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The Nation's Pulse
The Light Still Shines on Glen Campbell
America’s Rhinestone Cowboy, on his farewell tour.
In June 2011, country music legend Glen Campbell revealed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Campbell also announced he would release one last album which would be accompanied by a farewell tour. At the time I wrote, “I hope Campbell is able to make his way up to Boston or New York because he has long been on my list of musicians I have wanted to see in concert.”
Well, last week I crossed Campbell off my musical bucket list when I attended his concert at the Wilbur Theater in Boston. While I don’t know if Campbell will remember much from that show, it is a night I and everyone else who attended will not soon forget. Campbell’s tour continues through the end of June. If he comes to your town don’t pass up an opportunity to see an American original because this is it.
Although he has had multiple hits on both the country and pop charts, “Rhinestone Cowboy” remains his signature song and it is what introduced me to the genius of Glen Campbell. In the 1970s and early 1980s, I had an aunt and uncle who owned a record company in Palm Springs, California called TeeVee Records. They mostly sold compilation LPs and eight track cassettes and from time to time they would give my parents some of their extra stock.
One of those albums was called Knockout, a compilation of songs from the mid-1970s which featured a fist on the cover. How “Rhinestone Cowboy” managed to be included on that album is a bit of a mystery to me given that most of the songs on it were disco hits such as “Shake Your Booty” by K.C. & The Sunshine Band, “Saturday Night” by the Bay City Rollers, and “Disco Queen” by Copperpenny. But, hey, it was the '70s. It was entirely possible to have The Sylvers, Barry Manilow and Glen Campbell co-exist on the same album. I cannot begin to tell you how much these albums and eight tracks helped shape my musical tastes.
So after hearing Campbell belt out “Rhinestone Cowboy” at the Grammys tribute earlier this month (which even had Paul McCartney singing along), I quickly checked online to see if he was coming to The Hub. I am glad the Grammys saw fit to pay tribute to Campbell that night because otherwise I might have missed a once in a lifetime opportunity.
The evening began with a half hour set by Instant People, which consists of Campbell’s sons Shannon and Cal, daughter Ashley as well as Phoenix based guitarist Ry Jarred and bassist Siggy Sjursen from Norway. How can you go wrong with a Norwegian bass player named Siggy? Their brand of music tends towards indie rock but with a hint of country.
After a short intermission, Glen Campbell finally hit the stage to a rapturous reception. Campbell struggled through “Gentle on My Mind” and “Galveston.” He seemed to have difficulty singing and playing guitar at the same time. Complicating matters is that Campbell no longer remembers the lyrics to songs he has been singing for over four decades and now relies on teleprompters, which are set throughout the stage area. But sometimes it only helps so much. Then again I would like to see President Obama manage a day without a teleprompter.
Indeed, there were spontaneous moments as when he sang a few bars of Dave Loggins’ “Please Come to Boston.” As the show progressed Campbell seemed more comfortable and at ease, as was the case when he sang the Don Gibson classic “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” the pop standard “Lovesick Blues,” as well as when and he Ashley battled center stage on “Dueling Banjos.” Whatever memory he has lost, he can still play guitar with the best of them, his fingers having lost none of their dexterity. At one point, he asked what key they were about to play in and Ashley said, “E flat.” To which Campbell replied, “Oh, that’s True Grit,” to delighted applause. After briefly talking about John Wayne, he again asked what key they were in. His children have learned to deal with his lapses in memory and that for now the show goes on.
After a short break, which saw Ashley and Shannon sing “Hey Little One,” Campbell returned to the stage to sing several songs from his final album Ghost on the Canvas before returning to more familiar territory with Jimmy Webb’s “The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress,” “Country Boy (You’ve Got Your Feet in L.A.),” and another Webb classic “Wichita Lineman,” which included a fantastic guitar solo. With the opening chords of “Rhinestone Cowboy,” the audience jumped to its feet, prompting a sing along. It turned out to be an abbreviated version, as Campbell would omit the second verse. But the show wasn’t over. Campbell returned to the stage for an encore and flawlessly sang Allen Toussaint’s “Southern Nights” before concluding the evening with “A Better Place,” the opening track on Ghost on the Canvas, before taking a bow and leaving to a standing ovation.
