MORE “DIAMONDS” THAN “RHINESTONES”, COWBOY

.

.
THE GLEN CAMBELL COLLECTION (1962 - 1989)
Glen Campbell
released: 1997
.
Glen Campbell, although he was a major music star for an entire decade (late 1960s through late 1970s), is now more like a punchline of a joke. The joke? I dunno. How ’bout: Is it music yet? No, it’s Campbell’s. (If you don’t remember the old Lipton soup commercial, you won’t get it.)
.
A lot of people came to think of Glen as being too hokey, a kind of Wonder bread, pseudo-Country boy pandering to a mainstream music audience. But give an honest listen to THE GLEN CAMPBELL COLLECTION (1962-1989) and you’ll find that, like Dwight Yoakam, Glen’s no jokeum. (Nah, don’t blame me for THAT bad joke. I knew someone who knew someone who said he took a college class with Dwight -- before he was a big star, naturally -– and the teacher used to say in class, “Dwight Yoakam, he’s no jokeum.” Well, Dwight’s bank account ain’t no jokeum either, that’s for sure.)
.
With the exception of two songs, every cut on this 40-track collection climbed into the Top 40 of either the Country or Pop music charts, with some appearing on both simultaneously. And some of them really carry me back to my youth, before I was wrecked by women, whiskey, ’n’ Wock ’N’ Woll (i.e., a time when “pleasure” wasn’t synonymous with “emotional and physical pain.” But, man, I miss those times!)
.
I actually met Glen once, about 1979. A friend who used to baby-sit his kid took me back to his dressing room after we saw him perform at The Riviera Hotel in “Vegas, Baaabeee!”. And Glen seemed really... uhm... well... sweaty.
.
I was playing THE GLEN CAMPBELL COLLECTION (1962-1989) in my car some years back, and my Ma (may she rest in Peace) said, “That’s Glen Campbell?! I never realized before what a good voice he had.” If my Ma liked it, that should tell you something. (Well, it tells you that she liked it, at the very least!)
.
Some of these songs are beautiful lilting little numbers with an understated but powerful sentimentality. Such as GENTLE ON MY MIND (a gorgeous song!), WICHITA LINEMAN (reminds me of my Pa), and TRUE GRIT (the theme from the great John Wayne Western). Others wear their emotion right on their sleeves: WHERE’S THE PLAYGROUND SUSIE? (wasn’t he a bit old to be asking?), DREAMS OF THE EVERYDAY HOUSEWIFE (sad but I enjoy it), and BY THE TIME I GET TO PHOENIX (by the time YOU get to Phoenix, I hope to be long gone. I hate it here!)
.
But surprisingly, Ol’ Glen really gets across the Joy of Salvation in a couple of upbeat Gospel songs: OH HAPPY DAY (which seriously rivals composer Edwin Hawkins’ version!) and the humorously clever Anti-Hippie statement, I KNEW JESUS (BEFORE HE WAS A STAR). Glen (who you’ll recall once spent a little time playing with... er, I mean “for”... The Beach Boys) was a musical chameleon. He proves in KENTUCKY MEANS PARADISE that he was no slouch when it came to the real down-home Country stuffs, and his WILLIAM TELL OVERTURE displays why he was once such a very sought-after studio musician (a member of The Wrecking Crew): he goes lickety-split over that fretboard.
.
And in Glen’s tear-jerking ode to Mother, THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE, Ted Harris penned one of my all-time favorite song lyrics. I call it “The Ultimate Anti-Feminism Anthem”. (According to the National Organization for Women, I’m marked for Hell ’n’ ready!)...
.
He got here red and wrinkled, scared and cryin'
Then she took him up and held him to her breast
And he sure was glad to get what mama offered
Then he went to sleep and put his fears to rest
.
It didn't seem to matter what he needed
He could always count on mama to supply
And regardless of the sleep she might be losin'
He always found a twinkle in her eye
.
There ought to be a hall of fame for mamas
Creation's most unique and precious pearls
And Heaven help us always to remember
That the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world
.
She taught him all the attributes of greatness
That she knew he couldn't learn away from home
And by the time she wore the cover off her Bible
Her hair was gray and her little man was gone
.
There ought to be a hall of fame for mamas
Creation's most unique and precious pearls
And Heaven help us always to remember
That the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world
.
At the risk of sounding like some sentimental fool (which I am), I just wanna say that I adore those words -- they create a lump in my throat and make my eyes moist. There’s no mention in there of Mama chasing my teenaged brother Napoleon through the house and how God performed a miracle to save him from being beaten to death by his own Mama and with his own walking crutch... but it’s just as well. Besides, Nappy brought it upon himself (like he always did).
.
I can recall that my Pa used to like Glen’s SOUTHERN NIGHTS (a bouncy tune if there ever was one), and after he passed away, the song THEN YOU CAN TELL ME GOODBYE reminded my Ma of my Pa and it always made her cry. So diggin’ and cryin’ to Glen Campbell is just a McCarthy Family tradition.
.
There are a few tracks on these discs that are more RHINESTONE than DIAMOND, but overall, THE GLEN CAMPBELL COLLECTION (1962-1989) is a REAL GEM.
.
Yoey O’Dogherty, that funky editor of Morocco’s cowboy music magazine 'SADDLEBAGS ’N’ SIX-STRINGS', once said to no one in particular, “Play that Country music, White Boy”. Well, Glen Campbell plays it, and he plays it quite well for a guy not named Waylon Jennings.
.
~ Stephen T. McCarthy
.