These Days

Well I've been out walking
I don't do that much talking these days
These days
These days I seem to think a lot
About the things that I forgot to do
For you
And all the times I had the chance to

Jackson Browne was 16 when he wrote These Days in 1965, and 25 when he released a recorded version on his album For Everyman.  In his young hands, the lyrics sound presumptuous and pretentious, as did the title of the album.

Glen Campbell was 72 when he recorded These Days in 2008.  He'd lived quite a life.  Considered one of the finest guitarists in America, a noted session musician since 1960, a recording star (listen to Wichita Lineman), host of a TV show, a tumultuous and public love life, with bouts of alcoholism in the mix, Campbell had something to sing about and it shows in his version of the song.  The last line of the song weighs heavy here:

Don't confront me with my failures/ I had not forgotten them

Two years after this recording Campbell was diagnosed with Alzheimers (whether he was already showing signs of the disease in 2008 I don't know). Glen Campbell passed in 2017.

Wichita Lineman

 I am a lineman for the county
And I drive the main roads
Searching in the sun for another overload
I hear you singing in the wires
I can hear you through the whine
And the Wichita lineman
Is still on the line

I know I need a small vacation
But it don’t look like rain
And if it snows that stretch down south won’t ever stand the strain
And I need you more than want you
And I want you for all time
And the Wichita lineman
Is still on the line

I first wrote about Wichita Lineman in my Songs I Didn't Like to Admit I Liked series.  It's a magnificent composition lyrically and melodically while Glen Campbell's vocal and the accompanying arrangement fit it so well.  This is Glen's original.

Recently, I came across composer Jim Webb's solo version of it which is as good as Campbell's.

And here is a different, and very good, recent cover by Black Pumas, a group I wrote about last year.

Wichita Lineman

Glenn Campbell passed away a couple of days ago at the age of 81.  I've written about Wichita Lineman before as part of my Songs I Didn't Like To Admit I Liked Series.  Originally released in 1968, this version is from a 1988 collaboration between Campbell and Jimmy Webb (the composer).  Lyric, melody, vocal and arrangement come together in an impeccable form.




Extra added bonus!

Here's Glenn doing an instrumental version of Ain't No Sunshine.  The whole thing is marvelous but the solo, beginning around 47 seconds in, is something else.

Songs I Didn't Like To Admit I Liked: Glen Campbell

We all have them.  Songs we thought were sappy or stupid so didn't want to tell anyone else how much we enjoyed them.  I'm talking about tunes you liked at the time they were released, not songs you disliked at the time but grew to appreciate years later.  What are yours?

Here's the first one I'll fess up to; Wichita Lineman, which reached #3 on the charts in 1968, which would have been very uncool for me to admit at the time.  Written by Jimmy Webb (of MacArthur Park fame) and sung by Glen Campbell.  Gorgeous melody and odd, but memorable, lyrics plus Burt Bacharach style horns in the solo (and a little Moody Blues orchestral touch at the end of each verse), unresolved melodic and lyrical tension at the end and a fine vocal by Campbell (who, earlier in his career, had been a touring member of The Beach Boys and done studio work with Elvis Presley, Jan & Dean, Merle Haggard and others).  THC was reminded of the song by this post at Sippican Cottage.

I hear you singin' in the wire
I can hear you through the whine
And the Wichita Lineman is still on the line

Of course, nowadays, the Wichita Lineman would be working for the NSA adding further meaning to the lyrics.