During his 50 years in show business, Campbell released more than 70 albums. He sold 45 million records and accumulated 12 RIAA Gold albums, four Platinum albums and one Double-platinum album. He placed a total of 80 different songs on either the Billboard Country Chart, Billboard Hot 100, or the Adult Contemporary Chart, of which 29 made the top 10 and of which nine reached number one on at least one of those charts. Campbell's hits include his recordings of John Hartford's "Gentle on My Mind"; Jimmy Webb's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman" and "Galveston"; Larry Weiss's "Rhinestone Cowboy"; and Allen Toussaint's "Southern Nights".
Campbell made history in 1967 by winning four Grammys total in the country and pop categories. For "Gentle on My Mind", he received two awards in country and western, "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" did the same in pop. Three of his early hits later won Grammy Hall of Fame Awards (2000, 2004, 2008), while Campbell himself won the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. He owns trophies for Male Vocalist of the Year from both the Country Music Association (CMA) and the Academy of Country Music (ACM), and took the CMA's top award as 1968 Entertainer of the Year. Campbell appeared in the film True Grit, which gave him a Golden Globe nomination for Most Promising Newcomer. Campbell sang the title song which was nominated for an Academy Award.
Glen Travis Campbell was born in Billstown, Arkansas, to John Wesley and Carrie Dell (Stone) Campbell. He was the seventh son of 12 children. He started playing guitar as a youth and credits his uncle Boo for teaching him the guitar.
In 1954, Campbell moved to Albuquerque to join his uncle's band known as Dick Bills and the Sandia Mountain Boys. He also appeared there on his uncle's radio show and on K Circle B Time, the local children's program on KOB television. In 1958, Campbell formed his own band, the Western Wranglers.
In 1960, Campbell moved to Los Angeles to become a session musician. In October 1960 he joined The Champs. By January 1961, Campbell had found a daytime job at publishing company American Music, writing songs and recording demos. Because of these demos Campbell soon was in demand as a session musician and became part of a group of studio musicians later known as The Wrecking Crew. Campbell played on recordings by Bobby Darin, Ricky Nelson, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, The Monkees, Nancy Sinatra, Merle Haggard, Jan and Dean, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, and Phil Spector.
In May 1961, he left The Champs and was subsequently signed by Crest Records, a subsidiary of American Music. His first solo release, "Turn Around, Look at Me", was a moderate success, peaking at number 62 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1961. Campbell also formed The Gee Cees with former bandmembers from The Champs, performing at The Crossbow Inn in Van Nuys. The Gee Cees, too, released a single on Crest, the instrumental "Buzz Saw", which did not chart.
In 1962, Campbell signed with Capitol Records. After minor initial success with "Too Late to Worry, Too Blue to Cry", his first single for the label, and "Kentucky Means Paradise", released by The Green River Boys featuring Glen Campbell, a string of unsuccessful singles and albums followed.
From 1964 on, Campbell began to appear on television as a regular on Star Route, a syndicated series hosted by Rod Cameron,[18] ABC's Shindig!, and Hollywood Jamboree.
From December 1964 to early March 1965, Campbell was a touring member of The Beach Boys, filling in for Brian Wilson. He also played guitar on the band's Pet Sounds (1966) album, among other recordings. On tour, he played bass guitar and sang falsetto harmonies. In April 1966, he joined Ricky Nelson on a tour through the Far East, again playing bass.
In 1965, he had his biggest solo hit yet, reaching number 45 on the Hot 100 with a version of Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Universal Soldier". Asked about the pacifist message of the song, he elected to assert that "people who are advocating burning draft cards should be hung."
When follow-up singles did not do well, and Capitol was considering dropping Campbell from the label in 1966, he was teamed with producer Al De Lory. Together, they first collaborated on "Burning Bridges" which became a top 20 country hit in early 1967, and the album of the same name. Campbell and De Lory collaborated again on 1967's "Gentle on My Mind", written by John Hartford, which was an overnight success. The song was followed by the bigger hit "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" later in 1967, and "I Wanna Live" and "Wichita Lineman" in 1968. Campbell won four Grammy Awards for his performances on "Gentle on My Mind" and "By the Time I Get to Phoenix".
