Jimmy Webb's Immortal "Wichita Lineman"

That is, I'm lonely and cold and I'm holding on alone here, doing all the work, but I'm still at it--because I need and want you so much, I have no choice but to keep working at the relationship.

i like this about the song.

That said, I agree with Kenny L that your arguments are good and your perspective is perfectly fine. I enjoy not-agreeing just as much as agreeing, provided that no one is an asshole about it.

I'm old enough to remember when the song was first out, I was a Glen Campbell fan as a tyke. I never understood what it was about at all for years, but I got it, he was lonely, driving the main road and searching in the sun for another overload, which is such a brilliant line.

Webb's songs are strange--I remember also being puzzled by this Fifth Dimension tune of his, "Carpet Man," I guess the guy was getting walked on or was walking on a woman, so to speak? It's really weird and if I hear it right there's a line "and then the coroner will have a dance on you."

It absolutely is. Webb was also going through a hideous and prolonged breakup around that time, which almost certainly contributed to the tone of the song, if not the metaphor itself.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1668844

turns out, he's quite dissatisfied with that "need you more than want you" chorus for a pretty funny reason (they start discussing it around the 7:00 minute mark if you want to skip ahead)

I guess this goes back to the essential ambiguity of the lyrics that I wrote about upthread. We don't really know what his relationship is to the person he's singing to. So you can read it this way if you want to - but for me to read it that way, I think I'd feel like I was basically rewriting the song in my own mind to conform to what I think the most engaging scenario would be. I like to be given a bit more to go on, I think.

Anyway, a related thought that occurred to me is that maybe this is one of those songs that is going to become a victim of the march of progress. I mean as we all live in an increasingly wireless and omni-connected cyber-verse - the thought of some guy being out there tending to these wires and not being able to connect himself may become an increasingly archaic metaphor. Future generations may not be able to understand why he doesn't just pick up his cell-phone and call her.

inasmuch as current generations can understand why paul revere had to ride a horse, i'm pretty sure future generations will be able to figure out what a telephone wire was.

Is my irony detector broken?

i'm having a bad typing day.

I'm pretty sure this guy is working on telephone lines if you read the lyrics.

She's left him, and he can't move on.

(Though I must confess that the first time I heard the song I probably thought it meant lineman as in football player, which would be quite different.)

And I need you more than want you and I want you for all time
And the Wichita lineman is still on the line

Technically this is not correct - snow is not a problem for telephone (or power) lines - it's freezing rain that causes them to break.

- Dave Nicosia, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, National Weather Service Binghamton

xpost

Yes, I did. Hi, Polyphonic!

I don't tend to follow GW Bush's rhetorical methods if I can help it.

the other important thing to remember about "wichita lineman" was that it was intended to be a sequel to "by the time i get to phoenix."

I'm not, Amateur(ist) — it's crap. And believe me: I wanted to like that record more than you can possibly imagine. Or maybe you can.

Reunion is good, if you can get past the lyrics - they are a bit clumsy, but i think the melodies are glorious.