John Shearer: Remembering Glen Campbell

  • Wednesday, August 9, 2017
  • John Shearer

As a young student at Bright School in the late 1960s and early 1970s, I remember hearing on the radio two similarly heartfelt songs that I started liking and would continue to enjoy greatly over the next 50 years.
 
They were “Wichita Lineman” and “Galveston.” The singer of both, I learned, was Glen Campbell.
 
Although he had other hits and sang other songs I liked – including the equally melancholy “By the Time I Get To Phoenix” and “Country Boy” – those other two would always remain among my favorite songs of all time.
 
After hearing about his unfortunate death at age 81 on Tuesday, those two songs came back to mind again and I began humming them to myself and playing Mr.

Campbell’s old video performances of them on YouTube.
 
Doing that took me back again to that melancholy time period of the Vietnam War era, when some really great music came out that reflected the somberness of the country.
 
Both “Galveston” and “Wichita Lineman,” my favorite of the two, were written by the talented songwriter Jimmy Webb, who also wrote “MacArthur Park,” another great song in my opinion.
 
“Wichita Lineman,” the earlier hit of the two, was supposedly written after Mr. Webb saw a rural telephone lineman on top of a pole talking on a receiver. He imagined he was longing for an absent lover.
 
“Galveston,” a 1969 hit, actually did deal with the Vietnam War. I did not realize this until this week, but it was supposedly a song about a soldier afraid of dying in battle and thinking of the woman he loves and of his former hometown of Galveston, Texas.
 
Needless to say, the city of Galveston and Galveston Island have greatly embraced the song over the years.
 
I have, too, and I continued to follow Mr. Campbell’s career with interest primarily because of those two songs.
 
I recall seeing him in “True Grit” with John Wayne and Kim Darby, and I enjoyed watching his television show, “Glen Campbell’s Goodtime Hour,” during that same time period. He always came across as someone who tried to project a positive image, at least to a young 11- or 12-year-old like me.
 
I enjoyed some of his later hits in the 1970s, too, although those were more upbeat and fun than some of his earlier, more-heartfelt songs.
 
By the early 1980s, I was a student at the University of Georgia, and I remember buying an eight-track tape of his greatest hits, and becoming enamored again with “Wichita Lineman” and “Galveston.” A college friend, I realized, also liked those songs.
 
That was in a time period when songs 10 years old could not often be heard on the radio, although I remember that one station in Athens started having an oldies weekend and I fell in love again with all those great songs from the late 1960s and early 1970s.
 
In the spring of 1982, I happened to see that Glen Campbell would be playing at the historic Fox Theatre in downtown Atlanta, so a friend and I went to hear him. Part of the reason was to see some old architecture with which I was starting to become enamored, but it was also a chance to hear some beautiful old music by Mr. Campbell.
 
I remember I was somewhat surprised that the Fox was only sporadically filled. Mr. Campbell’s last big hit was well over five years in the past, and I think rumors of some of his substance abuse problems were starting to surface at that time.
 
But he sang all his great hits with sincerity and effort, and I remember enjoying the concert greatly. I recall that his lover about that time, Tanya Tucker, was with him and sang “Delta Dawn.”
 
He would meet and marry his longtime and last wife, Kim Woollen, a short time later, but Ms. Tucker in a 2014 interview called him her “one true love.”

I also had an opportunity to cover Glen Campbell when he was one of the performers at June Jam IV in 1985 in Fort Payne when the group, Alabama, was still at the top and had its yearly all-day concert for charity. I had been at the Chattanooga Free Press about a year then, and I remember being asked the night before to go down there early that morning and stay until the concert ended around 11 p.m. or midnight.

It was a long and sunny day, but Mr. Campbell’s performance was no doubt a picker-upper for me and probably the nearly 55,000 other fans. I went back and looked at the old story I had written, and I noted that he played not only “Wichita Lineman,” “Galveston” and other hits, but also “Dixie” and “Amazing Grace,” which drew loud applause.

He was also wearing an Alabama T-shirt in honor of the locally based group and was sporting a beard, a photograph revealed. 

I continued to enjoy hearing the Glen Campbell songs I liked on the radio over the years, and also followed the unfortunate and occasional headlines about his arrests for alcohol- or drug-related incidents. I was aware that he was also trying to lead a Christian life in later years.
 
And then I heard the sad news about his diagnosis with Alzheimer’s Disease about the time former UT Lady Vols basketball coach Pat Summitt was also diagnosed.
 
Not long after that, I happened to be watching “Ellen” on TV and Mr. Campbell was on there with his wife. They were talking about him putting together one last album, and it was considered his best one in years.
 
He was unable to answer some of host Ellen DeGeneres’ questions, but when he got up to play a song on his guitar, he was still the perfect and talented Glen Campbell everyone remembered.
 
Mr. Campbell unfortunately could not remember a lot at the end, but his numerous fans and I will not forget him.
 
“Wichita Lineman” and “Galveston” are still ringing through my mind, and they sound as good as ever.
 
Jcshearer2@comcast.net

Happenings
Michael Gerard Receives American Police Hall Of Fame Civilian Medal Of Appreciation
Michael Gerard Receives American Police Hall Of Fame Civilian Medal Of Appreciation
  • 3/18/2024

Collegedale officers responded to Garden Plaza of Greenbriar Cove on Sept. 21, 2023, after receiving a report of a missing elderly resident with dementia. The patient had left the facility approximately ... more

New Hamilton County Marriage Licenses
  • 3/18/2024

Here are the new marriage licenses from the County Clerk's office: SCOTT EDWARD KELLEY JAIMIE LYNN PASTORI 2205 JAMES AVE 4203 TENNESSEE AVE CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee 374156511 CHATTANOOGA, ... more

Chief John Ross DAR Presents Gold ROTC Medal
Chief John Ross DAR Presents Gold ROTC Medal
  • 3/18/2024

Chief John Ross Chapter, NSDAR had their March meeting on the 13th, and the meeting theme was Women’s History Month. Officials said, "Chapter member, Kay Sencabaugh, presented an entertaining ... more