on December 16, 1977, for sales of 500,000 units in the United States.
Gary P. Nunn composed the song in March 1973 while in London. At the time, Nunn was accompanying Michael Martin Murphey on a promotional trip connected to Murphey’s album Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir. Murphey had arranged for Nunn to stay on the couch of a flat near Oxford Street and Hyde Park belonging to the brother of Murphey’s wife. The flat was occupied by four young men who were frequently away, and the building’s heating system was turned off from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Nunn spent extended periods alone in the cold space with a gut-string guitar. He began with the line “well it’s cold over here, and I swear, I wished they would turn the heat on” and developed the rest as a writing exercise that deliberately mixed British idioms with Texas references. Specific lines that resulted include “London Bridge has fallen down, and moved to Arizona, now I know why,” “you can put up your dukes, or you can bet your boots,” “them Limey eyes, they were eyein’ the prize that some people call manly footwear,” and “when a Texan fancies he’ll take his chances.” The chorus phrase “I wanna go home with the armadillo” was chosen after Nunn considered alternatives that more directly referenced the Armadillo World Headquarters venue in Austin.
After returning to Texas, Nunn next performed the song in a casual setting during the recording sessions for ¡Viva Terlingua! in August 1973. Walker had decided to record the album at the Luckenbach Dancehall in Luckenbach, Texas, rather than in a conventional studio. The sessions involved members of what became known as the Lost Gonzo Band, including Bob Livingston, Craig Hillis, Michael McGeary, Herb Steiner, and others. On the Saturday night of the week-long sessions, a public concert was held with an admission price of one dollar. The hall was filled to capacity. Late in the set, Walker asked Nunn to perform the song he had been singing under the trees that afternoon. The band had not rehearsed the number. Nunn began singing, the other musicians followed, and the audience response was immediate and strong. The performance was captured on tape. Accounts of the session indicate that the final album version is a composite: a string broke on Walker’s guitar during an initial take, and material from a subsequent encore was edited together with the first attempt. At the conclusion of the track on the finished album, a voice announces “Gary P. Nunn!”
¡Viva Terlingua! was recorded primarily live in the dancehall, both with and without an audience present, over several days in August 1973. The album mixed original material by Walker with songs by other Texas writers, including Guy Clark’s “Desperados Waiting for a Train,” Ray Wylie Hubbard’s “Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother,” and Michael Martin Murphey’s “Backslider’s Wine.” “London Homesick Blues” closes the record. Initial sales were concentrated in Texas, where the album sold roughly 50,000 copies relatively quickly, with more modest numbers outside the state. The overall U.S. total eventually reached the gold threshold of 500,000 units.
In 1977, beginning with season 2 of the public-television program Austin City Limits, “London Homesick Blues” was adopted as the show’s theme song. It remained in that role through season 29 in 2004, a span of nearly three decades. Different arrangements and performances of the theme were used over the years, including versions associated with John Mills (1982–1998) and Tequila Mockingbird (2000–2004), but the song itself stayed consistent. The track has been covered by other artists, among them David Allan Coe in 1981 and Gary P. Nunn on his own later releases, including a version subtitled “Home With the Armadillo.”
Personnel associated with the original recording include Gary P. Nunn (lead vocal, keyboards), Jerry Jeff Walker (guitar, vocals), Bob Livingston (bass, backing vocals), Craig Hillis (electric guitar), Michael McGeary (drums, percussion), Herb Steiner (steel guitar), and additional contributions from musicians such as Mickey Raphael on harmonica and Mary Egan on fiddle in the broader sessions. The album was engineered in part by Martin Lennard. The song’s writing credit is solely to Gary P. Nunn; Walker did not claim authorship.
The recording location itself—Luckenbach Dancehall—was chosen deliberately for its informal character. Walker sought to avoid the controlled environment of Nashville studios and preferred the acoustic and communal atmosphere of the small Texas Hill Country venue. The public concert portion of the sessions, during which “London Homesick Blues” was captured, formed a central part of the album’s documented history. Subsequent reissues and compilations have kept the track in circulation, and it continues to appear on retrospective collections of Walker’s work and of 1970s Texas country recordings.
Chart performance of the parent album remained modest on the national Billboard 200, peaking at number 160. No separate Billboard singles chart entry is recorded for “London Homesick Blues” itself. The song’s primary documented commercial impact is tied to the album’s gold certification and to its extended use as the Austin City Limits theme. Later live performances by Nunn and by Walker, including appearances documented in the 1990s and beyond, have preserved the original arrangement and structure.
Primary contemporary accounts of the song’s composition and recording come from Gary P. Nunn’s own written recollection published in Lone Star Music Magazine in 2012, from session participants including Bob Livingston, and from contemporaneous reporting on the ¡Viva Terlingua! sessions. Additional verification of release data, chart positions, and certification appears in RIAA records, Billboard archives, and standard discographies of Walker’s MCA-period output. The track remains listed as the ninth and final song on the original 1973 LP configuration of ¡Viva Terlingua!.
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Lyric
Gotta put myself back in that place again Well, when you're down on your luck and you ain't got a buck In London you're a goner Even London Bridge has fallen down And moved to Arizona Now I know why And I'll substantiate the rumor that the English sense of humor Is drier than the Texas sand You can put up your dukes or you can bet your boots That I'm leavin' just as fast as I can I wanna go home with the armadillo Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene The friendliest people and the prettiest women you ever seen Well, it's cold over here, and I swear I wish they'd turn the heat on And where in the world is that English girl I promised I would meet on the third floor? And of the whole damn lot, the only friend I got Is a smoke and a cheap guitar My mind keeps roamin', my heart keeps longin' To be home in a Texas bar I wanna go home with the armadillo Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene The friendliest people and the prettiest women you ever seen Well, I decided that I'd get my cowboy hat And go down to Marble Arch Station 'Cause when a Texan fancies he'll take his chances Chances will be taken, that's for sure And them limey eyes, they were eyein' the prize That some people call manly footwear And they said "You're from down South and when you open your mouth You always seem to put your foot there" I wanna go home with the armadillo Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene The friendliest people and the prettiest women you ever seen I wanna go home with the armadillo Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene The friendliest people and the prettiest women you ever seen I wanna go home with the armadillo Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene The friendliest people and the prettiest women you ever seen I wanna go home with the armadillo Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene The friendliest people and the prettiest women you ever seen I wanna go home with the armadillo Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene The friendliest people and the prettiest women you ever seen Gary P. Nunn! I wanna go home with the armadillo Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene The friendliest people and the prettiest women you ever seen I wanna go home with the armadillo Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene The friendliest people and the prettiest women you ever seen I wanna go home with the armadillo Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene The friendliest people and the prettiest women you ever seen