CHEERS to Bill and Michael in PWM, our Wyoming-based friend Irish Patti and ...... well, each of you at Cheers and Jeers. Have a fabulous weekend .... and week ahead.
ART NOTES — More than 50 works by often unknown female artists of the mid-twentieth-century in an exhibition entitled Women of Abstract Expressionism are at the Denver, Colorado Art Museum through September 25th.
Now in Denver, ColoradoPROGRAMMING NOTES — due to travel plans, this edition of Who Lost the Week?!?!? was cut-off early … there may have been worthy candidates whose actions came too late.
And there will not be an Odds & Ends next weekend due to … Netroots Nation in St. Louis. If you will be attending …. I hope we have a chance to meet. Otherwise, will be back the following week.
HAIL and FAREWELL to the TV star Noel Neill— the first to play the role of Lois Lane in the Superman TV series, and who said many college women were inspired by her to go into journalism — who has died at the age of 95, less than a year after the death of Jack Larson (who portrayed Jimmy Olsen in the TV series).
THURSDAY's CHILD is delighted (and perhaps a bit stunned) that a Philadelphia Phillies minor-league affiliate has designated this coming July 9th as Caturday— not only will the team wear these jerseys, but fans may bring their cats to the game (if on a leash or in a carrier) for $2.00, and a local shelter will be there to accept donations and have felines to adopt.
Lakewood, N.J. Blue ClawsCHEERS to the rise in micro-brewed beer styles in the Middle East— not only for the Christians of Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine, but even non-observant Muslims.
HISTORY NOTES — a project is underway to locate the attendees of a major concert in Sarajevo twenty-five years ago— given by Yugoslavia’s best-known musicians — who were certain that country’s internal strife could be resolved … only to have an unthinkable war break out just months later.
SPORTING NOTES — the European championship tournament known as Euro 2016 — a mini-World Cup for European nations — will have its championship match this coming Sunday, when host nation France takes on Portugal on ESPN (3 PM Eastern, noon Pacific).
FRIDAY's CHILD is a feral kitteh who has developed a friendship with a black bear at a California zoo …. and seem to enjoy each other’s company.
At a Folsom, California zooTHE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with a look at my attending an extended family reunion — my paternal grandmother’s family — and learning of family history, including some Democratic Party doings.
BRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.
DIRECT DESCENDANTS? — French classical composer Claude Debussy and the English actor/comic Ricky Gervais.
Claude Debussy (1862-1918) Ricky Gervais (born 1961)...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… there are not many post-British Invasion era songwriters who have become famous without being either a Broadway tunesmith or a popular touring musician themselves …. but Jimmy Webb has achieved this, while still managing to do some touring on his own, which may come as a surprise to people. But even if he never sold another concert ticket: the number (and variety) of people who perform his works around the world ensures his legacy many times over.
The Oklahoma native was born in 1946 as the son of a Baptist minister, and was playing piano/organ in his father’s church by the age of 12. His father only allowed country and white Gospel music on the radio, and when Webb first started performing out of church, that’s what he played. But the sounds of Elvis crept into his playing, and as a 14 year-old in 1961 the first 45 he ever bought was a song entitled Turn Around, Look at Me (which was written by the songwriter Jerry Capehart) because he liked the voice of its performer. Jimmy Webb began composing 'answer records' to the many hits he listened to and – with his love of literature – felt he could routinely improve upon them.
The family moved to California in 1964 but – after the death of his mother the next year – his father decided to return to Oklahoma. Jimmy, now 18, decided he wanted to remain at San Bernardino Community College to pursue a songwriting career and – while his father told his son that his career choice would break his heart– nonetheless gave him $40, saying ....... "It’s all I have".
Making the rounds of the Los Angeles studios and publishers, he found rejection after rejection until he finally took the elevator up to the 12th floor (in the the tallest building he’d ever been in) and walked into the studios of ……..... Motown Records (West). The receptionist was puzzled as to why this young white man was walking into a soul music label, but was intrigued enough to bring one of his tapes into the inner offices … and when a man stuck his head out the door and said softly, 'Would you come in here, please?' ….. Jimmy Webb considers that an allegorical moment "when the door opened for me"; that it was an African-American owned company that first hired him.
And his first song ever recorded was "My Christmas Tree” by the Supremes in 1965. Among his work at Motown, he wrote one song that was tried-out with several singers .. but which never sounded right for anyone.
The following year the musician/producer Johnny Rivers (of Secret Agent Man fame) heard Webb performing, convinced his management company Soul City to buy-out Webb's contract with Motown and Rivers recorded that leftover Motown song, achieving a modest hit with it.
Meanwhile, the singer on the very first record Webb ever bought (that was mentioned before) heard Rivers' version of that leftover song on the radio – and Glen Campbell’s 1967 version of By the Time I Get to Phoenix - which was partly based on Webb’s dating a cousin of Linda Ronstadt - became Glen Campbell's breakthrough hit.
