Glen Campbell – "Wichita Lineman" (1968)

And I need you more than want you

And I want you for all time

After he reads a question, my favorite trivia host plays music to fill the time that teams are allowed to think about that question before turning an answer in – which is usually two minutes. 

One of the reason that my favorite trivia host is my favorite trivia host is his playlist – which includes songs like “Pepper” by the Butthole Surfers, “88 Lines About 44 Women” by the Nails, “People Who Died” by the Jim Carroll Band, and “Flagpole Sitta” by Harvey Danger.

But my favorite of the songs that this host plays regularly is “Wichita Lineman” by the late Glen Campbell.  

You didn’t see that coming, did you?

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As much as I like that record, it wasn’t on my original short list for this year’s class of the 2 OR 3 LINES “GOLDEN DECADE” HIT SINGLES HALL OF FAME.

“Wichita Lineman” made it all the way to #3 on the Billboard “Hot 100,” so it certainly qualifies as a hit single.  (Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” held down the number one spot that week.)

And “Wichita Lineman” had a hall-of-fame-worthy pedigree: it was written by Jimmy Webb, who was one of the truly great pop songwriters of all time.  (That statement would be true even if the only song he had ever written in his life was “MacArthur Park.”)

But the real reason I chose to include “Wichita Lineman” among this year’s group of “Golden Decade” hit singles hall of fame selections was that I learned recently that no less a cultural icon than Bob Dylan himself has called it “the greatest song ever written.”

(Oh yes he did!)

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Of course, Dylan’s other favorite songs include “I Want to Hold Your Hand” by the Beatles and “Pretty Maids in a Row” by the Eagles . . . which proves that his musical judgment is a little suspect.

But while it’s fair to discount Dylan’s enthusiastic endorsement of “Wichita Lineman,” there’s certainly no reason to discount mine.  If 2 or 3 lines tells you that a record is great, you’d best believe that record is great.

And those of you who don't agree that "Wichita Lineman" is a great record can just form a line to kiss my ass!

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Click here to listen to “Wichita Lineman.”

Click here to buy that recording from Amazon.