In 1967, Campbell was also the uncredited lead vocalist on "My World Fell Down" by Sagittarius, a studio group. The song reached number 70 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The 1969 song "True Grit" by composer Elmer Bernstein and lyricist Don Black, and sung by Campbell, who co-starred in the movie, received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Song and the Golden Globe for Best Original Song.
His biggest hits in the late 1960s were the songs written by Jimmy Webb: "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman", "Galveston", and "Where's the Playground Susie". An album of mainly Webb-penned compositions, Reunion: The Songs of Jimmy Webb, was released in 1974, but it produced no hit single records. "Wichita Lineman" (1968) was selected as one of the greatest songs of the 20th century by Mojo magazine in 1997 and by Blender in 2001.
After he hosted a 1968 summer replacement for television's The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour variety show, Campbell hosted his own weekly variety show, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, from January 1969 through June 1972. At the height of his popularity, a 1970 biography by Freda Kramer, The Glen Campbell Story, was published.
With Campbell's session-work connections, he hosted major names in music on his show, including The Beatles (on film), David Gates, Bread, The Monkees, Neil Diamond, Linda Ronstadt, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Roger Miller, and Mel Tillis. Campbell helped launch the careers of Anne Murray and Jerry Reed, who were regulars on his Goodtime Hour program.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Campbell released a long series of singles and appeared in the movies True Grit (1969) with John Wayne and Kim Darby and Norwood (1970) with Kim Darby and Joe Namath.
After the cancellation of his CBS series in 1972, Campbell remained a regular on network television. He co-starred in a made-for-television movie, Strange Homecoming (1974), with Robert Culp and up-and-coming teen idol, Leif Garrett. He hosted a number of television specials, including 1976's Down Home, Down Under with Olivia Newton-John. He co-hosted the American Music Awards from 1976–78 and headlined the 1979 NBC special Glen Campbell: Back to Basics with guest-stars Seals and Crofts and Brenda Lee.
In the mid-1970s, he had more hits with "Rhinestone Cowboy", "Southern Nights" (both U.S. number one hits), "Sunflower" (U.S. number 39) (written by Neil Diamond), and "Country Boy (You Got Your Feet in L.A.)" (U.S. number 11).
"Rhinestone Cowboy" was Campbell's largest-selling single, initially with over 2 million copies sold. Campbell had heard songwriter Larry Weiss' version while on tour of Australia in 1974. Both songs were in the October 4, 1975 Hot 100 top 10. Campbell also made a techno/pop version of the song in 2002 with UK artists Rikki & Daz and went to the top 10 in the UK with the dance version and related music video.
"Southern Nights", by Allen Toussaint, his other number one pop-rock-country crossover hit, was generated with the help of Jimmy Webb, and Jerry Reed, who inspired the famous guitar lick introduction to the song, which was the most-played jukebox number of 1977.
Campbell made a cameo appearance in the 1980 Clint Eastwood movie Any Which Way You Can, for which he recorded the title song. In 1991, he provided the voice of the Elvis Presley sound-alike rooster Chanticleer in the Don Bluth film Rock-a-Doodle. He gave up smoking on March 15, 1992, and believed his singing voice improved as a result. In 1999, Campbell was featured on VH-1's Behind the Music, A&E Network's Biography in 2001, and on a number of CMT programs. Campbell ranked 29th on CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music in 2003.
In 2005, Campbell was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.[29] It was announced in April 2008 that Campbell was returning to his signature label, Capitol, to release his new album, Meet Glen Campbell. The album was released on August 19. With this album, he branched off in a different musical direction, covering tracks from artists such as Travis, U2, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Jackson Browne, and Foo Fighters. It was Campbell's first release on Capitol in over 15 years. Musicians from Cheap Trick and Jellyfish contributed to the album, as well. The first single, a cover of Green Day's "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)", was released to radio in July 2008.
