Celebrity Jukebox #102: Glen Campbell

As I mentioned a week or so ago, to celebrate the one hundredth edition of Celebrity Jukebox, I chose one of my favourite artists. But then we lost Sinéad O'Connor, and my plans were thrown out of the window.

Now though, I return to the man who gave voice to my Number One song, Jimmy Webb's amazing...

I won't say anymore about that tune today, but here's a post I wrote about it some years back. I will, however, share with you my review of the time I saw him live, on his farewell tour back in 2011 (this taken from my old blog, Sunset Over Slawit)...

It's long been my dream to see my all time favourite song performed live by the singer who made it famous. Friday at the Salford Lowry was my last chance to make that dream a reality. Unlike many "Farewell Tours" where you suspect the artist may well be "quitting" only to sell more tickets (before next year's inevitable "reunion tour"), Glen Campbell really will be hanging up his mike and guitar once this tour is done. You may have read how the 75 year-old star, famous in his younger days for his baby-faced looks and country choirboy vocals, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's late last year. His return to the road is seen by many as not just a farewell to fans but also a brave effort to publicise a disease which celebrities rarely make public.

It's clear when Campbell takes to the stage that this is not a man in the prime of health. Although joyful and enthusiastic, he does at times appear confused and his legendary guitar playing is no longer at its flawless best. Fortunately he's supported by a band that includes three of his kids: Cal, Ashley and Shannon who help keep him focused throughout the show. And what a show... all the hits that made him famous (many composed by the divine Jimmy Webb), topped off by a showstopping, standing ovation double bill of Wichita Lineman and Rhinestone Cowboy. It was impossible not to be moved to tears by the former, a song that's meant so much to me for so many years and now sounds more bittersweet than ever.

Glen died 6 years later, but he's a mainstay on my jukebox, and the Celebrity Jukebox honours him today with these choice tunes...

Every time I hear Glen Campbell, I think about you
And in that moment I can always find
"Southern Nights" coming up the hallway
And I’m home again in such a simpler time
Back when the world was ever "Gentle On My Mind"

Pat Green - Echo

Now some days I feel like an engagement ring
Resting on the ocean floor
Yet others just like that same Glen Campbell record
Found in every second hand store

Darren Hanlon - Scenes From a Separation

Here's a song about a young man who plays a Yamaha guitar in the Slee Cowboy Orchestra and knows all the lyrics to Glen's biggest hits... in French, I bet...

C'était un garçon des cantons
Avec son étui plein d'chansons
On pouvait l'voir tous les samedis
Avec l'orchestre de cowboys Slee
Y avait une guitare Yamaha
Et un habit aux opéras
Y connaissait toutes les paroles
Des dernières tounes de Glen Campbell

Daniel Lavoie - Garçon des Cantons

When he got out of prison, country music outlaw David Allan Coe lived in a red Cadillac hearse parked in front of the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. He was clearly more of a badass than Glen Campbell, and I'm sure Glen would have agreed.

I've always been the Rhinestone Cowboy
I don't care what Glen Campbell has to say

David Allan Coe - Ride 'Em Cowboy

James Reyne is quite a big deal down under, first as lead singer of Australian Crawl, then as as successful solo artist. Glen's influence travels far and wide...

Couldn't tell if I was dreaming
When I woke before the dawn
Thought I heard Glen Campbell screaming
Where have all the flowers gone?

James Reyne - Reno

Canadian pop punks Chixdiggit win the prize for Band Name of the Week...

I can't be with you tonight, it ain't right 
Got home, one message for me, our song was on the machine 
Now I got a song in my head, a mix of Glen Campbell and Queen

Chixdiggit - Going to the Peelers?

Jeremy Warmsley is from London. He's in the band Summer Camp, writes soundtrack music, and releases his own stuff. This is a pretty perfect 60's pastiche...

You swore that you would never tour again
Just stay home in bed and write the songs
Glen Campbell sat in and sang the high parts
While the interband relationships fell apart

Jeremy Warmsley - On Top Of The World

Laine started out as a karaoke singer. He enjoyed singing country tunes so much, he started his own band...

I've got a pretty boy and big old void
Karaoke could not fill
And singing southern nights under neon lights
Makes me feel like Glen Campbell

Laine & The Laters - Been Country

Almost at the end now, here's a Saint Etienne out-take featuring Stephen Duffy on storytelling duties...

Glen Campbell was on the radio singing about cleaning his gun

And dreaming of Galveston

"What's this?" she said

"It's Hall and Oates or nothing for me."

Saint Etienne - Fake '88

At last... a titular mention!

