WICHITA LINEMAN

"'Wichita Lineman'" is a popular song written by Jimmy Webb in 1968, first recorded by Glen Campbell and widely covered since. Campbell's version, which appeared on his 1968 album ''Wichita Lineman'', reached #3 on the US charts, remaining in the Top 100 for 15 weeks. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" ranked "Wichita Lineman" at #192. It has been referred to as 'the first existential country song'.
Webb was inspired to write the lyrics when he saw a solitary lineman near the Kansas-Oklahoma border, possibly in Wichita County, Kansas or south of Wichita, Kansas. (Despite the identical names, the city, located in Sedgwick County, and county, which is in far western Kansas, are over 250 road miles (400 km) apart, and the city is noticeably closer to the Oklahoma border than the county. Campbell may have been referring to Sumner County, which is where Interstate 35 crosses from Oklahoma into Kansas.) The lyric describes the longing that a lonely telephone lineman feels for an absent lover who he imagines he can hear "singing in the wire" that he is working on.
"Wichita Lineman" has been recorded by a diverse range of artists; from Ray Charles, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Dwight Yoakam to Kool and the Gang and Urge Overkill.
Performers have included:

★ Johnny A on 'Sometime Tuesday Morning'

★ Jimmy Barnes and David Campbell, on ''Double Happiness''

★ Ken Berry on ''Ken Berry R. F. D.''

★ Dennis Brown on ''Tracks of Life''

★ Glen Campbell on ''Love Story''

★ Johnny Cash on ''Unearthed Volume Three''

★ Andy Williams on ''Happy Heart''

★ Clouds

★ The Fatback Band on ''Let's Do It Again''

★ Friends of Dean Martinez on ''Wichita Lineman''

★ Gomez for a radio session

★ Wade Hayes

★ Steve Hogarth on the H Natural tour

★ Freedy Johnston on ''Unlucky''

★ Shawn Lee on ''Soul Visa''

★ The Lettermen on ''I Have Dreamed''

★ Hank Marvin on Solid Gold Collection

★ The Meters, on "Struttin'"

★ Optiganally Yours on Spotlight On...

★ Peter Nero on ''Love Story''

★ R.E.M.

★ The Rolling Stones at their concert in Wichita, Kansas on their "A Bigger Bang" tour on 1st October 2006 (Short intro and chorus only)

★ Scud Mountain Boys on ''Pine Box''

★ Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66 (Billboard Hot 100 hit in 1969)

★ Stone Temple Pilots with Glenn Campbell on a rare black and white video

★ These Animal Men ''secret track on Come on Join the High Society'' and ''Childline'' Charity compilation CD

★ Urge Overkill, on ''Americruiser/Jesus Urge Superstar'' (listed as "Witchita Lineman")

★ Jimmy Webb, on ''Ten Easy Pieces''

★ The White Stripes various Live Shows

★ Cassandra Wilson, on ''Belly of the Sun''

★ Steve Poltz various live shows

★ Spoofed in a Pinky and the Brain sketch on Animaniacs with the line "I am a telephone repairman from this area"

★ Homer Simpson, in the Simpsons episode Co-Dependent's Day

Contents

Arrangement

External links

Arrangement

In the first recording, by Glen Campbell, a notable feature of Al de Lory's orchestral arrangement is that the violins and a Gulbransen Synthesizer mimic the sounds that a lineman might hear when attaching a telephone earpiece to a long stretch of raw telephone or telegraph line i.e. without typical line equalisation and filtering. One would be aware of high-frequency tones fading in and out, caused by the accidental rectification (the rusty bolt effect) of heterodynes between many radio stations (the violins play this sound); and occasional snatches of Morse Code from radio amateurs or utility stations (this is heard after the line of lyric, "is still on the line"). Heterodynes are also referenced in the lyric, "I can hear you through the whine".

External links

★ ''Rolling Stone'' 500 Greatest Songs of All Time: Wichita Lineman

★ ''Blender'' The Greatest Songs Ever