An accomplished guitarist, Glen Campbell was a highly sought-after session player who performed on recordings by the Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra and Merle Haggard before becoming a successful solo artist known for his uncanny ability to pick great songs.
Below are the stories behind five of Glenâs most popular songs: âGentle On My Mind,â âWichita Lineman,â âGalveston,â âRhinestone Cowboyâ and âSouthern Nights.â
âGentle On My Mindâ
In the late 1960s, few artists carried a plate as full of activity as Glen. He had set his sights on a solo career, but was coming up empty in the search for a breakout hit song. Finally, on his way to a recording session, Glen found the song that would help launch him to solo stardom.
âI was listening to a Los Angeles country music station,â Glen recalled, âand heard a low voice singing a song called âGentle on My Mind,â and it really stuck. The song had such a freshness of spirit, I thought.â
Glen recorded âGentle on My Mindâ on May 17, 1967, at the Capitol Recording Studio in Hollywood, Calif., and he recalled that the song truly changed his life and career path. âGentle on My Mindâ hit big on both the country and pop charts, copped three Grammy awards, including Best Country & Western Song, and helped establish Glen as a true crossover artist.
âWichita Linemanâ
âI listen for chord progression, melody, a good lyric that says somethingâand something positive,â noted Glen. âI think Jimmy Webb writes probably the best melodies and chord progressions of anybody that Iâve ever heard, including the greats. Heâs my very favorite writer of all time.â
Jimmy delivered to Glen such hits as âBy the Time I Get to Phoenixâ and âI Wanna Live.â But the Webbâpenned âWichita Linemanâ positively electrified listeners around the country, reaching No. 1 on the country chart and No. 3 on the pop chart.
ââWichita Linemanâ is the song that brought me stardom,â says Glen. âItâs my favorite ballad. I cried when he played it. The songâs loneliness grabs you. Jimmy was driving through the nothingness of Oklahoma and Kansas. He saw this lineman on a pole in the middle of nowhere. Those lyrics. I need you more than want you and I want you for all time. Boy, that lineman was really in love with somebody.â
And, fans proved they were really in love with the song. On Jan. 22, 1969, âWichita Linemanâ was officially certified as Glenâs first gold single. He would follow up with three more gold singles: âGalveston,â âRhinestone Cowboyâ and âSouthern Nights.â
âGalvestonâ
Glen and songwriter Jimmy Webb enjoyed one of the great partnerships in musical history. But as Glen noted in his book, Rhinestone Cowboy: An Autobiography, he has often made slight alterations to Jimmyâs work, not in the actual lyrics but in the melodies and arrangements. âI changed âPhoenixâ somewhat, amending the chord progression at the end,â Glen recalled. âJimmy has always teased me that itâs my obsession to tamper with his work.â
Glen, a superb musician as well as vocalist, put his ear to work again on another Jimmy Webb penned tune, âGalveston.â Glen heard the original version of âGalvestonâ and felt that the tempo was too slow. He decided to record the song at a much faster tempo. Jimmy recalled to Country Weekly magazine in 2010 that âGalvestonâ was more of a lament and was âmeant to be a sad song. Itâs about this guy whoâs involved in a war and doesnât want to be there and it is [also] about this woman back at home whoâs waiting for him. But Glen changed the tempo and it became a huge record. He was a gifted arranger,â Jimmy added. âGalvestonâ debuted on the charts March 15, 1969, and went on to become the third No. 1 single of Glenâs career.
âRhinestone Cowboyâ
âRhinestone Cowboyâ became a No. 1 hit for Glen on Aug. 23, 1975, but he recalled hearing the tune on the radio a year earlier.
âIt was sung by [the songâs writer] Larry Weiss, and I bought a cassette copy,â Glen noted. Glen wanted to cut the song and told a label executive, âIâve got to do this song I found. I wonât take no for an answer.â His demand led to an incredible coincidence. The executive agreed to listen to the song if Glen would listen to something he had found for him. The tune in question was âRhinestone Cowboy.â Glen said, âThat was a sign that the song had to be right for me.â Glen especially loved the line in the first verse, Thereâs been a load of compromisinâ on the road to my horizon.
âI thought it was my autobiography set to song,â he said. âRhinestone Cowboyâ became a popular crossover hit for Glen, as it also reached No. 1 on the pop charts. On top of that, Glenâs âRhinestone Cowboyâ album topped the country charts in September of 1975.
âSouthern Nightsâ
Glen Campbell scored his fifth career No. 1 country single when the bouncy âSouthern Nightsâ captured the top spot on March 19, 1977. The song was written by New Orleans-based R&B great Allen Toussaint, who used childhood memories of his Louisiana relatives as the backdrop.
Glen, who grew up in rural Arkansas, identified with âSouthern Nightsâ and recorded it in October of 1976, with slightly altered lyrics. The tune became the title track to his 1977 album, which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. It was also recently included in the movie soundtrack for The Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2.