In March 2010, a then-farewell album titled Ghost on the Canvas was announced which served as a companion to Meet Glen Campbell (2008). Ghost on the Canvas was released on August 30, 2011, with collaborations that include Paul Westerberg (writer of the title track), The Wallflowers singer Jakob Dylan, Chris Isaak, Rick Nielsen and Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins.
Following his early 2011 Alzheimers diagnosis, Campbell embarked on a final "Goodbye Tour," with three of his children joining him in his backup band. His final show was on November 30, 2012, in Napa, California. After the end of the tour, Campbell entered the studio in his home town Nashville to record what would be his final album, Adiós, which wouldn't be revealed until five years later. According to his wife, Kim Campbell, he wanted to preserve "what magic was left", in what would be his final recordings. In January 2013, Campbell recorded his final song, "I'm Not Gonna Miss You", during what would be his last recording sessions. The song, which is featured in the 2014 documentary, Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me, was released on September 30, 2014, with the documentary following on October 24. On January 15, 2015 Campbell and fellow songwriter Julian Raymond were nominated for Best Original Song at the 87th Academy Awards.
In April 2017, Campbell's final album, Adiós, was announced, featuring twelve songs from his final 2012-13 sessions. The album was released on June 9, 2017.
In June 2011, Campbell announced he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease six months earlier. According to his family, symptoms of the disease had been occurring for years, becoming more and more evident as the years progressed.
Campbell went on a final "Goodbye Tour," with three of his children joining him in his backup band. His final show was on November 30, 2012, in Napa, California. He performed "Rhinestone Cowboy" as a goodbye at the 2012 Grammy Awards ceremony held on February 12, 2012, his final televised on-stage performance.
In April 2014, news reports indicated that Campbell became a patient at an Alzheimer's long-term care and treatment facility. On March 4, 2015, Associated Press reported that two of Campbell's children, Debby and Travis, sought legal action against Campbell's wife Kim, with the assertion she "secluded" the singer and prevented them from "participating" in Campbell's medical care.
On Campbell's 80th birthday, Jimmy Webb, with whom Campbell frequently collaborated, announced he would launch a special edition of his national touring show on May 3, 2016, called "Jimmy Webb: The Glen Campbell Years" at Nashville's City Winery.
Campbell died of the disease in Nashville, Tennessee on August 8, 2017, six years after his diagnosis.
Since 1962, Campbell has recorded and released 58 studio albums and six live albums. He has also lent his vocals to four soundtracks for motion pictures (True Grit (1969), Norwood (1970), Rock-a-Doodle (1992), and the 2014 documentary film Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me). He has placed a total of 82 singles (one of which was a re-release) on either the Billboard Country Chart, the Billboard Hot 100, or the Adult Contemporary Chart, nine of which peaked at number one on at least one of those charts. He has released 15 video albums and has been featured in 21 music videos. His first two music videos, "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" and "Wichita Lineman", were directed by Gene Weed in 1967 and 1968 respectively. Campbell released his final music video, "I'm Not Gonna Miss You" in 2014 to coincide with the release of the documentary Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me. His final studio album, Adiós was released on June 9, 2017.
Wish You Were Here
Glen Campbell Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Today I saw some ruins of the Roman world's decline
And I climbed old Spanish steps, you've heard so much about
But Rome has lost its glory, I don't know what it's about
I wish you were here
When the shadows fall and the rushing traffic stills
I wish you were here
I make my way to a small cafe
I wonder what you did today
I wish you were here
Dear one at home, I just flew in from Rome
And Paris is a postcard all decked out in color chrome
So I climbed the Eiffel Tower and I prayed at Notre Dame
But I just can't find the romance and I wonder why I came
I wish you were here
On the Champs-Élysées, lovers walking hand in hand
I wish you were here
They take one look at me and they seem to understand
This city of light is a lovely sight
The first bright star I see tonight
I wish you were here
Now I write this on the plane
And I'm drinking cheap champagne
And wonderin' why two people got so far apart
I wish you were here
Here in London where the rain is pouring down
I wish you were here
On this airplane headed back to L.A. town
I'll never leave you alone again
I'm coming home, but until then
I wish you were here
(I wish you were here)
I wish you were here
(I wish you were here)
I wish you were here
(I wish you were here)
I wish you were here
Glen Campbell's song "Wish You Were Here" is a poignant portrayal of the singer's longing for someone he is missing. He begins by describing his travels in Rome, admiring the ruins of the past and exploring the famous Spanish Steps. But despite the city's rich history and reputation, Campbell feels that it has lost its former glory and wonders why. He then transitions to Paris, France, where he visits the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame, but finds himself unable to connect with the city's romantic atmosphere. In the chorus, he repeatedly sings that he wishes the person he is missing could be there to share in the sights and experiences with him.
