Wichita Lineman

Original - Jimmy Webb
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcC_kojgUvM

Cover - Glen Campbell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTfwcLdP5Xk

back when I worked for a publisher in the 80s and we published this song, we had a guy in sales from Havana and he had a very thick Cuban accent and used to pronounce this song as Wish-ee-tah Linn-uh-min.

Glen Campbell ftw

Not casting nastursiums, but they are the same song.

This am my version of Glenn Campbell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTfwcLdP5Xk

Oops! I must have still been drunk when I posted.

Cover - Glen Campbell

...or not drunk enough.

I'll throw down a vote for RE's drunken state.





Naw, Glen Campbell, please.

Both are really good but I think I'll float a vote in there for the Jimmy Webb original. seems like it could have been a hit for him too if it'd been marketed right.

Nothing against Glen Campbell generally, but his version's just too squeaky clean with the string arrangement in the background. Not that there's anything wrong with strings in the right situation. Just didn't care for it here. Jimmy Webb for me too.

As many jokes as there have been about Glen Campbell being SO squeaky clean, he really has a great voice. I prefer the Glen Campbell cover. Its a really pretty version, really nice to hear. But I WILL have to listen to Sweet Child of Mine one more time before going to sleep. Wouldn't want the family to know I actually enjoy Glen Campbell's singing a lot.

I hate to be the one to raise this, RE, but...I've been under the impression -- and still think -- that Glen Campbell's version is the original. I mean, Jimmy Webb is the composer, but...Glen did it first. Please do correct me, if I'm wrong.

Similarly, I'm also surprised that no one has mentioned Billy Joel's participation on the version presented here, which, I'd think, is all the more reason to qualify as a cover.

On a personal note...I'm now reminded of the period when I was more of a wise acre than I like to think I am nowadays, years before pop culture gained "jumped the shark" as a way to disparage something. Instead, within the circle of characters I hung out with at that time, we'd snicker and say that someone had "left the cake out in the rain."

Jimmy Webb was to blame for that. Just the same, I am a fan of his extraordinary work.

But when it comes to "Wichita Lineman," the version I love best is the cover by James Taylor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JoXK...feature=fvwrel

That said...

Jimmy Webb (and Billy Joel), please.

Yeah, you're right. Jimmy Webb wrote it but Glen Campbell got to record it first.

Don't worry, it appears to me you still have it!!

JT all the way.