Glen Campbell...dead at 81

[Nemo2]

Glen Campbell, 'Rhinestone Cowboy' singer, dead at 81

 

[braumeister]

Wichita Lineman is the song I associate with him. Quite a talent.

 

[Marita40]

According to a report today, he even filled in for Brian Wilson when Wilson refused to tour with The Beach Boys. I remember my parents liked The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour. Good clean fun at the time.

 

[mamadogmamacat]

I liked the Glen Campbell Goodtime hour also. Touchstone of my youth. And yes, quite a talent. Had a crush on him as a tween. Sad, yet still a class act to the end, when I recall his family announcing his mental decline and retirement from performing a few years back.

 

[Chuckanut]

I helped wash windows at his home near LA as a college youth. He was very nice, approachable and a real descent fellow. He even had his cook make us a tasty lunch, and later bring cool drinks and snacks out to us.

 

[ERD50]

Well, it's been expected for a long time now, but that doesn't quell the sting any, does it?

Glenn Campbell was an amazing, and amazingly versatile guitar player, and performer. Wichita Lineman is great (Jimmy Webb composer, tons of hits), but my favorite is "Gentle on my Mind". Wow, that string of words, flowing like a river. Sort of stream-of consciousness, but always coming back to your home ground. Kinda Dylan-esque.

John Hartford wrote Gentle on my Mind, and I did see/hear him perform it in a smallish club (with his electric floor). Here's good video:

and some of those amazing lyrics...

....

It's just knowin' that the world will not be cursin' or forgivin'
When I walk along some railroad track and find
That you're wavin' from the back roads, by the rivers of my memory
For hours you're just gentle on my mind

....

I still might run in silence, tears of joy might stain my face
And the summer sun might burn me till I'm blind
But not to where I cannot see you walkin' on the back roads
By the rivers flowin' gentle on my mind

...

Through cupped hands 'round a tin can
I pretend to hold you to my breast and find
That you're wavin' from the back roads, by the rivers of my memory
Ever smilin', ever gentle on my mind

"That you're wavin' from the back roads, by the rivers of my memory
For hours you're just gentle on my mind" - that is genius. And Mr Campbell did a great job bringing it to life, and getting it to the public eye.

"The rivers of my memory", sadly ironic.

-ERD50

 

[HadEnuff]

Before he hit the big time as a single artist, he was an accomplished studio guitarist, and played a quite a bit of back-up with the Beach Boys.

For me, his best was Gentle on My Mind but that may be largely due to where I was in life when it was playing. Whenever I hear it, it brings me right back to holding hands with the girl of my dreams. Age 15.

 

[rayinpenn]

I often play lineman... or everyday housewife... good stuff

 

[Nemo2]

For me, his best was Gentle on My Mind but that may be largely due to where I was in life when it was playing. Whenever I hear it, it brings me right back to holding hands with the girl of my dreams. Age 15.

Back then we thought of it as Genitals on My Mind.

 

[HadEnuff]

Back then we thought of it as Genitals on My Mind.

eeuwww....well THAT certainly puts a tarnish on my youthful memory, but it did make me laugh right out loud.

 

[Nemo2]

eeuwww....well THAT certainly puts a tarnish on my youthful memory, but it did make me laugh right out loud.

If you've ever read any of Tanya Tucker's musings about when she and Glen were an 'item' then it becomes quite apropos.

 

[HadEnuff]

If you've ever read any of Tanya Tucker's musings about when she and Glen were an 'item' then it becomes quite apropos.

I believe I'd rather just reminisce about being 15 and holding hands with the girl of my dreams.

 

[FireBug]

Before he hit the big time as a single artist, he was an accomplished studio guitarist, and played a quite a bit of back-up with the Beach Boys.

For me, his best was Gentle on My Mind but that may be largely due to where I was in life when it was playing. Whenever I hear it, it brings me right back to holding hands with the girl of my dreams. Age 15.

Indeed. A fantastic guitarist. Your ref may be in line with.....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wrecking_Crew_(music)

 

[FlaGator]

Had many of the same experiences as other posters watching and listening to him while growing up. Agree with Gentle on My Mind being the best of his vocal work. It's a song that touches me in many places.

