“Wichita Lineman” (Glen Campbell)

Today is songwriter Jimmy Webb’s birthday, so today’s classic Jimmy Webb song of the day is his best composition, maybe the best song ever written, “Wichita Lineman.” The song was a huge hit for singer Glen Campbell; released as a single in October of 1968, the song shot to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, #2 on the Cash Box Top 100, and #1 on both the Billboard Hot Country Songs and Adult Contemporary charts.

“Wichita Lineman” is a perfect song with the perfect melding of chords and melody and lyrics. It is, depending on the day, my favorite pop song ever, period. (It’s right up there with Brian Wilson’s “God Only Knows,” another piece of pop perfection.) The song is short and sweet, no longer than it has to be, just pure genius.

The song is just two verses, no chorus, no bridge. They tell the story of loneliness, related by a hard working guy just trying to do his job to get back to the woman he loves:

I am a lineman for the county
And I drive the main road
Searching in the sun for another overload
I hear you singing in the wire
I can hear you thru the whine
And the Wichita Lineman
Is still on the line

I know I need a small vacation
But it don’t look like rain
And if it snows that stretch down south
Won’t ever stand the strain
And I need you more than I want you
And I want you for all time
And the Wichita Lineman
Is still on the line

“And I need you more than want you, and I want you all for time.” Is there a more perfect line or more perfect affirmation of love? I don’t think so. (Although I also love that phrase, “small vacation.” Not a short vacation, but a small one. Genius.)

How did “Wichita Lineman” come about? The story goes that Glen Campbell called Jimmy up after the success of “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” wanting another “city song.” Jimmy didn’t have anything ready, but he took a few hours to pull together a new song, which he called “Wichita Lineman.” (A few hours. That’s all it took.)

Jimmy sent a quick demo of the song to Glen, who was in the studio at the time, and told him that the song wasn’t quite finished yet; it was missing a third verse. When Jimmy next saw his friend, he asked Glen if he liked it and, if so, he’d work on that third verse shortly. Glen told Jimmy that he didn’t need to write anything else, that they’d already recorded the song as-is. To fill the space where a third verse would have been, Glen played the melody on Carol Kaye’s Dano six-string bass, for that unique deep sound you hear in the middle of the recording.

Here’s how Jimmy Webb remembers it:

“A couple of weeks later I ran into [Glen] somewhere and I said, ‘I guess you guys didn’t like the song.’ ‘Oh, we cut that,’ he said. ‘It wasn’t done! I was just humming the last bit!’ ‘Well, it’s done now!'”

Glen played Jimmy an acetate of the recording, not yet fully mixed, and Jimmy liked what he heard. In fact he went back into the studio with his friend and overdubbed those Morse code-like notes you hear on the track, using his own personal Gulbransen electric organ. (The other musicians who played on the original tracks were Al Casey on acoustic guitar, Al De Lory on piano, Carol Kaye on Fender Precision bass, and Jim Gordon on drums; Glen Campbell himself played acoustic guitar along with that Dano bass part.)

Musically, the song starts in the key of F but with a lot of interesting chords and chord movement. In fact, the exact chords used is somewhat open to interpretation.

Let’s start at the beginning. After an introduction that moves back and forth between FMaj7 and Bb/C, the first part of the verse goes BbMaj7 – Fsus2/A – Bb/C – Dm7 – Am7 – Gsus – D. That’s IVMaj7 – Vsus2/III – IV/V – vim7 – iiim7 – IIsus – VI, the last two chords being a little outside the key. (They’d normally be minor not major.)

The second part of the verse changes things up a bit, going Cadd9 – G/B – Gm/Bb – D/A – G/A – BbMaj7. If we say we’re staying in the key of F, that’s Vadd9 – II/III – ii/iii – VI/III – II/III – IVMaj7 — except I’m not totally sure we’re still in F. We could very well be in D major at this point, or maybe it’s in F for the first few chords and then shifts to D then back to F. In any case, it’s complicated—and the chords never get back home again to the tonic (the F major chord), they just leave you hanging, much as the lineman in the song was hanging out there on the line.

The result is a timeless classic. It’s a perfect song and Glen’s recording of it just breaks your heart; he had that kind of voice. Glen and Jimmy together were something special.

How good is “Wichita Lineman?” No less an expert than Bob Dylan called it “the greatest song ever written.” The single was nominated for four Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year, Best Contemporary Pop Vocal Performance Male, Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist, and Best Engineered Recording, winning in that last category. “Wichita Lineman” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2000, and the Library of Congress preserved the song in National Recording Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” The song has, without a doubt, more than stood the test of time.

As for the guy who wrote it, Jimmy Webb was born on August 15, 1946, in Elk City, Oklahoma. (That makes him 78 years old today, if you do the math properly.) Jimmy’s father was a Baptist minister who moved around Oklahoma and Texas, and Jimmy grew up playing piano and organ in his father’s church choirs—and soon started writing his own music.

In 1964, when Jimmy was 18 years old, his family moved to California, where he studied music at San Bernardino Valley College. His mother died that same year and when his father moved the family back to Oklahoma, Jimmy decided to stay in California and pursue a career as a songwriter. That was a good choice.

Jimmy got his first songwriting contract with Jobete Music, the publishing arm of Motown Records. His first work to be recorded was a ditty called “My Christmas Tree,” which made it onto the Supremes’ 1965 Merry Christmas album. He later signed a publishing deal with Johnny Rivers, who recorded his song “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” in 1966. More songs followed, recorded by more artists, and Jimmy Webb became one of the most sought-after songwriters of the late ’60s. His songs have been recorded by hundreds of artists and are true classics today.

So here’s your daily bonus video of the day, Jimmy Webb discussing “Wichita Lineman” with Rick Beato. Jimmy is a great storyteller and it’s interesting to hear him discuss his own work. He notes being influenced by Burt Bacharach (those fancy chords!) and George Martin and the Beatles, particularly their harmonies. Yeah, I can see both of those.

And before I forget—happy birthday Jimmy Webb!