Wichita Lineman

Webb wrote "Wichita Lineman" in response to Campbell's urgent phone request for a "place"-based or "geographical" song to follow up "By the Time I Get to Phoenix".{{cite episode| title= Director Sally Potter, Composer Jimmy Webb, Anorexia on screen| series= Front Row| series-link= Front Row (radio programme)| credits= Presenter: John Wilson; Producer: Jerome Weatherald; Interviewed Guest: Jimmy Webb| network= BBC| station= BBC Radio 4| url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0977tzf | airdate= October 10, 2017| minutes= 16:55| access-date= October 11, 2017 }} His lyrical inspiration came while driving through the high plains of the Oklahoma panhandle past a long line of telephone poles, on one of which perched a lineman speaking into his handset. Webb "put himself atop that pole" with the phone in his hand as he imagined the lineman talking to his girlfriend.{{cite web |url=http://www.songfacts.com/blog/interviews/jimmy_webb/ |title=Jimmy Webb Interview |first=Dan |last=MacIntosh |website=Songfacts |date=May 16, 2011}}{{cite news | url=http://www.dallasobserver.com/content/printVersion/296877/ | title=Power Lines : Jimmy Webb wrote one of the greatest songs ever. Just don't tell him that. | access-date=January 20, 2010 | author=Robert Wilonsky | date=November 2, 2006 | work=Dallas Observer | archive-date=March 30, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150330040715/http://www.dallasobserver.com/content/printVersion/296877/ | url-status=dead }} Despite its real-life roots lying elsewhere, Webb set his song in Wichita, Kansas.{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Dylan |author-link=Dylan Jones |date=2019 |title=The Wichita Lineman: Searching in the Sun for the World's Greatest Unfinished Song. |location=London |publisher=Faber & Faber |page=260 |isbn=978-0-571-35340-8}}

Within hours of Campbell's plea from the recording studio, Webb delivered a demo that he regarded and labeled as an unfinished version of the song, warning producer/arranger Al De Lory that he had not completed a third verse or a bridge.Webb, Jimmy. {{Google books|id=wNQjDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA211&lpg=PA211|title=The Cake and the Rain: A Memoir|page=211}}{{cite web |url=https://maverick-country.com/behind-the-song-jimmy-webb/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525201948/https://maverick-country.com/behind-the-song-jimmy-webb/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 25, 2022 |title=Jimmy Webb: Behind the song |author= |date=11 May 2022 |website=maverick-country.com |publisher=Hand Media International |access-date=16 January 2024 |quote=I was wondering if I was going to put a bridge into it.}} "When I heard it I cried," Campbell said, "... because I was homesick."{{cite AV media |people=Campbell, Glen (recording artist) |date=August 23, 2011 |title=BBC Radio 4 - Soul Music (Series 12, Episode 2 of 5): Wichita Lineman |type=Radio broadcast |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b013f96w |access-date=September 12, 2022 |time=0:03 |location=London, UK |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation }} De Lory similarly found inspiration in the opening line. His uncle had been a lineman in Kern County, California: "I could visualize my uncle up a pole in the middle of nowhere. I loved the song right away."

Webb's concerns over his song's shortcomings were quickly addressed in the studio by adding a tremolo-infused Dano bass{{cite web |url=https://www.carolkaye.com/www/library/faq.htm |title=Carol Kaye FAQ |last=Kaye |first=Carol |website=carolkaye.com |access-date=June 26, 2022 |quote=What a thrill it was to cut "Wichita Lineman" for Glen. And yes, he borrowed my Dano 6-stg. bass guitar to play his famous solo on.}} melodic interlude performed by Campbell, who had first made his reputation in the music industry as a session guitarist with the prolific but uncredited group of Los Angeles backing musicians known today as the Wrecking Crew, many of whom played on the recording.{{cite web |url=http://www.wreckingcrewfilm.com/afmcontracts/Campbell,Glen_WichitaLineman.pdf |title=Phonograph Recording Contract |work=American Federation of Musicians |access-date=January 19, 2015}} One of them, bassist Carol Kaye, contributed the descending six-note intro. A second six-note bass lick improvised by Kaye was copied for strings by De Lory and used as a fill between the two rhyming couplets of each verse.{{cite interview |last=Kaye |first=Carol |subject-link=Carol Kaye |interviewer=Suzi Quatro |title=Carol Kaye: Queen of the Bass |work=The Documentary |date=June 21, 2022 |publisher=BBC World Service |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct42r9|access-date=June 24, 2022}}

