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Country music is one of the few genres that has remained popular throughout the decades, with various artists taking the classic sound under their wing and evolving it for a new generation of listeners. Glen Campbell was one of those; an iconic country star whose music defined the '60s and '70s.
His song "Wichita Lineman" was ranked No. 12 on Rolling Stone's list of the 200 Greatest Country Songs of All Time, towering above titans of the genre such as Loretta Lynn and Buck Owens.
The song details "a lonely guy working at the top of a telephone pole while driving through the voids of rural Oklahoma," Rolling Stone writes—but the song's legacy and impact has endured for decades as something much deeper and more personal.
The song was written by Jimmy Webb following studio demands to repeat the success of his previous hit, "By the Time I Get to Phoenix"—which was also performed by Glen Campbell. As a result, he wrote "Wichita Lineman", and Campbell scored another No. 1 hit on the American Country Chart.
"I really sat down to write something that would please [the label] mostly," Webb confessed.
The single went to No. 3 on the U.S. Pop Chart and shot to No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary Chart for six weeks following its release. Yet the real legacy of "Wichita Lineman" wasn't its chart performance, but rather the critical acclaim and industry respect that it gathered in the following decades.
Singer-songwriter Bob Dylan famously called "Wichita Lineman" the "greatest song ever written", highlighting the impact that it had over his career throughout the late '60s and '70s. He also named Link Wray's "Rumble", The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand", and Eagles' "Pretty Maids All in a Row" as some of his favorites. (via American Songwriter)
About "Wichita Lineman", Rolling Stone writes: "The sound — a haze of soapy violins and expansive chord changes — had more to do with the onset of soft rock than the rudiments of country, but the subject matter was a new spin on an old story. Country calls it individualism; Webb called it loneliness."