Campbell continues his travels to London, where he writes the song on the plane back to Los Angeles. It is here that he reflects on the distance that has grown between himself and the person he is missing. He drinks cheap champagne and contemplates how two people who were once close could have become so far apart. He ends the song by declaring that he will never leave that person alone again and that he is coming home, but until then, he wishes they were here with him.
Overall, "Wish You Were Here" is a soulful reflection of a longing for connection and companionship. Campbell's yearning is palpable throughout the song, as he describes beautiful sights and experiences that would be so much better if shared with someone he loves.
Line by Line Meaning
Dear friend of mine, the weather's fine
I am having a good time in Rome and the weather is perfect
Today I saw some ruins of the Roman world's decline
I visited some historic ruins from ancient Rome and marveled at their legacy
And I climbed old Spanish steps, you've heard so much about
I went up the famous steps in the city center known for their beauty and importance in Roman culture
But Rome has lost its glory, I don't know what it's about
Even though the city is still impressive, I feel that it has lost some of its former grandeur and I'm not sure why
I wish you were here
I miss you and wish you could experience these amazing places with me
When the shadows fall and the rushing traffic stills
During the peaceful moments of the day, when the city quiets down
And the bells are ringing on the seven hills
The sound of church bells ringing in the distance, symbolizing the city's religious and cultural history
I make my way to a small cafe
I find a quaint little café to sit and relax in
I wonder what you did today
I am curious about what you did today and wish we could talk about it together
Dear one at home, I just flew in from Rome
I am thinking of you and writing this letter after just arriving home from Rome
And Paris is a postcard all decked out in color chrome
Paris is also beautiful, like a postcard with its colorful sights and landmarks
So I climbed the Eiffel Tower and I prayed at Notre Dame
I visited iconic Parisian landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame Cathedral
But I just can't find the romance and I wonder why I came
Despite these beautiful sights, I am not feeling the expected romantic charm of Paris, and I am not sure why
On the Champs-Élysées, lovers walking hand in hand
The famous Parisian avenue is full of couples strolling and holding hands
They take one look at me and they seem to understand
The Parisians seem to recognize that I am not feeling the city's usual romance and love
This city of light is a lovely sight
Paris, known as the City of Light, is beautiful to look at
The first bright star I see tonight
I see the first bright star in the sky for the evening
Now I write this on the plane
I am writing this letter while on the plane
And I'm drinking cheap champagne
I am trying to make my flight more enjoyable by sipping on some inexpensive champagne
And wonderin' why two people got so far apart
I am pondering why we have grown distant from each other and how we can bridge the gap
Here in London where the rain is pouring down
I am now in London where it is raining heavily
On this airplane headed back to L.A. town
I am on the plane back to Los Angeles
I'll never leave you alone again
I realize how much I miss you and I vow to never be apart for so long again
I'm coming home, but until then
I am eager to come home to you, but for now I am still traveling
I wish you were here
I miss you and wish you were with me to share these experiences
(I wish you were here)
My longing for you is so strong that I repeat this sentiment again and again
(I wish you were here)
My wish that you could share in these beautiful moments with me is something I can't stop thinking about
(I wish you were here)
This refrain signifies the depth of my longing for my loved one's presence by my side
Contributed by Ryan V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.