Glenn Campell - "Wichita Lineman" (1968)

Glen Campbell. Album: Wichita Lineman Released: 1968 ..... RFK and MLK were assassinated that year - it was a tumultuous year in America and in the world. ...

Jimmy Webb:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Webb

Wichita Lineman" is a popular song written by Jimmy Webb in 1968, first recorded by Glen Campbell and widely covered by other artists. Campbell's version, which appeared on his 1968 album of the same name, reached #3 on the U.S. pop chart, remaining in the Top 100 for 15 weeks. In addition, the song also topped the American country music chart for two weeks, and the adult contemporary chart for six weeks. It was certified gold by the RIAA in January 1969. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" ranked "Wichita Lineman" at #192. It has been referred to as 'the first existential country song'.

Webb was inspired to write the lyrics when he saw a solitary lineman in rural northern Oklahoma] The lyric describes the longing that a lonely telephone or electric power lineman feels for an absent lover who he imagines he can hear "singing in the wire" that he is working on. Such a sonic vibration is commonly induced by wind blowing across small conductors. There is uncertainty as to which "Wichita" is intended; Wichita, Kansas, Wichita County, Kansas (which is over 250 road miles away), Wichita Falls, Texas, and Wichita County, Texas have all been suggested as possibilities. In his Wichita, Kansas concert, Glen Campbell announced that the song referred to Wichita County, in western Kansas.

In the first recording, by Glen Campbell, a notable feature of Al de Lory's orchestral arrangement is that the violins and a Gulbransen Synthesizer mimic the sounds that a lineman might hear when attaching a telephone earpiece to a long stretch of raw telephone or telegraph line, i.e. without typical line equalisation and filtering. One would be aware of high-frequency tones fading in and out, caused by the accidental rectification (the rusty bolt effect) of heterodynes between many radio stations (the violins play this sound); and occasional snatches of Morse Code from radio amateurs or utility stations (this is heard after the line of lyric, "is still on the line"). Heterodynes are also referenced in the lyric, "I can hear you through the whine".

The bass solo was played by Campbell himself on a Danelectro six-string bass borrowed from friend and session bassist Carol Kaye; the pulsing effect is tremolo from a Fender amplifier. On a 1969 appearance on the Smothers Brothers TV show, Campbell played the solo on a Fender Bass VI six-string bass guitar.

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[MrCarl0s27]

Jimmy Webb has said that this was a fairly off-the-cuff song, he wrote it when he was just starting out and didn't think it was going to be that popular..........That's what i love about art, after it has separated from its creator, it can transcend itself to become something so much more than what it was. This song, put briefly, is arrestingly beautiful. Thank you, Jimmy Webb, for writing it, and thank you Glenn Campbell, for your performance.

[TheBacmaster]

@MrCarl0s27 You're 100% correct. I he was a guest with radio talk show host Doug McIntyre's Red Eye Dec 28, 2011. The interview was very interesting and Jimmy Webb is quite an amazing man.

[daffy16324]

MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS SONG!!!!! WHO WROTE IT? I FORGOT, BEEN SO LONG AGO....But now I hear it and 1968 comes flashing back, they sure don't make songs like they used to, I am glad I was around to hear some of this great music lyrics, too. Thank u Glen Campbell, and whoever wrote the song, Jimmy Webb?

[TheBacmaster]

@daffy16324 His songs have been recorded or performed by Glen Campbell, The 5th Dimension, Thelma Houston, The Supremes, Richard Harris, Johnny Maestro, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Isaac Hayes, Art Garfunkel, Amy Grant, America, Linda Ronstadt, R.E.M., Michael Feinstein, and Carly Simon, among others. According to BMI, his song "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" was the third most performed song in the fifty years between 1940 to 1990.

[TheBacmaster]

@daffy16324 Jimmy Webb (born August 15, 1946) is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He wrote numerous platinum selling classics, including "Up, Up and Away", "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman", "Galveston", "The Worst That Could Happen", "All I Know", and "MacArthur Park". cont...

[copperlocks1]

Gosh;this song brings back so much memories;..Thank You; to ALL the utility workers who are the unsung heroes of our modern plugged in society....and a big thank you for posting this song

[PalerShadeOfWhite]

Really great. This is what I myself also make and call an "image-stream" video --- the images flow much faster than a "slide show" and the images and durations are synced to the lyrics and tempos. Well, I had harvested about 100 images to use to make this type of video for this song when I found your (this) video. It is better than anything I could ever hope to make, especially because I believe you must know a bit about lineman work and I don't. So I'm quitting...why mess with the best ;-}

[julielvsliason]

Most romantic lyrics ever written in a song.....

"I need you more than want you and I want you for all time..."

Beautiful Jimmy Webb, absolutely beautiful!

[IntotheMystic1214]

Pure..true..you can picture yourself in the song....the longing one has for a lover

[davidm0617]

Thanks for re posting..

[MrEmmaclaps]

Something so special about original recording.

[countrinatic]

im only 15 but this is the greatest music ever