This song was nice the first several times I heard it, but it got run into the ground. Nice comeback for Glen.
Agree with many of the posts - it’s an okay song but I don’t think it compares to songs like “Wichita Lineman” or “Galveston.” It had huge crossover appeal but, to my ears. it seems much more like a pop song masquerading as a country song. But, given the song’s subject matter, that may be the point. Always liked Glen Campbell, so it was nice to see him back on the charts.
I adore 'Rhinestone Cowboy', it's one of my favourite songs of the 1970s. For many years I had no idea about the fact that it's a cover version. Some information from Wikipedia on that: "Rhinestone Cowboy" is a song written by Larry Weiss and most famously recorded by American country music singer Glen Campbell. The song enjoyed huge popularity with both country and pop audiences when it was released in 1975. Weiss wrote and recorded "Rhinestone Cowboy" in 1974, and it appeared on his 20th Century Records album Black and Blue Suite. It did not, however, have much of a commercial impact as a single. In late 1974, Campbell heard the song on the radio, and during a tour of Australia, decided to learn the song. Soon after his return to the United States, Campbell went to Al Coury's office at Capitol Records, where he was approached about "a great new song" — "Rhinestone Cowboy". Several music writers noted that Campbell identified with the subject matter of "Rhinestone Cowboy" — survival and making it, particularly when the chips are down — very strongly. As Steven Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic put it, the song is about a veteran artist "who's aware that he's more than paid his dues during his career ... but is still surviving, and someday, he'll shine just like a rhinestone cowboy." Rhinestone Cowboy - Wikipedia
As a kid it never occured to me it was even close to country, though I realize today his voice alone gives it that country tinge. Was really a perfect song for him...I’m sure it attracted both country and pop fans. I hated country music back then so this was perfect!
Given my post just above, I guess we’re in the same boat but with different songs. I can’t tell you how many songs I feel I’m “supposed” to like, and artists that are so respected around here (Dylan, the Beatles) and try as I might, I just can’t get into some of them. It clicks with you or it doesn’t. And I like plenty of turds on this thread I probably “shouldn’t” like. I guess as they say, it’s all good and there doesn’t have to be any reason. You are part of the Big Club!
In the late 1970's there was a mail order ad where this number was the first heard, a "greatest hits" type compilation of Mr. Campbell's, and the announcer said something on the order of, "He's not country - he's not pop - he's Americana." Talk about straddling the fence . . . (SPOILER ALERT: There may be some jumping ahead on this for reasons you may find relating to this thread, so it's not for the squeamish):
Wow Wow...that was so much better than I expected! Good job on the chorus, especially if you don’t like the huge sound of Glen’s.
That is quite good, the template is right there. I guess it's one of those things where it just takes the right production to get it over the top.
Rhineston is pretty bland to me - certainly Glen was capable of much more, but he knew a big hit when he heard it. It helped a lot that the themes in the song were things most people knew Glen had gone through in the business - he knew what he was singing about. I do love these two lines (note the double rhyme): There's been a load of compromisin' On the road to my horizon I liked them so much I (unwittingly) stole a chunk of this for one of my own songs - I was so pleased with myself! . . . until about a year later when I heard Rhinestone on the radio in the car one day and went "damnit . . . there it its . . . I should have known!"
I can appreciate the craft that went into "Rhinestone Cowboy," but it never did a lot for me. In fact, all I can think of now when I hear it is the Tonight Show episode during which Johnny Carson came out dressed in full cowboy regalia (and even riding a horse? or was it a burro?) and singing the song in an exaggerated twang. (Looked on YouTube, but I can't find it there.) No possible comparison with "Wichita Lineman," which no question was Campbell's finest hour.
It's okay not to like something everyone else seems to and vice versa. Quality is in the eye of the beholder. Hold your head up and be resolute in your convictions. No matter how wrong they are.