The lyrics to “A Better Place,” which were co-written by Campbell, are simple yet both poignant and powerful:
I’ve tried and I have failed, Lord
I’ve won and I have lost
I’ve lived and I have loved, Lord
Sometimes, at such a costOne thing I know
The world’s been good to me
A better place, awaits you’ll see
Even as Campbell’s memory recedes, his faith remains strong. It also conveys the gratitude for the life he has lived both good and bad and the determination to make the best of the time he has left. Although it is dimming, the light still shines on Glen Campbell.
About the Author
Aaron Goldstein writes from Boston, Massachusetts.
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Big Java| 2.28.12 @ 6:40AM
I was fortunate to see Campbell in the late 60's on stage and he was magnificent. My favorite will always be "Gentle on My Mind."
Betty Jean Humphreys| 2.28.12 @ 11:11AM
I was going to say something about Glen, but now it has completely slipped my mind.
And I wanted to mention one of my favorite songs by Glen, but the title escapes me.
It was about an engineer on a train who tripped over a whatchamacallit and struck his head and had visions of the Lord with His hands outstetched. I think the name of it was When Stars Fell on Mississippi. Is that it? It always brought tears to my eyes when I heard it.
Does anyone remember? One of the lines went something like this: I was standing by the track when a (forget what goes here) . . . felt the power of the Lord run through (forget what goes here) and then my savior from above . . .
Can anyone tell me the name of this song?
Alan Brooks| 2.28.12 @ 11:16AM
He is my fave Country guy; today Country is a thousand wannabes. Besides Witchita Lineman, his version of 'He Aint Heavy, He's My Brother' is as good as the original.
But I got tired of Rhinestone Cowboy in '75. Every day all day long the radio played that song. You'd tune in one station:
"gettin' cards and letters from people I don' eeeeven know"
Switch to another station:
"where nice guys get washed away like snow in the rain..."
A good song, but after literally ten thousand reiterations??
Alan Brooks| 2.28.12 @ 11:27AM
BTW (at the risk of answering myself) Campbell is above the Country herd because he could -- would say 'can' but it appears his career is in fact over-- do a great deal more than merely country: Gospel; higher class rock 'n' roll; symphonic-pop (Wichita Lineman comes immediately to mind). even a version of 'Classical Gas'-- he must have loved it, because it was an instrumental.
CONSERVATIVE REALITY| 2.28.12 @ 12:46PM
Don't conservatives know it. Ironic tiring of rhinestones - fake cheap imitations - when conservatives put up with the same thing over and over. Liberal trolls article thread after article thread after article thread with their fake cheap imitations of intellectual honesty spewed tens of thousands upon tens of thousands of iterations - much less reiterations.
Alan Brooks| 2.28.12 @ 1:08PM
Then take a valium if you're so peaked.
Alan Brooks| 2.28.12 @ 1:14PM
I want you to know that after what happened with the war and all, no one is afraid of your bluster anymore, your days are numbered:
this summer rioting at your convention will mark the beginning of your demise.
FAKE CHEAP IMITATION| 2.28.12 @ 1:32PM
Don't you know it took no time at all for you to prove CONSERVATIVE REALITY's iteration correct.
Or is that reiteration.
INTELLECTUAL DISHONESTY| 2.28.12 @ 1:34PM
What FAKE CHEAP IMITATION and CONSERVATIVE REALITY iterated.
Or reiterated.
Alan Brooks| 2.28.12 @ 1:36PM
Bloviated.
FLATULATED.
THIS SPACE RESERVED| 2.28.12 @ 1:44PM
Please do not comment here.
This space is reserved for the inevitable numerous iterations by Alan Brooks in reply to the iterations by Alan Brooks with the iterations by Alan Brooks replying with iterations by Alan Brooks to the iterations of Alan Brooks.
Or reiteraions.
RHINESTONES| 2.28.12 @ 1:38PM
Leave me out of this. Real conservatives know, at least, that if there is a demand for me then a supply for me is all of benefit in a free market economy in a more perfect union. Although in fairness, INTELLECTUAL DISHONESTY, FAKE CHEAP IMITATION, and CONSERVATIVE REALITY have each iterated the truth.
Or reiterated.
Alan Brooks| 2.28.12 @ 3:55PM
Okay, you win on this one! geez, who can go up against the above??
WTAS #1 ON YOUR DIAL| 2.28.12 @ 4:13PM
"...There'll be a load of compromisin' on the road to my horizon..."
Alan Brooks| 2.28.12 @ 5:39PM
"but I want to be where the lights are shinin' on me."
Good song, I heard it thousands of times in '75,
and hundreds of times since- and that is quite enough thank you very much.