As others said, his guitar work was incredible, but largely unnoticed at the height of his popularity. Watch the early concert sequences in the documentary "I'll be me" on Netflix. That he played that well in his decline is a testament to how good he was in his prime.

Sad to lose another music icon........

 

[gcgang]

I saw a piece on him a few years ago, I think 60 Minutes, about performing even though his dementia was quite advanced. He didn't know who most people were, but his lyrics and guitar were spot on.

 

[Bamaman]

When growing up in Nashville in the 1960's, Glen would be on local television on an afternoon music show very often. Later on, he had a long run of songs predominantly written by Jimmy Webb.

I saw him once in a large concert, and he was just great.

 

[brucethebroker]

One of the great and rare crossover artists of the 60's hitting country as well as rock-no easy task during the time of the British invasion and SF/LA movements. I love the Doors, Airplane, Beatles, Clapton and Stones, but also "Galveston and Wichita Lineman". RIP.

 

[Red Badger]

Had many of the same experiences as other posters watching and listening to him while growing up. Agree with Gentle on My Mind being the best of his vocal work. It's a song that touches me in many places.

As others said, his guitar work was incredible, but largely unnoticed at the height of his popularity. Watch the early concert sequences in the documentary "I'll be me" on Netflix. That he played that well in his decline is a testament to how good he was in his prime.

Sad to lose another music icon........

+1.

 

[Birdie Num Nums]

Sheila Davis, in her book The Craft of Lyric Writing, quotes John Hartford, who said he wrote "Gentle on My Mind" as a letter to someone, with "a lyric that went past your ear at a faster speed that was closer to speech."

Davis writes that "The lyric pulses like a chugging freight train. Its incessant TUM-ta-ta-ta, TUM-ta-ta-ta, TUM-ta-ta-ta carries us across the wheat fields and highways and rivers of a wanderer whose recurring vision of an ever-waiting lover gives him the only roots he knows." p. 239.

Hartford "touches all our senses as he subtly changes from a long-distance lens to a closeup of the singer in the final verse. We see this traveling man in a changing landscape... In the third stanza we get a glimpse of the man himself, still a vague figure in the distance walking along a railroad track. In the last verse, however, he comes so close that we could reach out and touch his stubbly beard and dirty hat. Finally, as we watch him drink some steaming soup, we feel what his cupped hands 'round a tin can' are feeling. Hartford's images are so immediate, so tactile, we almost become the man. That's using imagery to its fullest." p. 155

Yeah, Glen Campbell was a superb talent. Great guitarist, fantastic singer. I loved his early stuff, mostly the Jimmy Webb stuff: "Phoenix," "Wichita Lineman," and "Galveston". So much so, I even learned them on guitar. RIP, Glen.

 

[Dawg52]

Enjoyed him back in the day. Never realized he filled in with the Beach Boys. RIP

 

[Music Lover]

Saw an interview with Alice Cooper a couple days ago...his family and the Campbells are very close friends, and that he had one of the best short games he had ever seen in an amateur golfer...and that Eddie Van Halen once even asked Alice if he could arrange a guitar lesson with Glenn for him!!

 

[Marita40]

And don't forget his cute-cowboy role in the original True Grit. It was kind of odd casting, next to John Wayne, but it worked--at least for preteen girls at the time! I think that was his only movie role (?) but I'm not sure.

 

[Teacher Terry]

His music was good and I enjoyed the documentary on him too. They let all the fans know that his farewell tour may not be perfect because of his dementia but it went really well. I am glad for him his suffering is over. My good friend recently died of the same disease and it is not pretty.

 

[Texas Proud]

Saw an interview with Alice Cooper a couple days ago...his family and the Campbells are very close friends, and that he had one of the best short games he had ever seen in an amateur golfer...and that Eddie Van Halen once even asked Alice if he could arrange a guitar lesson with Glenn for him!!

Yea, I saw this online also... seems strange they were friends from opposite sides of the music industry.... however, seems Glen was much more into drugs etc. than Alice..... strange as he portrayed a more normal lifestyle...