All the orchestral arrangements are by De Lory,{{cite magazine |last= Betts |first= Stephen L. |title= Hear Restless Heart's Shimmering Tribute to Glen Campbell| url= https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/hear-restless-hearts-shimmering-tribute-to-glen-campbell-20160226| date= February 26, 2016|magazine= Rolling Stone |location= New York City| access-date= November 4, 2016 }}{{cite news |last= Cole |first= George |title= Elton John, the Beach Boys and the fine art of pop alchemy | url= https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/sep/30/arranging-brian-wilson-paul-buckmaster| date= September 30, 2010 |newspaper= The Guardian |location= London| access-date= November 4, 2016 }} who evokes the phrase "singing in the wire" using high-pitched, ethereal violins to emulate the sonic vibrations commonly induced by wind blowing across small wires and conductors, making them whistle or resonate like an aeolian harp. Similarly, he employs a repeating, monotonic 'Morse code' keyboard/flute motif{{efn|Originated by Jimmy Webb and played on his Gulbransen electric organ in the studio, where De Lory first noticed it.{{cite AV media |people=De Lory, Al (record producer & arranger) |date=February 29, 2020 |title=How Glen Campbell was almost dropped from Capitol Records before recording his biggest hits |type=Videotape |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nh07Moux-M |orig-date=Interviewed March 4, 2008 |access-date=September 1, 2022 |time=15:41 |location=Nashville, TN |publisher=Musicians Hall of Fame |via=YouTube}}}} to mimic the electronic sounds a lineman might hear through a telephone earpiece attached to a long stretch of 'raw' telephone or telegraph line; that is, without typical line equalization and filtering: "I can hear you through the whine."{{cite web|url=http://psc.mo.gov/CMSInternetData/ConsumerInformation/What%20to%20do%20if%20you%20hear%20radio%20communications%20on%20your%20telephone.pdf|title=What to do if you hear radio communications on your telephone |website=Missouri Public Service Commission|access-date=June 1, 2018}}

Webb was surprised to learn that Campbell had recorded his song: "A couple of weeks later I ran into [Campbell] somewhere and I said, 'I guess you guys didn't like the song.' 'Oh, we cut that,' he said. 'It wasn't done! I was just humming the last bit!' 'Well, it's done now!{{'"}} After listening to the test acetates of the studio recording that Campbell had with him, Webb contributed the overdub of evocative, reverberating electronic notes and open chords heard in the intro and fadeout, respectively, of the finished track, played on his Gulbransen electric organ.Webb, Jimmy. {{Google books|id=wNQjDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA211&lpg=PA211|title=The Cake and the Rain: A Memoir|page=211}}

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|quote = “{{pad|.8em}}File:Highway 412 In The Oklahoma Panhandle.JPG in the Oklahoma panhandle, in Cimarron County near Boise City, looking east toward Guymon. (Photo taken March 17, 2009.)]]There's a place where the terrain absolutely flattens out. It's almost like you could take a level out of your tool kit and put it on the highway, and that bubble would just sit right there on dead centre. It goes on that way for about 50 miles. In the heat of summer, with the heat rising off the road, the telephone poles gradually materialize out of this far, distant perspective and rush toward you. And then, as it happened, I suddenly looked up at one of these telephone poles and there was a man on top, talking on a telephone. He was gone very quickly, and I had another 25 miles of solitude to meditate on this apparition. It was a splendidly vivid, cinematic image that I lifted out of my deep memory while I was writing this song. I thought, I wonder if I can write something about that? A blue-collar everyman guy we all see everywhere, working on the railroad or working on the telephone wires or digging holes in the street. I just tried to take an ordinary guy and open him up and say, 'Look, there's this great soul and there's this great aching and this great loneliness inside this person, and we're all like that. We all have this capacity for these huge feelings'.”