Bawl - Glen Campbell Nights

Definitely the most famous song to mention Glen - and arguably the best - comes from the legendary Gil Scott Heron. It's a cursory mention in a list of performers who are symptomatic of the "white-washing" of US TV in the 70s, so hardly a tribute to Glen... but always worth a spin.

Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

All of which brings us to these guys. Back in 1980, Melody Maker called Any Trouble "the most exciting new rock 'n' roll group since the Pretenders". They signed to Stiff, then EMI... but never broke the big time. They reformed in 2007 and released two new albums. This track comes from their 2015 album Present Tense. I wonder if it was in response to Glen releasing a song coincidentally named after their band on his final album in 2011...?

Hot 100 #33

French metal band 6:33 welcome us all to #33 in our Hot 100 countdown. I understand their cover of Silver Lady by David Soul is especially worth seeking out.


33 (and a third) is the number of revolutions per minute made by a long-player / vinyl album. Young people will probably need to consult iffypedia about this, unless they're a hipster, in which case they probably know more about it than I do.

Since I think it's fair to say that hipsters do not read this blog, what do all you old non-hipsters recommend?


The Swede kicked us off this week with a veritable plethora. (Well, a "ple4a", anyway.)

The New Mastersounds - Thirty-Three

Smashing Pumpkins - Thirty-Three

Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters - Three Thirty Three

George Jones - Four-0-Thirty-Three

We could also have had It's A 10:33 (Let's Get Jesus On The Line) by the same fella.

Lynchie stayed out west with this one...

Waylon Jennings - The 33rd of August

It's the 33rd of August
And I'm finally touching down
Eight days from Sunday
Finds me Saturday bound.

I think he needs a new calendar.

And I'll chuck in this from my own country collection...

Kris Kristofferson - The Pilgrim Chapter 33

C popped up next with an offering that Charity Chic swiftly declared "the winner!" If only he was compiling these posts. (He's welcome to take over now that he's finished the already much-missed Double Letter Saturday feature. Save me the extra work as we get nearer to #1. Hint hint.)

How about when Grace Jones sounds a lot like Dusty Springfield in I've Done It Again from Nightclubbing?

I was there when Jenny Lind first sang
First to feel the cold Alaskan white man
First to take a trip on LSD
First to vote for Roosevelt back in '33

Next up was Rigid Digit with three solid suggestions...

Sinéad O'Connor - 33

Roger Waters - 4:33AM (Running Shoes)

The Jesus & Mary Chain - 33 1/3

To be honest. I'm surprised there weren't more songs with 33 1/3 in the title. The only other one I came up with was...

Public Enemy - War At 33 1/3

But wait! Martin had a couple more...

Michelle Shocked - 33RPM Soul

I can only find the lyrics of that on Michelle's website. The tune appears to be lost to the interweb.

Prince - Boom!

Run your fingers up and down the obelisk in the earth, 

Down to 33rpm where the primordial gives birth...

Ah, we do miss him. Although it is easier to find his songs on youtube now he's gone.

The Gaslight Anthem - Blue Jeans & White T-shirts

Still we sing with our heroes, 

33 rounds per minute...

Martin didn't limit to RPM-related suggestions though. He also offered...

Luke Haines - Christ

At the age of 33 and a third, the time that Christ spent on earth,
I decided to cut all ties with showbiz.
As the awards piled up in the bath, well I started to laugh
At all those who died in the name of light entertainment.

That came very close to winning this week, for obvious reasons.

Lou Reed - Sword of Damocles

Last night on 33rd street, 

I saw a kid get hit by a bus...

Cheery.

Manic Street Preachers - Nat West-Barclays-Midlands-Lloyds  

Barclays iron eagle, 

33 injection...

That's a belter.

Then came Deano, who explained this week's selection thus...

Before he became outlaw country music's resident eccentric that would do anything for a publicity stunt, his debut album was actually some really good blues material, including this song about a fragile prisoner that has just received some bad news.

David Allan Coe - Cell #33

Finally came Douglas, who decided to try playing the Canadian card again this week.

For starters, I wish there were recordings available of any of Gordon Lightfoot's renditions of "The 33rd of August" which he apparently undertook in studio in 1969 as an attempt to put together a final contractually obligated album of covers for UA, which sadly was aborted and the decision was made to deliver with a live album instead. The recordings are out there somewhere... anyway, for the record I prefer the original Mickey Newbury version of this song to others out there.

(See above.)

But for Canadian content, I am left suggesting Stars' song Personal, which is a very sad short story of a song told back and forth through his-and-hers personal columns responses which ends with the heartache of being stood up. It starts thus:

Stars - Personal

Wanted single F under 33

Must enjoy the sun, must enjoy the sea

Sought by single M, Mrs. Destiny

Send photo to address, is it you and me?

