Ebook: The Wichita lineman: searching in the sun for the world's greatest unfinished song

"Written in 1968 by Jimmy Webb, 'Wichita lineman' is the first philosophical country song: a heartbreaking torch ballad still celebrated for its mercurial songwriting genius fifty years on. It was recorded in LA by Glen Campbell with a legendary group of musicians known as 'the Wrecking Crew,' and something about the song's enigmatic mood seemed to capture the tensions in America at a moment of crisis. Fusing a dribble of bass, searing strings, tremolo guitar and Campbell's plaintive vocals, Webb's paean to the American West describe a telephone lineman's longing for an absent lover, who he hears 'singing in the wire'--and like all good love songs, it's an SOS from the heart. Mixing close-listening, interviews and travelogue, Dylan Jones explores the legacy of a record that has entertained and haunted millions for over half a century. What is it about this song that continues to seduce listeners, and how did the parallel stories of Campbell and Webb--songwriters and recording artists from different ends of the spectrum--unfold in the years following? Part biography, part work of musicological archaeology, The Wichita lineman opens a window on to America in the late twentieth century through the prism of a song that has been covered by myriad artists in the intervening decades"--Dust jacket flap.