{{pad|1.6em}}—Jimmy Webb{{cite web|last=Savage|first=Mark|title=Glen Campbell's Wichita Lineman: The unfinished song that became a classic|website=BBC|date=2017-08-09|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-40861326}}}}{{clear}}

The song contains two verses, each divided into two parts. The first part is in the key of F major, while the second is in D major. D represents the relative minor key to F, so a D minor (as opposed to major) section would be expected. The fact that it is nevertheless set in D major is argued to contribute to the unique and appealing character of the song.

The lyrics follow the dichotomy set up by the contrasting musical keys. The first part of each verse (in F major) describes issues related to a lineman's job; for example, "searchin' in the sun for another overload"{{efn|Overloads disable overhead power cables, not telephone lines, a lyrical inaccuracy which Webb would later defend as poetic license.{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Dylan |author-link=Dylan Jones |date=2019 |title=The Wichita Lineman: Searching in the Sun for the World's Greatest Unfinished Song. |location=London |publisher=Faber & Faber |page=225 |isbn=978-0-571-35340-8}}}} and "if it snows, that stretch down south won't ever stand the strain." The second part (in D major) details the lineman's romantic thoughts, including his well-known declaration, “And I need you more than want you / And I want you for all time.”{{cite web |url=https://lithub.com/why-wichita-lineman-contains-the-greatest-musical-couplet-ever-written/ |title=Why "Wichita Lineman" Contains the Greatest Musical Couplet Ever Written |last=Jones |first=Dylan |date=September 6, 2019 |website=lithub.com |publisher=Literary Hub |access-date=September 24, 2022 |quote=}} Set against the F major brightness of the first part, the D major tonality of the second sounds distinctively mellow, which is consistent with its lyrical content.

Webb's melancholic, jazz-tinged chord progressions, laced with major sevenths and suspended fourths, reinforce the song's indeterminate nature by modulating from F major to D major and back without ever fully resolving. Writer Allen Morrison has noted that, after a broken F-major tonic chord is heard twice during the bass intro,

The song never does get ‘home’ again to the tonic – not in either verse, nor in the fadeout. This gorgeous musical setting suggests subliminally what the lyric suggests poetically: the lonely journeyman who remains suspended atop that telephone pole against that desolate prairie landscape, yearning for home.{{cite web |url=https://americansongwriter.com/glen-campbell-wichita-lineman-behind-the-song/ |title=Behind the Song: Glen Campbell, "Wichita Lineman" |last=Morrison |first=Allen |date=2020-03-25 |website=amricansongwriter.com |access-date=2022-09-05}}

Glen Campbell's version, which appeared on his 1968 album of the same name, reached number 3 on the US pop chart, remaining in the Top 100 for 15 weeks. It topped the American country music chart for two weeks and the adult contemporary chart for six weeks.{{cite book |title= Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year=2002 |publisher=Record Research |page=43}} It was certified gold by the RIAA in January 1969.{{cite web|url=http://riaa.org/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH|title=Gold & Platinum|website=RIAA|access-date=June 1, 2018|archive-date=May 24, 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120524143006/http://riaa.org/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH|url-status=dead}} In Canada, the single topped both the RPM national and country singles charts.[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.5889&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=25q34bgck2obn02l8qiut07601 The RPM 100], Library and Archives Canada, December 16, 1968[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.5866&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=25q34bgck2obn02l8qiut07601 RPM Country Chart], Library and Archives Canada, January 13, 1969 In the United Kingdom, it reached number 7.{{cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/19690305/7501/ |title=Official Singles Chart Top 49: 05 March 1969 - 11 March 1969|publisher=Official Charts Company |access-date=2023-01-27}}