RHINESTONES| 2.28.12 @ 6:11PM
Yeah, even the most fake cheap imitation intellectually honest of liberals understand what you've been iterating and iterating and iterating and iterating.
Or is it reiterating.
dudette| 2.28.12 @ 7:08AM
He has a gorgeous voice and Wichita Lineman still moves me. God bless him so happy he is surrounded by family, how great is that? To have your own home grown back-up band ? and a little help from Siggy..
Suzie from Tenn.| 2.28.12 @ 11:21AM
All I can say about Glen Campbell is that he sure could fill up a pair of Jeans. Wow!
Alan Brooks| 2.28.12 @ 1:10PM
He got around back then, he filled up alot of ladies' jeans.
Alan Brooks| 2.28.12 @ 1:36PM
... what, you think he did nothing but read the Bible backstage? Glen ate milk and cookies?
You think he played tiddly winks?
You innocent little lamb, you.
RoseMarie Russell| 2.28.12 @ 7:47AM
Wonderful article! I'm sitting here at the computer humming Glenn's songs. God,he was good! I loved his tv show--he seemed to be a truly happy man. Wish I had been in that audience.
Alan Brooks| 2.28.12 @ 3:59PM
Yes, for once we agree. But being pious and being pollyannish are not quite the same, though there is some overlap. Glen Campbell had much temptation and sometimes he caved in to it- as all men do. You know very well what Show Biz is like.
PattyMor| 2.28.12 @ 8:06AM
Glen proves that with a good voice, good wholesome music sells.
Alan Brooks| 2.28.12 @ 4:01PM
"You know very well what Show Biz is like"
Will keep writing this over 'n' over until you get it.
Chris| 2.28.12 @ 8:28AM
"The Duke" is looking down from Heaven, and smiling from ear to ear, while Holding the Gates open when the time arrives. God Bless Mr. Campbell!
Mick Lee| 2.28.12 @ 9:11AM
What we often lose sight on is on how many of the great singles and albums Campbell played on before his own stardom. He can be heard as a member of The Champs, famous for their instrumental "Tequila. He was a touring member of the Beach Boys, filling in for Brian Wilson in 1964 and 1965. He played on their influential "Pet Sounds" album. Check out some of your favorite records of the 1960's. Campbell could well be somewhere in the credits.
johnadamsxii| 2.28.12 @ 9:36AM
You have our love and prayers, Glen.
Al Adab| 2.28.12 @ 10:37AM
Listen to a recording of "It's only make believe" from his prime. Four octaves. Only a few of the best operatic voices can match that.
Aaron Goldstein| 2.28.12 @ 4:15PM
It was originally recorded and co-written by Conway Twitty. But Campbell certainly does this song justice and thensome.
Dave | 2.28.12 @ 10:51AM
Back in 1973, I was a radio disc jockey working in San Bernardino, Ca. That year, I did a weekly celebrity interview segment on the afternoon show (often taped in advance) that was designed to sound like two people just sitting on the porch and ... chatting. One afternoon, I had Glen in a taped interview for later in the week. We talked about his current career, what he'd accomplished as a studio musician with Phil Spector's famous Wrecking Crew, his days as a member of the Champs, and his tour time filling in for Brian Wilson with the Beach Boys. It was pretty standard stuff. What jumped out from that taping, (and I still have the tape) was -- right in the middle of Glen discussing something he was working on, a small child's voice was heard picking up the extension phone somewhere in his house, and tiny daughter's voice asking her daddy "when he was gonna be done?" Or something along that order. What followed next was a sweet, simple prodding of "daddy" gently trying to nudge that small child off the phone until "daddy was done." It took a few nudges, but we finally got back and finished the interview. It was indeed ... a sweet moment.
Incidentally, I left it all in the final edit. It was just too sweet to snip out.
Alzheimer's is a terrible disease, but it's at least comforting to know that Glen's moving through it with the love and support of his family. And while I'm not sure, I'm wondering if that small kid who picked up the extension phone back in '73 is there on stage with her dad; helping him through this final tour? That'd be kind of sweet.
I hope she is.
Aaron Goldstein| 2.28.12 @ 11:41AM
The girl you heard on the extension must have been Kelli, his daughter from his second marriage. The daughter who is with him onstage is Ashley who is one of three children from his fourth marriage to Kim Woollen which has lasted 30 years.
cowgirl| 2.28.12 @ 11:14AM
God Bless and take care of you Glen. Your songs will always remain with us.
