“Wichita Lineman” by Glen Campbell

Jimmy Webb wrote "Wichita Lineman" for Glen Campbell in 1968, after Campbell phoned him in a hurry wanting another song about a place to follow "By the Time I Get to Phoenix". The idea came on a drive across the high plains of the Oklahoma panhandle, past mile after mile of telephone poles, with a lineman perched on one, talking into his handset. Webb imagined himself up that pole, calling his girl, then moved the whole thing to Wichita, Kansas.

Campbell cut it with members of the Wrecking Crew, and it's about the loneliest sound country music ever made: a working man, a wire, and a longing that hums down the line. It's been called the first existential country song, Bob Dylan rated it the greatest song ever written, and Rolling Stone later placed it at 206 on its list of the 500 greatest.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.