Not just the lyrics, I think the music and the arrangement is incredible. It really invokes the flat, icy gray, empty horizon of the American Midwest in winter. It's like dissonant mid-century classical music rendered into a 3-minute pop song. Along the same lines, the instrumentation, that whining noise that punctuates the song and the electronic Morse-like twitter is striking and unique for the era. In charts so often gunked up with trite love songs, tales of isolation, loneliness and longing like "Wichita Lineman" - ones not populated with rarefied intellectuals but with working class stiffs - are so rare as to be practically non existent. This one is perfectly executed and an absolute gem - I adored it even as a tiny tot and adore it as much or more as an old timer.
One thing I noticed about "Rhinestone" last night when I spun it up on the old stereo is how muffled, pinched and compressed it sounds. It's not a particularly high-fi recording, and seems to suffer from quite a bit of tape saturation. Would have sounded fine blasting out of an old AM radio or the FM radios in most cars, but stands in sharp contrast to what Ronstadt, the Eagles and others were achieving with their country/rock hybrids, which were immaculate. Might be another reason why the cut dated so quickly. Sonically it's more like something from the late '60s or early '70s than from the middle of the decade.
Jimmy Webb has said that Billy Joel had the best description Wichita Lineman: it's about "an ordinary man thinking extraordinary thoughts." If I remember this correctly, Webb said hearing the song described this way brought him to tears. Joel's description is very much like yours.
Here is the story from Mixonline "Classic Track": https://www.mixonline.com/recording/classic-track-rhinestone-cowboy-425566
I'm a rocker by nature, and a song like this isn't normally in my wheelhouse. But I had occasion to do it in a band a few years back, and it was a rare instance of me having to look online for help in working out the chords. I looked at a lot of different renderings of them, along with several YouTube videos, and cobbled together my own version by taking bits and pieces from several of them — the ones that seemed closest to the mark. The chords are amazing for this song, and particularly challenging if you're trying to do them on guitar as opposed to keyboards. But beyond this, the way all the elements come together to convey the emotions of the lyrics...it's a fine moment in pop music for sure.
I wanted to learn it, too - as closely as I could with just guitar chords. I ended up totally doing what you did. I couldn't find any one guitar version that got everything reasonably correct. Yes, they are amazing - it doesn't take a lot of chords - just the right ones at the right time.
Talking 'bout GC inspired me to go on a listening binge. If you only know his biggest hits, do yourself a favor and sample some of the ones that didn't make the Top 10. They should have. True Grit, Try a Little Kindness, Where's The Playground Susie, Dream Baby, the duets he recorded with Bobbie Gentry and Anne Murray for starters. Looking over his chart action, he somehow fell out of favor around '71 which lasted until Rhinestone 4 years later. At least 9 singles were released during that period but he never got higher than #45 with I Knew Jesus (Before He Was A Star). His last Country #1 was Galveston which would indicate he wasn't the powerhouse I figured he would be in that genre. I love this version of Phoenix that he did with Murray and if you want to hear it done with Dionne, there's a clip on YT. Sorry 'bout the video but it was one of the better uploads of the tune.
I'm also a big fan of Glen Campbell (and I agree 100 per cent that "Wichita Lineman" is his greatest song), but he did so many great ones. Another one I've been crazy about since I first heard it circa 1975 is his cover of Gordon Lightfoot's "The Last Time I Saw Her". Interestingly enough, I first heard Gordon's version around the same time I heard Glen's...it's my favorite Gordon Lightfoot song. Glen's version is as good as Gordon's, IMHO.
Why is Wichita Lineman a favorite of so many people? Because it's beautiful. A very lovely track that evokes sadness, loneliness, wanting and desire. "And I need you more than want you, and I want you for all time" - what a miraculous line! For those wanting more Glenn doing Jimmy Webb material that you probably haven't heard already, you should seek out the Reunion album issued in 1974. It's an overlooked gem filled with lots of great songs penned by Webb. Glen's version of "The Moon's A Harsh Mistress" may be my favorite version of this song ever.
