London Homesick Blues: How Gary P. Nunn Penned Austin's Signature Song

Written far from home

Nunn has often described writing the song during a gloomy stay in London, missing Texas weather, food and friends. The lyrics turn that homesickness into a list of everything good about Texas, delivered with a wink.

The Luckenbach recording

The best-known version was recorded in August 1973 at the Luckenbach dance hall for Jerry Jeff Walker's ¡Viva Terlingua!, with Nunn himself taking the lead vocal. Walker giving the spotlight to a band member was typical of the album's easygoing spirit. See the ¡Viva Terlingua! oral history for the full session story.

The Austin City Limits theme

A version of the song served as the theme for Austin City Limits, the long-running music series on PBS (the US public broadcaster), for much of the program's early decades, carrying the Austin sound to viewers across the United States and, through later broadcasts and recordings, around the world. For many viewers, that chorus was their first taste of Texas music.

What the song says about the era

The armadillo in the chorus is a nod to Austin's Armadillo World Headquarters and to the scrappy animal the scene adopted as its mascot. The song captures the scene's humor, pride and refusal to take itself too seriously.

Learn more about the songwriter in our Gary P. Nunn profile or about the band in The Lost Gonzo Band history.