#11 The Pride of Delight (Arkansas)

#11 Wichita Lineman – Glen Campbell 1968

There may be more Beatles’ tunes later, but today I want to wander back to the country music genre. I've never been an enthusiastic fan of country music, but I don’t let genres get in the way if a song meets my criteria: a talented artist, meaningful lyrics, and an intriguing melody. Sometimes I’m willing to give a bit on one of those criteria if the other two are especially enticing. And if you throw in a well-played piano (Billy Joel, Bruce Hornsby, Elton John), then all bets are off.

In 1968, I was 17 years old, and if I heard “Wichita Lineman,” I may have been intrigued by it, but my dad liked country music, so that was enough for me to ignore whatever attraction it had for me. But once I was on my own and I grew a brain, I became enchanted with Glen Campbell (“The Pride of Delight [Arkansas]”), probably having seen him on television as a guest, or as the summer replacement host for the Smothers Brothers, and finally as host of his own variety show between January 1969 and June 1972.

I bought the albums By the Time I Get to Phoenix and Hey, Little One (on which there is a great cover of “That’s All That Matters” and Dylan’s “I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met”), and then "Wichita Lineman." The story is that Campbell asked prolific songwriter Jimmy Webb (you may know him from Richard Harris’s “MacArthur Park”) to write him a song about a town to pair with “By the Time I Get to Phoenix.” Webb was working on “Wichita Lineman” and shared it with Campbell to see if he liked it, who said he was so moved by it that he cried. So, Campbell recorded it right away. When Webb didn’t hear anything back from Campbell, he assumed Campbell didn’t like it. Shortly after, Campbell and Webb ran into each other and when Campbell told the songwriter that they’d cut a track, Webb was somewhat dismayed because he didn’t consider it finished. For one, it didn’t have a third verse.

But Webb’s lyrics plus Campbell’s voice make it a memorable, timeless, and moving tune. The introductory bass notes pull you in, as the backing instrumentation (from “The Wrecking Crew”) recalls the whine of the wind through the telephone lines as well as the electronic sounds the lineman must hear when he’s on the line. Campbell borrowed a Danelectro bass to play a twangy solo where Webb’s middle section had been meant to go. The lyrics are as sparse as they are sublime, the first part of the verse being the lineman talking about his work:

I am a lineman for the county
And I drive the main roads
Searching in the sun for another overload

And the second half of the verse is the lineman “talking” to his love back home:

I hear you singing in the wires
I can hear you through the whine

Both verses end with the loneliness of the lineman on the prairie, with no vacation in sight, but perhaps still thinking of someone he left at home in the ambiguous “still on the line.”

And the Wichita lineman
Is still on the line

I said lyrics were part of what attracted me to a song, and I’m not sure there is any more perfect lyric than what you find in the second verse:

And I need you more than want you
And I want you for all time

Campbell once said that he told his wife “I want you for all time” frequently ”because it cheers her up.” Campbell died in August 2017 from complications of Alzheimer’s. If you haven’t heard his “I’m Not Gonna Miss You (2014), you should also listen to that (with a box of tissues). After his death, Jimmy Webb sang “Wichita Lineman” with Little Big Town as a tribute during the 51st Annual Country Music Association Awards on November 8, 2017.

Give a listen to “Wichita Lineman.” Comments are always welcome.

Spotify: Wichita Lineman - Glen Campbell