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{{Certification Table Top|caption=Certifications for Wichita Lineman}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|artist=Glen Campbell|title=Wichita Lineman|award=Gold|relyear=2004|certyear=2024|id=16122-442-1|access-date=February 2, 2024}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|type=single|artist=Glen Campbell|title=Wichita Lineman|award=Gold|relyear=1968|certyear=1969|access-date=January 3, 2020}}

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In 2021, Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" ranked "Wichita Lineman" at number 206.{{cite magazine |title=Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-songs-of-all-time-1224767/glen-campbell-wichita-lineman-2-1225132/ |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=15 September 2021 |access-date=August 29, 2022}}

Singer-songwriter Bob Dylan considered it "the greatest song ever written"{{cite web |last1=Hopper |first1=Alex |title=4 of Bob Dylan's Favorite Songs |url=https://americansongwriter.com/4-of-bob-dylans-favorite-songs/ |website=American Songwriter |access-date=August 13, 2013 |date=2023}} and British music journalist Stuart Maconie called it "the greatest pop song ever composed."{{cite book | first= Stuart | last= Maconie| year= 2004 | title= Cider With Roadies | edition= 1st | publisher= Random House | location= London | isbn= 0-09-189115-9 | page= 303}} BBC Radio described it as "one of those rare songs that seems somehow to exist in a world of its own – not just timeless but ultimately outside of modern music"{{cite web | url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/soldonsong/songlibrary/witchitalineman.shtml | title=Wichita Lineman|date=April 2005|access-date=February 14, 2011| work=BBC Radio 2}} and spotlighted it in series 12 of Soul Music, their long-running show documenting the stories behind influential music with a powerful emotional impact.{{cite web | url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b013f96w | title=Soul Music - Wichita Lineman|date=August 2011|access-date=September 18, 2011| work=BBC Radio 4}} In 2017, Paste placed the song at number two on their list of the 12 greatest Glen Campbell songs;{{cite web|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/glen-campbell/the-12-best-glen-campbell-songs/|title=The 12 Best Glen Campbell Songs|first=Lee|last=Zimmerman|work=Paste|date=June 12, 2017|accessdate=April 3, 2022}} in their version, Billboard ranked it number three.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/music/country/glen-campbell-songs-best-hits-list-7896936/|title=Glen Campbell's 10 Best Songs: Critic's Picks|first=Chuck|last=Dauphin|magazine=Billboard|date=August 8, 2017|accessdate=April 3, 2022}}

The single was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2000. In 2019, the Library of Congress preserved the song in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."{{cite news |date=March 25, 2020 |title=National Recording Registry Class Produces Ultimate 'Stay at Home' Playlist |url=https://loc.gov/item/prn-20-023/|work=Library of Congress|access-date=March 25, 2020}}

Journalist and author Dylan Jones published the book The Wichita Lineman: Searching in the Sun for the World's Greatest Unfinished Song in 2019, documenting the song's genesis and enduring legacy.{{cite web |title=The Wichita Lineman: Searching in the Sun for the World's Greatest Unfinished Song |url=https://www.libraryjournal.com/review/wichita-lineman-searching-in-the-sun-for-the-worlds-greatest-unfinished-song |website=Library Journal |access-date=August 13, 2023 |date=July 31, 2019}}

{{efn|Based on the [https://www.wreckingcrewfilm.com/afmcontracts/Campbell,Glen_WichitaLineman.pdf Phonograph Recording Contracts] for the main recording sessions, with additions and corrections as described in their corresponding edit summaries.}}

