Today is National Lineman Appreciation Day!

I posted about Jimmy Webb’s song Wichita Lineman, or rather Freedy Johnson’s version of it, a few years ago here. But today is the day for appreciating linemen (actually it was yesterday, but close enough), this seems like a good time to take a look at the Glen Campbell version, which was a No. 3 hit in 1968 (No. 1 on the country charts).

Campbell is backed on the record by the Wrecking Crew, of which he was a member.

Reading about the Campbell version, I learned about the many other covers of the tune. Most surprisingly? Kool and the Gang.

Jazzy instrumental, hard to not think of the lyrics though it goes to a totally different place.

The inspiration for the song, according to the Wikipedia entry, was a lineman working atop a telephone pole who Webb saw while driving across Oklahoma and brooding about a failed romantic relationship. Webb imagined himself on the pole, talking to his gal, his heart breaking. Webb called the image “the picture of loneliness.”

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