Seek| 2.28.12 @ 11:27AM
Ethnically, Glen's a fighting Scot. And you can't keep a good Scot down. Keeping playing and fighting.
Douglas E | 2.28.12 @ 11:44AM
Aaron - I am envious of your attendance at Campbell's concert. I recently wrote about Glen on my blog - http://dougandrhonda.blogspot......s-etc.html and my cousin sent along the link to your article. A lot of us have grown old along with Glen and admire his willingness to still get out there, even with limitations. Thanks for sharing.
Guy| 2.28.12 @ 11:57AM
Was in Branson on a company paid trip that took us to a whole bunch of shows including Johnny Cash, Roy Clark and others. Glen Campbell's show was in the itinerary and toward the end of the multi-day list. I was not a huge fan. Just basically aware of him. Wasn't sure I wanted to take in yet another show. But I went and was completely, absolutely blown away. Campbell ended up being my favorite show and by some margin.
Patrick| 2.28.12 @ 12:08PM
I remember him getting Tanya Tucker addicted to drugs.
michael| 2.28.12 @ 12:11PM
Saw Glen @ the SANDS in Las Vegas--1973---second part of his show,he came on stage dressed in kilts, followed by a 6-man troup of Bagpipers-I thought "WTF"-then Glen joined in with the troup on His bagpipe--was my highlight of the show, he could play a mailbox, and make it sound Good
albert constantine jr.| 2.28.12 @ 12:58PM
No mention of Galveston? (My personal favorite).
I remember travelling in the VA/WV area, I think it was the summer of 75, hearing Glen belt out "Rhinestone Cowboy" everywhere we went on the radio (curiously, the Carpenter/Post hit "Rockford Files" theme was the other bug hit I kept hearing, which should show that I can tie to show to almost any topic.
Aaron Goldstein| 2.28.12 @ 1:18PM
It was the second song he did in the set and he struggled through that one. Towards the end of the song, he was pronouncing it "Galvestan" rather than "Galveston." However, he did do a solo on at the end of the song and it helped him find his bearings.
Clyde Torres| 2.28.12 @ 1:06PM
To me Glen Campbell will always be the Hip Hick, a moniker bestowed upon him by a local Philly DJ.
Skippy| 2.28.12 @ 1:31PM
John Hartford's heartbreaking "Gentle on my Mind" introduced me to Glen.
Watching him play it live on TV with Hartford on banjo was a moment for the ages.
Frater, ave atque vale.
Thomas F. Williams | 2.28.12 @ 2:55PM
Cheated with Mac's wife. What a great guy!
Gobombo| 2.28.12 @ 3:31PM
Thank you for the music that we we have loved and lived by for so many years.
John Lonsdorf| 2.28.12 @ 3:53PM
Nice article and nice tribute -- the gratuitous (and all together silly and flat-out wrong) swipe at President Obama notwithstanding.
Steiner| 2.28.12 @ 8:43PM
Thank you Aaron for this column. I have spent the past two months on YouTube watching Glen's performances. You absolutely MUST watch his McArthur Park (from the masterful Jimmy Webb!) performance from several years ago with the the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra (title?). Watch it and try to hold back a tear or two. I ask all of you trollers out there to give the guy a break. He messed up while sowing his wild oats. He deserves your forgiveness...life goes on.
Dipesto| 2.28.12 @ 6:11PM
What a concert there will be Up There. Glenn, Dean Martin, Smith Ballew, Vernon Dalhart, Russ Columbo, Steve Goodman, and Inka Zemankova.
sirbourbon| 2.28.12 @ 9:34PM
I was doing a solo act at a restaurant doing my usual repertoire of standards and a few country classics of the fifties like Williams' Love Sick Blues thrown in for variety when a lady asked me to sing Gentle on My Mind.
The song is well written. The melody is simple and flowing without a B section or a bridge. I told her I disliked the song even though I used to love singing it. It was the lyric that bugged me I told her. The people she was sitting with found my explanation rather old fashioned but that's how it is when you have convictions. It's also the same reason I won't sing Mac the Knife. The song was written to glorify murder and the composer of the One Penny Opera was a red.
Like so many songs that we sing and grow fond of we later find out that the writer was promoting something unChristian. I as a Christian disagree with lyrics that treat God's plan for a man and a woman as just "ink stains" that are soon forgotten.
Lyric: "And it's knowing I'm not shackled
by forgotten words and bonds
and the ink stains that have dried upon some line"
So to this day I won't sing those lyrics penned by John Hartford.
