![]() ![]() KanThe list of performers who have covered Webb’s songs reads like a Who’s Who of top musicians: Nina Simone, Tom Jones, Smokey Robinson, R.E.M., James Taylor, Art Garfunkel, Nick Cave, Isaac Hayes, Sammy Davis Jr., Nanci Griffith, Tony Bennett, Carly Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Barbra Streisand and Joe Cocker (with a fine version of “The Moon’s A Harsh Mistress”). The song was later a best-selling disco track for Donna Summer, a country hit for Waylon Jennings and a noted jazz recording for Stan Kenton. Webb recorded the song in London, in a recording session fueled by a gallon bucket of Pimm’s. The nearly eight-minute-long zany delight “MacArthur Park” – a song about a cake left out in the rain – was a hit for rambunctious actor Richard Harris, whom Webb had met at an anti-Vietnam war rally with actors Mia Farrow and Edward G Robinson. However, not all of Webb’s songs are about the common man. Sinatra would go on stage and say, ‘Now I’m going to do a song by Jimmy Webb.’” As Webb recalled, “My name became known because guys like Mr. He acknowledges the importance of his work with that band and also the debt he owes to Frank Sinatra, who recorded four of Webb’s songs and always gave him full credit. Webb had his first major hit in 1967, when The 5th Dimension’s recording of “Up, Up And Away” won several Grammys. “Glenn could come up with great intros and solos, and he was very good at commercializing my songs,” said Webb. In the hands of Campbell, it became a triumph. Motown had been unable to make Webb’s song “By The Time I Get To Phoenix” work for soul singer Paul Peterson, so they let Webb take the rights to the song with him when he left the company. On songs such as “Wichita Lineman” and “Galveston Bay,” Glen Campbell’s voice married to Webb’s lyrics were sensational. Though Webb is also a singer, his most famous hits have come from seminal renditions by other artists. They came from places like Galveston and Wichita.” His songs would be the perfect soundtrack for an American road trip. ![]() Jimmy Webb takes pride in his stories being about blue-collar guys who did ordinary jobs: “They came from ordinary towns. The one common thread through all of it is truth. Through words and music, he tells his life story, which is, in many ways, America’s story. Into this category also comes the magnificent Merle Haggard, whose 38 Billboard No.1 hits include “The Fightin’ Side Of Me,” “Kentucky Gambler” and “ Mama Tried.” Country star Vince Gill said, “Merle is the Poet Of The Common Man. As Willie Nelson – the man behind so many classics, including “Crazy” and “Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground” – once said, “You can’t make a record if you ain’t got nothin’ to say.” That ability to tell a story, to infuse a song with deep meaning, is at the heart of the very best Americana songwriting. He was a musician who could also do what Irving Berlin had: compose the iconic music to his own brilliant lyrics. It is fair to say that Americana, a melting pot of classic country, folk, bluegrass, Celtic music, Southern rock, and Delta blues, has its own equivalent of The Great American Songbook – The Great Americana Songbook, if you will – and pre-eminent among the titan songwriters of that genre is Webb. Listen to the best of Jimmy Webb on Apple Music and Spotify. Charles cut versions of Webb’s “See You Then” and “Wichita Lineman.” ![]() Charles celebrated country music throughout the rest of his career, and by the time he came to record the album Volcanic Action Of My Soul, in 1971, there was a more contemporary, and equally indispensable, songwriter to interpret: Jimmy Webb. As well as picks from the indispensable Hank Williams (“Hey, Good Lookin” and “You Win Again”) there were classics written by Curly Williams (“Half As Much”), Don Gibson (“I Can’t Stop Loving You”) and Eddy Arnold And Cindy Walker (“You Don’t Know Me”). When Ray Charles recorded his groundbreaking album Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music, in 1962, he turned to some of the founding fathers of country songwriting for the song selections. ![]()
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