Meanwhile, the Soul City company had also signed the band The Fifth Dimension - and their recording of Webb’s song Up, Up and Away reached #7 in the Billboard charts. Between them, "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" and "Up, Up and Away" won eight Grammy awards and had established Jimmy Webb as a top-tier tunesmith.
By the time 1968 came around, Jimmy Webb realized the music scene was changing, with the release of Sgt. Pepper’s and The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds – and so he sought to create extended songs with more adventurous lyrics.
The result was MacArthur Park– with the late Richard Harris singing it in a quite over-the-top style. This song came in at #1 on Dave Barry’s Worst Song list – and Richard Harris’ singing is .... well, perhaps questionable – but it has been covered by people from Frank Sinatra to Chet Atkins to Aretha Franklin to the Four Tops. It was a Grammy country song winner for Waylon Jennings (in 1969) and Donna Summers’ 1978 disco-based version was the only Jimmy Webb song ever to reach #1 in the pop charts. Jimmy Webb noted that his earlier songs were up against the Beatles juggernaut, but says today that "I stand by MacArthur Park". So much so that — this Saturday, July 9th — he will travel to MacArthur Park in Los Angeles itself to sing it personally.
Meanwhile, Glen Campbell went on to record more of Webb’s songs, including "Where’s the Playground, Susie?" and Galveston– in the process, becoming the premier interpreter of Webb’s songs. At the same time, Jimmy Webb tried to break into musical theatre and films, and even began to revive his performing career (with the jazz guitarist Larry Coryell as a sometime sideman). But as the All-Music Guide’s Bruce Eder writes, Webb’s club performances were 'an acquired taste' and he never became an in-demand concert performer.
Yet his songs were recorded by many others besides just Glen Campbell. These include: "The Worst That Could Happen" (Brooklyn Bridge), The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (Judy Collins), "Didn’t We" (Frank Sinatra), "Easy For You To Say" (Linda Ronstadt), "Tennessee Woman" (Tanya Tucker), "Before There Could be Me" (Thelma Houston), "Just Like Always" (Joe Cocker) and "She Never Smiles Anymore" (Everly Brothers). A song he had written and recorded in 1977 – entitled Highwayman– became a #1 hit for Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash in 1985. Years later in 1994, he teamed up with Nanci Griffith to offer the song "If These Old Walls Could Speak" for the album Red Hot + Country– a country music AIDS benefit album.
In 1983, Jimmy Webb wrote the cantata The Animals’ Christmas which was premiered with Art Garfunkel as lead singer. He went on to write music for television (most notably on "ER") and in 1998 wrote the book Tunesmith– a memoir that focuses on the life of a songwriter.
More recently, he recorded the album Cottonwood Farm– with his sons Christian, James and Justin (who tour as the Webb Brothers band) and his then-86 year-old father Bob ... who sure got a good return on his $40 investment, huh?
In 2010 Jimmy Webb released the album Just Across the River– with numerous guest appearances (including) Mark Knopfler, Lucinda Williams, Billy Joel, Willie Nelson and Vince Gill. His most recent album is Still Within the Sound of My Voice — with guest appearances by Art Garfunkel, The Jordanaires, Brian Wilson, Graham Nash & David Crosby, plus the late Joe Cocker — from 2013.
In recent years, he has rediscovered the Christianity of his youth but hastens to add that God is “bigger than any one particular denomination — I don't like it when people try to confine Him".
Later this year, the Academy of Country Music will present Jimmy Webb with its Poet’s Award— which honors songwriters for outstanding musical and/or lyrical contributions throughout their careers in the field of country music.
Jimmy Webb’s legacy is set even if he never writes another note. The performing rights organization BMI estimates that “By the Time I Get to Phoenix" – which Frank Sinatra declared "the greatest torch song ever written" – was its third most performed song from 1940 to 1990. Webb is the only person who has received Grammy Awards for music, lyrics, and orchestration, was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1986 and is the subject of several performers' tribute albums. Webb cites Burt Bacharach and Stephen Sondheim as his idols, and the All-Music Guide’s Bruce Eder believes he is "possibly the closest figure that the post-pop music generation has produced to approximate Hoagy Carmichael".
Jimmy Webb will turn age 70 on August 15th, and has an active touring schedule– which includes several performances in Europe under the heading "Still on the Line: The Glen Campbell Years" — in honor of his ailing muse.
A young Jimmy Webb … .. and much more recentlyOf all of his work: my favorite is the song Glen Campbell requested Webb write for him as a follow-up to "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" – and Campbell specified it had to be about 'another place'.
Webb came up with Wichita Lineman– which Rolling Stone ranked at #192 on its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. Oddly, Jimmy Webb says that he still kicks himself over the fact that (as shown below) "I need you for all time" is a false rhyme with "is still on the line". But when people meet him, they often tell him something different: that they consider that particular couplet among their favorite song lyrics of all time (if not their favorite).
At this link you can hear Glen Campbell’s Grammy-winning version – but below you can hear Jimmy Webb perform it himself – and thus you can judge for yourself about him as a performer.
I am a lineman for the county ….. And I drive the main road …. Searching in the sun for another overload
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
x YouTube Video