Many adult "middle of the road" (MOR) artists recorded the song, including Tom Jones, Johnny Mathis, Robert Goulet, Andy Williams, Bobby Goldsboro and Engelbert Humperdinck, most of them shortly after the original version was a hit. Reggae singer Dennis Brown released a cover of the song on his 1972 album Super Reggae and Soul Hits.{{YouTube|99Jyv1r5aRw|"Wichita Lineman"}} There were also many instrumental versions, including one by José Feliciano. In 2001 the instrumental band Friends of Dean Martinez included a cover version on their studio album of the same name, featuring lap steel guitarist Bill Elm. Guitarist Johnny A. included an instrumental version on his 1999 release Sometime Tuesday Morning. The song has also been covered by artists such as Ray Charles, the Dells, Billy Joel, Freedy Johnston, O.C. Smith, Willie Hutch, the Meters, Fatback Band, These Animal Men, Maria McKee, Reg Presley of the Troggs, Shawn Lee, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, James Taylor, R.E.M., The Clouds, Earl Van Dyke, Zucchero Fornaciari, King Harvest, Johnny Cash, Dwight Yoakam, Wayne Newton, Tony Joe White, Stoney LaRue, B.E.F., Urge Overkill,{{cite web|url=https://www.stereogum.com/1959177/gotcha-covered-wichita-lineman/franchises/list/gotcha-covered/ |title=Gotcha Covered: Wichita Lineman |website=Stereogum |date=August 24, 2017 |access-date=September 8, 2020}} Black Pumas,{{cite web |title=Black Pumas filter Glen Campbell through the Meters on 'Wichita Lineman' cover |first=Peter |last=Blackstock |work=Austin American-Statesman |date=July 16, 2020 |url=https://www.statesman.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/07/16/black-pumas-filter-glen-campbell-through-meters-on-rsquowichita-linemanrsquo-cover/113774916/ |accessdate=July 12, 2021}} Colin Hay and the Nottingham Youth Jazz Orchestra (Combo). Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66 did the song with the lyrics "He is a lineman for the county".

Jazz pianist Alan Pasqua developed an arrangement of the song for jazz trio that appears on his album My New Old Friend and Peter Erskine's album The Interlochen Concert. Jazz pianist John Harkins played an up-tempo rendition of the song on his 2015 album Cognition.{{Citation|title=Wichita Lineman| date=April 25, 2020 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdJDUcLulIA |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/rdJDUcLulIA| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|language=en|access-date=August 20, 2021}}{{cbignore}} Jazz pianist Laurence Hobgood recorded a version of the song combining a contemporary jazz trio with a string quartet.{{Cite web|last=Greenlee|first=Steve|title=Laurence Hobgood: Tesseterra (Ubuntu)|url=https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/laurence-hobgood-tesseterra-ubuntu/|access-date=August 20, 2021|website=JazzTimes|date=June 2019 |language=en-US}}

A soul-jazz version was also performed by Young-Holt Unlimited. A stripped-down version of the song also appears on Villagers' 2016 album Where Have You Been All My Life with a simple piano accompaniment.

Other covers of the song include that of Wade Hayes, who released a version in August 1997{{cite web|url=http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/hayes_wade/544181/album.jhtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040731232602/http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/hayes_wade/544181/album.jhtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 31, 2004 |title=Wichita Lineman by Wade Hayes |website=CMT |date=August 26, 1997 |access-date=December 27, 2012}} that peaked at number 55 on the US country music charts. It was to have been included on an album entitled Tore Up from the Floor Up, but due to its poor chart performance, the album was delayed. That album was finally released in 1998 as When the Wrong One Loves You Right, with the "Wichita Lineman" cover excluded.{{cite news |url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=HT&p_theme=ht&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EAFEBA146F802BE&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |title=Wade Hayes' "Wrong" Is Just Right for Him |access-date=September 23, 2010 |date=November 28, 1997 |work=Sarasota Herald-Tribune}}

