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As it happens, Campbell was 30 years old when he finally scored a country hit, "Burning Bridges," which made it into the top 20 of the country music chart in 1967.īefore he knew it, the dues he'd paid playing on other people's hits were paying off in a hurry. Glen Campbell wanted to be a country star - backing Sinatra and touring with the Beach Boys weren't bad gigs, but they weren't Glen. The music he was recording under his own name, which was generally unsuccessful, was country. 'I've Been Walkin' These Streets So Long, Singin' The Same Old Song'ĭoing session work on hits for a variety of artists in different genres was a legit career - but for Arkansas-born Campbell, it didn't feel like his destiny. Starting from the beginning, with the opening lyric about trudging through the same familiar streets without seeming to get anywhere. Weiss's version of the song had been released and had flopped, and Weiss was considering giving up on music and going into the furniture business around the time Campbell was discovering his personal connection to "Rhinestone Cowboy." Just how "autobiographical" were Weiss's lyrics? Let's just say that, line by line, you can see elements of Campbell's life story pretty clearly. It's fairly amazing that lyrics written by a songwriter named Larry Weiss, whom Campbell had never met, struck such a nerve and seemed so revflective of Campbell's own life experiences.
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The song, a huge hit worldwide, was just the vehicle he needed. He'd been to the top, he'd lived the country-star life in the limelight - indeed, "like a rhinestone cowboy" - but longed to return. "I thought it was my autobiography set to song," he recalled. It was a familiar story for Glen Campbell, who'd achieved fame with songs like "Galveston" and "Wichita Lineman," but was in a rut by the mid-'70s. With lyrics about "a load of compromising" and the desire to be "where the lights are shinin' on me," it's a song of career frustration and hope. One thing I took from this show was just what a good guitarist he was.The late Glen Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy," released in 1975, is the late country singer's biggest ever hit, and it might also be the song he identified with the most on a personal level. In 2011 Campbell was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and made his diagnosis public. Eventually Campbell managed to turn his life around, he renewed his Christian faith and as one of the contributors puts it, the Country music fans are loyal to you if you are good to them. Maybe not such a clean cut Republican after all. In the 1970s his career quickly hit the skids with divorce, drugs and drink. There was some depth missing about him despite his own descent to darkness. This comprehensive documentary whittles through Campbell's life but he is no Johnny Cash or Willie Nelson or quirky as Kenny Rogers. With the country divided in the late 1960s because of the Vietnam war and the counterculture, his clean cut looks and Republican outlook was a boon to the media. He even had his own show on US television and appeared as an actor in True Grit alongside John Wayne.
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Solo success came in 1967 with his country pop sound, at one time his albums in America were outselling The Beatles. He even stood in for Brian Wilson when The Beach Boys toured without him. From an impoverished childhood in Arkansas, Campbell went on to be a top session guitarist in the 1960s playing for Frank Sinatra, Elvis, Righteous Brothers, The Monkees. If you thought Glen Campbell was some middle of the road Country & Western singer then you would be wrong.