The Wichita Lineman Searching in the Sun for the World's Greatest Unfinished Song

The sound of 'Wichita Lineman' was the sound of ecstatic solitude, its hero the quintessential loner. A man who needed a woman more than he actually wanted her, he was the perfect metaphor for a song that would become a heartbreaking torch ballad. Written in 1968 by Jimmy Webb, 'Wichita Lineman' is the first philosophical country song, still celebrated for its songwriting genius fifty years later.

Recorded by Glen Campbell in LA with a legendary group of musicians known as 'the Wrecking Crew', something about the song's enigmatic mood seemed to capture the tensions in America at a moment of crisis. Fusing a dribble of bass, searing strings, tremolo guitar and Campbell's plaintive vocals, Webb's paean to the American West describes a telephone lineman's longing for an absent lover, who he hears 'singing in the wire'. Like all good love songs, it’s an SOS from the heart.

In this book, Dylan Jones mixes close-listening, interviews and travelogue to explore the legacy of a record that has entertained and haunted millions for over half a century. He asks what it is about this song that continues to seduce listeners, and how the parallel stories of Campbell and Webb—songwriters and recording artists from different ends of the spectrum—unfolded in the decades that followed.

Part biography, part work of musicological archaeology, The Wichita Lineman opens a window on to late-twentieth-century America through the prism of a single song. It has been called 'Americana in the truest sense: evocative and real' by Bob Stanley and 'just a great song' by Paul Weller. It is a stunning look at a record that is a vital part of our cultural history.