In 2016, the country-pop band Restless Heart also recorded a cover of the song.{{cite web|url=http://tasteofcountry.com/restless-heart-wichita-lineman-video/|title=Restless Heart Premiere 'Wichita Lineman' Video|website=Taste of Country|date=May 9, 2016 |access-date=June 1, 2018}}

Guns N' Roses covered the song live during their "Not in This Life Time" world tour. The first live performance of the song was on August 30, 2017, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLq-XHHW1Ek |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/xLq-XHHW1Ek| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|title=Guns N Roses - Live in Edmonton 2017 - Wichita Lineman (Glen Campbell Tribute) |website=jzalapski at YouTube.com |date=August 30, 2017 |access-date=August 31, 2017}}{{cbignore}}{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1019&v=NQ2mmV1b93Y&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=GunsN%27Roses |title=Guns N' Roses - Not In This Lifetime Selects: Wichita |website=Guns N' Roses at YouTube.com |date=November 26, 2019 |access-date=August 13, 2021}} Rolling Stone magazine described it as "their most unexpected cover of the tour".{{cite web|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/country/news/see-guns-n-roses-cover-glen-campbells-wichita-lineman-w500531 |title=See Guns N' Roses' Surprise Cover of Glen Campbell's 'Wichita Lineman' |website=RollingStone.com |date=August 31, 2017 |access-date=August 31, 2017}}

The Brian Setzer Orchestra covered the song live during their Christmas Rocks! 2017 tour{{Citation |last=Pimienta |first=Edgar |title=The Brian Setzer Orchestra playing Wichita Lineman on tour Christmas Rocks! 2017 |url=https://guestpectacular.com/artists/the-brian-setzer-orchestra/events/1395/song/wichita-lineman/tour/christmas-rocks-2017/day/desc |language=en |access-date=2022-12-26}} and they perform the song on the Christmas Rocks! Live Blu-ray DVD that was released on November 9, 2018.{{Citation |title=The Brian Setzer Orchestra - Christmas Rocks! Live |date=November 9, 2018 |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/12801163-The-Brian-Setzer-Orchestra-Christmas-Rocks-Live |language=en |access-date=2022-12-26}}

After Campbell's death, Webb sang the song with Little Big Town as a tribute during the 51st Annual Country Music Association Awards on November 8, 2017.{{citation needed|date=September 2018}}

Fred Hersch performed a cover of the song at the Village Vanguard on July 23, 2019.

The English rock band, Elbow covered the song on the Zoe Ball Show on BBC Radio 2 as a surprise for the actor Paul Rudd, on October 19, 2019.{{Cite web |title=BBC Radio 2 - The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show - 12 guests we've loved on Zoe Ball this autumn |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/k5Z37txbhKZqK2NTQ3j7wS/12-guests-we-ve-loved-on-zoe-ball-this-autumn |access-date=2024-02-29 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}}

Former Men at Work frontman Colin Hay recorded and released a version of this song on his 2021 cover album I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself.{{Cite web|date=2021-08-03|title=Colin Hay Covers The Greats On "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself"|url=https://www.newjerseystage.com/articles/2021/08/03/colin-hay-covers-the-greats-on-i-just-dont-know-what-to-do-with-myself|access-date=2021-10-26|website=NewJerseyStage.com|language=en}}

Brett Kissel covered the song on his 2023 release The Compass Project – West Album.{{cite web|url=https://entertainment-focus.com/2023/11/03/brett-kissel-the-compass-project-west-album-review/|title=Brett Kissel – 'The Compass Project: West' album review|date=November 3, 2023|first=James|last=Daykin|work=Entertainment Focus}}

In other languages

Lyrics that are loose translations of, or inspired by, Webb's song have been written in at least two other languages: German and Finnish.