TeaPartyPatriot4ever| 2.28.12 @ 10:16PM
I grew up listening to Glen Campbell in the 60's and 70's, and absolutely love him, and his show the Glen Campbell Good Time Hour, and his songs will forever be part of me. He is without a doubt, one of the all time top musical artists in American music history, and rightly deserved so.
Sorry, but the pop hit Rhinestone cowboy, was not my favorite somg.. In fact, I didn't like it all that much, even as I watched Johnny Carson on the tonight show make fun of the song by singing it on a rocking pony.
I much prefered his more lasting and deeply prolific and moving somgs like "Gentle on my Mind", "Country Boy", "Witchita Lineman", "Galveston", and the True Grit theme song, along with so many more.
Glenn Campbell is truly an American Icon and Legend, along side that of John Wayne and Johnny Cash.
Occam's Tool| 3.1.12 @ 4:57PM
"Galveston" is a fine song, unlike the city. You will note in the lyrics (and as a graduate of UTMB I know the lyrics well), there is no real mention of the actual CITY (Seawall Blvd, etc.).
sirbourbon| 2.29.12 @ 8:32AM
I met a lady who told me of her acquaintance with Campbell when he was just starting out. She had a home in New Mexico and knew Glen Campbell's uncle who owned a honkey tonk bar where his nephew practiced his guitar chops. Uncle Bill brought Campbell to her home for dinner a few times and she got to know the young campbell as a smart aleck,too big for his britches kid.
Good guitar player and singer and pretty good actor. But Kim Darby who played "little Mattie Ross" in True Grit nailed La Boeuf right off the bat as the conceited selfish type.
So many of Hollywood's stars carry on a life of debaucery, rely on hard drink and drugs and promote unChristian behavior. The church used to say that they - "scandalize" themselves. After five marriages they sure do! They give the meat to the devil and hoop it up in their youth. Late in life they have just the bones on their body to give to God.
There's a line in the movie Will Penny that Charleston Heston uses on the cowhands who try to con the aging cowboy Will Penny into going along with their high estimation of the dead Claude whose lifeless body Penny found out on the trail and has brought to the ranch.
"Isn't that the way it always is," he tells them. A man dies and right away he's 'good ol' Claude.' How was he before he bucked out?"
whodathunkit| 2.29.12 @ 11:25AM
What a pity the author couldn't get through this piece without that ridiculous dig at Obama's teleprompter use. I well remember Saint Ronald of Reagan when he was off teleprompter....referring to President Doe as "Chairman Moe" and calling military uniforms "costumes." Get over it already!
sirbourbon| 2.29.12 @ 9:31PM
Yea, I agree with you whoda T ***, Obama and Reagan were being told what to do and how to say it.
Patrick S| 2.29.12 @ 10:18PM
A true American genius. You are clearly too young,though. His (and Webb's) '60s music (Gentle on My Mind, Wichita Lineman, Dreams of the Everyday Housewife, Little Green Apples, Galveston, etc.) were pure, distilled, cutting edge middle Americana. Sounds odd, but listen and tell me I am wrong :--). Also a truly great instrumentalist.
Aaron Goldstein| 2.29.12 @ 11:41PM
Jimmy Webb may be the most underappreciated American songwriter of the 20th century.
However, Webb did not write "Gentle on My Mind". John Hartford wrote this Campbell classic.
POST American| 2.29.12 @ 11:22PM
---Great '70's Show' flashback.
Meanwhile, back in this, the 11th hour
of the CFR-Trilateral -RED China plunder,
handover, sellout, TREASON and EUGENICS
OP -----UH------ could we get a little sustained
light on the passage of the chillingly North
Korean NDAA 1021.
---AND, while we're on the topic of genocidal
EUGENICS---
how about a little run down on the sustained
calls from leading capstone EUGENIST,
Dr Peter Singer of Princeton, for designating
'incovenient' children, up to the age of
3, as 'disposable'.
We said 'inconvenient' ----which, according
to him, includes healthy children.
NO JOKE
"By 2000, EUGENICS had shed much of its
NAZI baggage."
-ENDGAME
(documentary online)
---and by 2012, NAZISM itself has shewd
much of its NAZI baggage.
Alan| 4.11.12 @ 8:43PM
Glen was the one who inspired me to play guitar which brought me my family and living. With Glen's career ending which to me is sad it is bringing an end to an era of the most fantastic music of all time.
GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY