The Haunting Beauty of "Wichita Lineman" - Glen Campbell and James Taylor

An homage to the late, great Glen Campbell on his birthday

Rock ’n’ Roll with Me is a daily email newsletter (except Sunday) presenting one or more of my favorite danceable rock ’n’ roll songs, from the sixties onwards, along with some fun facts and memories.

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Our song of the day

Listening to Glen Campbell singing “Wichita Lineman” never fails to make me cry.

It’s a song that brings back those conflicting and bittersweet feelings I had of leaving childhood behind and growing up. It came out in October 1968, when I was 12 and struggling with the scary yet exciting new world of junior high school.

Not to mention coming out in a troubled time when we had already witnessed the assassinations of two key political figures that year — Martin Luther King Jr. in April and Robert F. Kennedy in June — and were mired in the escalating horrors of the Vietnam War.

Along comes Glen singing one of Jimmy Webb’s “crushed lonely hearts” songs, as Jimmy called them. A song he had composed expressly for his friend Glen. Those two sure crushed my young, yearning heart. Mission accomplished.

Glen Campbell would have been 88 today. I’m featuring the song in today’s post in homage to the seriously talented and winsome Glen on his birthday. (Thanks, Brad Kyle, for your note alerting us to this landmark day.) More on Glen’s uber-accomplishments in fun facts below.

Herewith “Wichita Lineman.” Hear it and weep.

And here’s a live version by another artist known for crushing hearts with his songs. (I’m thinking of “Fire and Rain,” which never fails to move me.)

We’re talking about James Taylor, of course. The day after Glen’s death, James sang the tune in Glen’s honor at a concert at the Blossom Music Center in Cleveland. He introduced it as one of his favorite songs.

That version makes me cry too. A beautiful orchestration. And what is it about James Taylor that I always want to give him a maternal hug? He and Glen both have that endearing quality, don’t they?

We’ll revisit James’ own tunes in a future post.

Some fun facts

• When it was released, “Wichita Lineman” zoomed to spots at the top of the pop, country, and adult contemporary charts around the English-speaking world, and was certified gold within three months. Bob Dylan considered it “the greatest song ever written,” and Rolling Stone ranked it 206th in its 2021 list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”

• When Glen got the demo for the song from Jimmy Webb, he said he cried because it made him homesick. (Loneliness, forlornness, yearning — all there in the music and lyrics of that dang song.)

• As Jimmy Webb explained in an interview: "The territory I tend to inhabit is that sort of 'crushed lonely hearts' thing. The first part of a relationship is usually that white-hot centre when all the happy songs come. When that's gone it can be devastating, and that's when the sorrowful songs come." (The Times, September 16, 2016)

• In case you don’t know Jimmy Webb, he also wrote the hit “MacArthur Park” for the Irish actor and singer Richard Harris, another of his close mates, as well as many other hit songs, TV theme songs, and movie scores. You remember “MacArthur Park” — the “cake out in the rain” song that bemused us, made famous again by Donna Summer in the late 70s (which I will cover in a future post).

• Glen Campbell was no slouch either. I like Brad Kyles’ summary of his career: “For all of his hits (for Capitol Records) in the 1960s and ‘70s (and a hit variety TV show), he actually moved to L.A. in the early ‘60s, and promptly got regular session work as a reliable and creative guitar player…and, he couldn’t read a lick of music!”

• By session work, Brad is referring to Glen’s membership as a guitar player in the Wrecking Crew, a group of musicians who played on hundreds of rock and pop hits in the 60s and early 70s. You can hear Glen and other members reminisce and share humorous stories here (thanks again, Brad!) and watch The Wrecking Crew documentary on tubi or amazon prime.

• Happy birthday, Glen, and thanks for your amazing legacy.

Questions for discussion in the comments

1. Did you watch the Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS? (I can’t remember if we did, to be honest.)

2. Have you ever left a cake out in the rain?

3. Have you ever had a crushed lonely heart?

4. Would you hire a group referred as the Wrecking Crew to play backup on your song? (I mean, whose songs did they wreck?)

5. Any other musings, comments, inklings you wish to share?