A German language version written by Thomas Fritsch, "Der Draht in der Sonne" (English "The Wire In the Sun"), has also been covered by Katja Ebstein.[http://www.coverinfo.de/start.php?wert=12&lang=2&suchbegriff=%22Der+Draht+in+der+Sonne%22&sort=2&suchenach=title&tabelle=1&suchebemerkung=&suchoption=xsearch&seite=1&xpert=0 Discover the Original: Der Draht in der Sonne] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150109133843/http://www.coverinfo.de/start.php?wert=12&lang=2&suchbegriff=%22Der+Draht+in+der+Sonne%22&sort=2&suchenach=title&tabelle=1&suchebemerkung=&suchoption=xsearch&seite=1&xpert=0 |date=January 9, 2015 }}, coverinfo.de

Finnish singer Topi Sorsakoski recorded a Finnish version of the song on his album Yksinäisyys osa 2 in 1995.{{cite web|url=https://areena.yle.fi/1-4184699?autoplay=true|title=Kantritohtori Teppo Nättilä - Rootsterapiaa ja mojomiehekästä menoa!|website=areena.yle.fi|access-date=June 1, 2018}}

The song was used in the opening and closing scenes of the Ozark season 2 episode, "Badger", to emphasize the setting and tone of the beginning and end of Darlene and Jacob Snell's romance.{{cite news |work=Vulture|url=http://www.vulture.com/2018/09/ozark-recap-season-2-episode-9-the-badger.html|title=Ozark Recap: Nothing Personal|author=Tallerico, Brian|date=September 2018}}

Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) can be heard briefly singing the song in the season four episode of Parks and Recreation, "The Debate".{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

Homer Simpson sings the song while mimicking hold music in The Simpsons 15th-season episode "Co-Dependents' Day".{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

The KLF referenced the song in the title "Wichita Lineman Was a Song I Once Heard", on their 1990 ambient house concept album Chill Out.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

The Decemberists paid homage to the song on their album Picaresque in the song "The Engine Driver".{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

In the Newsradio Season 2 episode "In Through the Out Door", Matthew (Andy Dick) bets Joe (Joe Rogan) that the next song on the radio will be a good one. When they flip the radio on, "Wichita Lineman" is playing. Matthew admits to losing the bet, while from the next room Dave (Dave Foley) wistfully remarks that he loves this song.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

The song appears in the 2013 film (and accompanying soundtrack) Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa.

The track's fadeout was voiced over for many years by longtime English DJ Steve Wright to close his BBC Radio shows.{{cite AV media |date=December 4, 2018 |title=BBC Radio 2 - Steve Wright's Glen Campbell Tribute |type=Radio broadcast |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1myExJeGXs |orig-date=Broadcast August 9, 2017 |access-date=August 26, 2022 |time=0:35 |location=London, UK |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation |via=YouTube}}

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• {{cite book|last=Jones|first=Dylan|date=2019|title=The Wichita Lineman: Searching in the Sun for the World's Greatest Unfinished Song|publisher=Faber and Faber|location=London|isbn=978-0-571-35340-8}} 281 pp.

• [https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-songs-of-all-time-1224767/glen-campbell-wichita-lineman-2-1225132/ Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs of All Time: Wichita Lineman]
• [https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/3530822107858541774/ Licensed lyrics of this song] at SongMeanings

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Category:1968 singles

Category:Songs written by Jimmy Webb

Category:Glen Campbell songs

Category:Wade Hayes songs

Category:Brett Kissel songs

Category:Andy Williams songs

Category:Tony Joe White songs

Category:Music videos directed by Steven Goldmann

Category:RPM Top Singles number-one singles

Category:Capitol Records singles

Category:Songs about Kansas

Category:Country ballads

Category:Pop ballads

Category:Songs about cities in the United States

Category:Songs about loneliness

Category:Songs about telephones

Category:1968 songs

Category:United States National Recording Registry recordings

Category:Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical

Category:Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients