‘Wichita Lineman’: The Classic Glen Campbell Song

Udiscovermusic ^ | July 29, 2025B | Donald C. Cutler

[moviefan8]

The Wrecking Crew documentary was good. Better than the one about Muscle Shoalls.

[50sDad]

Did some playful musings on my favorite book series...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9oF22Im2SQ&list=RDr9oF22Im2SQ&start_radio=1

[StACase]

Yeah, “The Wichita lineperson” would have been much better.

[Yardstick]

The changes are pretty wild yet it comes across as a totally relatable pop song. Pretty amazing how Webb managed to do that.

[ZinGirl]

Thank you for your service and for the sacrifices you made being away from your family. My dad was not military, but worked for a military contractor. He traveled most of my growing up years. Mom raised five of us often alone and did an amazing job. My oldest brother was valedictorian and I remember so well Dad not being able to make the graduation ceremony and listen to his speech. It was only in the later years that I realized how much his sacrifice meant to the family. What a strong, brave man he was, and I miss him so much. All five of us turned out great… No drugs, no arrests, we were all able to go to college and, sidenote, that oldest son became a captain in the Navy.😀.

[cyclotic]

I’ve been thinking about this song a lot this past week. My wife and I are on an epic road trip. Maryland to Colorado. Side trip to anew Mexico with short excursion into Texas and Oklahoma. Yesterday we decided to shoot into North Dakota for the day.

It’s mainly a quest to check off states. We bought an overland camping rig last year. By tomorrow we’ll have driven into 28 states with it.

Seeing the endless line of poles along the shimmering and lonely roadways makes one think of how all that has been built and maintained by the Wichita linemen.

[yldstrk]

My mom loved that song. She also loved the Sloop John B by the Beach Boys.

[Lizavetta]

That there was some excellent songwriting. It’s also one of those songs you recognize in two notes.

[yldstrk]

the desperate lives we have are nothing without love and God.
**********
Life is a heartbreak

[Psalm 73]

Man, Jimmy Webb's lyrics and melody paired with Glen Campbell's guitar and vocals was a match made in heaven.

I get goose bumps every time I hear that song.

[FreedomPoster]

“greatest song ever written” - Bob Dylan

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/bob-dylan-song-greatest-ever-written/

[Fiji Hill]

I thought the song was about a football player.

[Fiji Hill]

For Webb, a memory of a childhood trip across the Panhandle of Oklahoma informed his writing of this song

The Sooner State is also featured in "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," which recounts a road trip from Arizona to Oklahoma.

[Bonemaker]

Southern Nightd.

[Dan in Wichita]

What a great song. Listening to it now is like riding in a time traveling machine, taking us back to another era of American history.

Being from Wichita, I can say lots of folks believe this song takes place in Wichita, KS, but of course, it is not. However, I was always led to believe it was about Wichita Falls, TX.

[nickcarraway]

It’s about wherever your mind tells you it is.

[redangus]

Galveston is another haunting Jimmy Webb song.

[PGalt]

Thanks for posting. Great song. I was listening to it a couple of days ago. R.I.P. Glen Campbell

[ProtectOurFreedom]

”…the lineman – a gender-inclusive term within the industry”

My God! Really, Cutler? You are a pathetic incel cuck. How many women were out fighting extremely harsh conditions from 1840 onward to keep the li es working?

[Natty Bumppo@frontier.net]

Mark Steyn wrote an article about Witchita Lineman based on an interview with Jimmy Webb https://www.steynonline.com/8025/wichita-lineman

Webb was driving across Washita County, Oklahoma when he saw the telephone lineman working on top of a pole. Washita would prove troublesome lyrically, and Witchita was geographically ambiguous enough to expand the song’s appeal.

Besides Jimmy had grown up in Witchita Falls, Texas, and his inspiration for Witchita Lineeman, Up, Up, and Away, and By the Time I Get to Phoenix, was Susan Horton, the Homecoming Queen of Colton High School, but she had married a teacher.

Jimmy wrote two verses and sent it a demo to Glen Campbell to review while he composed the third verse. Glen loved the song so much he wrote the bass solo and recorded it for release before Jimmy wrote another verse.

If you listen carefully, the strings and piano are playing S-O-S.