# Wichita Lineman: Searching in the Sun for the World's Greatest Unfinished Song - Hardcover

by **Dylan Jones** (Author)

**Dylan Jones' luminous excavation of Jimmy Webb's song 'Wichita Lineman' offers a portal into a defining moment of American cultural history.** The sound of Wichita Lineman was the sound of ecstatic solitude - but then its hero was the quintessential loner. What a great metaphor he was: a man who needed a woman more than he actually wanted her. Here, deep in American Arcadia, was a man in deep existential crisis.  
Written in 1968 by Jimmy Webb, "Wichita Lineman" is the first philosophical country song: a heartbreaking torch ballad still celebrated for its mercurial songwriting genius 50 years later. It was recorded by Glen Campbell in LA with a legendary group of musicians known as "the Wrecking Crew", and something about the song's enigmatic mood seemed to capture the tensions of America at a moment of unprecedented crisis. Fusing a dribble of bass, searing strings, tremolo guitar and Glen 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' - and like all good love songs, it's an SOS from the heart.  
Mixing close-listening, interviews and travelogue, Dylan Jones explores the legacy of a record that has entertained, perplexed and haunted millions for over half a century. What is it about this song that continues to fascinate and seduce listeners, and how did the parallel stories of Campbell and Webb - songwriters and recording artists from different ends of the spectrum - unfold in the decades following the song's success? Part biography, part work of musicological archaeology, The Wichita Lineman opens a window onto America in the late twentieth century through the prism of a song that has been covered by myriad artists in the intervening decades.

### Author Biography

**Dylan Jones** studied at Chelsea School of Art and St. Martin's School of Art. A former editor at _i-D_, _The Face_, _Arena_, the _Observer_ and the _Sunday Times_, he is currently the Editor-In-Chief of _GQ_. He has won the British Society of Magazine Editors "Editor of the Year" award a record eleven times, and in 2013 was the recipient of the Mark Boxer Award. Under his editorship the magazine has won over 50 awards. He is the author of the _Sunday Times_ best-seller _David _Bowie: A Life_, and the _New York Times_ best seller _Jim Morrison: Dark Star_. A trustee of the Hay Festival, in 2013 he was awarded an OBE for services to publishing._

**Number of Pages:** 288

**Dimensions:** 1.2 x 7.9 x 5.4 IN

**Illustrated:** Yes

**Publication Date:** September 03, 2019

## Details

- **Price:** 16.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 16.00 USD | In stock |

## Images

- Wichita Lineman: Searching in the Sun for the World's Greatest Unfinished Song - Hardcover

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