I loved this song when Glen Campbell did it, but when I learned about the writer, Jimmy Webb, I got more interested in the way a song gets turned into pop music. For instance, Jimmy Webb wrote that song about MacArthur Park where someone left the cake out in the rain.

Then one day I was sitting in my car, waiting for the parking rules to expire, and WFUV played a Freedy Johnson version of this Jimmy Webb song that Glen Campbell made famous (with strings).

It’s a fantastic song about a guy doing his job, taking care of the electrical wires in Kansas, which makes the fact that Glen Campbell turned it into a hit seem incredible. In any case, Freedy is an excellent songwriter and a fine interpreter, which makes this choice.