Reply to single M, my name is Caroline

Cell phone number here, call if you have the time

28 and bored, grieving over loss, sorry to be heavy

But heavy is the cost, heavy is the cost...

Now that might not have won this week, but only because it's not yet in my collection and the winner must always exist in my own library. That said, it's a bloody good tune, so thanks for introducing it to me, Douglas... and it will come in very well on the Top Ten Lonely Hearts Column Songs I've been trying to compile for months now. (Note to everybody: I need another three good ones.)

Speaking of songs from my own library, here's what it threw up this week (along with many of the ones above)...

Zager & Evans - Nell'Anno 2033

(That appears to be an Italian remake of In The Year 2525. No idea how I came across it, or why they changed the year.)

Joy Zipper = 33x

Bob Frank & John Murry - Boss Wetherford, 1933

All of which brings us to this week's winner, which was a real toss-up with Luke Haines, but in the end Frank edged it with an equally biting open line that sums up the state of the world at the moment... and offers good advice for anyone who ever thinks of interviewing He Who Has Fallen From Grace again...

"Stop asking musicians what they think"
He said softly as he poured himself a second drink
And outside, the world slipped over the brink

We all thought we had nothing to lose
That we could trust in crossed fingers and horseshoes
That everything would work out, no matter what we choose

The first time it was a tragedy
The second time is a farce
Outside it's 1933 so I'm hitting the bar

Don't go mistaking your house burning down for the dawn!

Next week: 32. Hit me!

The United Kingdom of Song #16: Derry

Across the sea to Northern Ireland today, to Londonderry, or Derry to its inhabitants, birthplace of the Undertones, That Petrol Emotion and D:Ream (but not their famous keyboard player, who came from Oldham).


Derry crops up in any number of popular songs, not least as the tune to Danny Boy: The Londonderry Air.


Lyrical mentions include The Streets of Derry by Shirley Collins, David Allan Coe's Crazy Mary and a song from Finean's Rinbow, How Are Things In Glocca Morra, which appears to have been recorded by everybody and their dog... but here's Babs doing it, because you can't go wrong with Babs.


This week's selection comes from another famous Derry resident though... Mr. Neil Hannon.

I was born in Londonderry

I was born in Derry City too

Oh what a special child

To see such things and still to smile

I know that there was something wrong

But I kept my head down and carried on

My Top Ten Kill Your Spouse Songs

The management of My Top Ten does not endorse killing your spouse and takes a very dim view of pop stars who advocate such deplorable behaviour.

(There will, naturally, be quite a bit of country in this top ten, since most country singers - especially the women - are homicidal maniacs on the quiet.)


10. Miranda Lambert - Kerosene

Bearing in mind that Miranda Lambert wrote this a good few years before she hooked up with Blake Shelton... you've got to say he was a pretty gutsy bloke to leave her for Gwen Stefani. He must be watching his back every night...

9. David Allan Coe - Suicide

"Clear case of a domestic that ended in tragedy."

"Has the suspect confessed?"

"You betcha..."

Standing in the bathroom with a gun in my hand
Pulling on the trigger just as fast as I can
I can hear her scream as she reaches for the lover beside her

Married by the Bible, she was only sixteen

I was fresh from prison trying to follow my dream
Who'd ever thought I'd be the judge and the jury that tried her?

Blood splattered all over the wall
The gun still smoking as I watch it fall

8. Sarah Shook & The Disarmers - The Nail

Not quite sure whether if Sarah really wants her old man to put her out of her misery... or if she wants him to dig a grave she can then sneakily push his useless corpse into. Either way, I don't think he should be messing with her.

7. Eminem - '97 Bonnie & Clyde

In which Eminem kills his ex-wife Kim and sticks her body in the trunk of his car, while singing a bastardized version of Just The Two Of Us to his little girl who's come along for the ride. Not the first time he's done something like this; I'm sure it won't be the last...

If that isn't creepy enough for you, try the Tori Amos version...

6. Tanya Tucker - The Thunder Rolls

Written and recorded by Garth Brooks (but don't let that put you off), this song tells the story of a worried woman waiting for her husband to come home on a stormy night. She's terrified that something's happened to him so when he rolls up in the driveway, she rushes out to hold him... and smells another woman's perfume.

That's where Brooks's version ends... but there's a third verse in Tanya Tucker's recording of the song...

She runs back down the hallway and through the bedroom door
She reaches for the pistol kept in the dresser drawer
Tells the lady in the mirror he won't do this again
'Cause tonight will be the last time, she'll wonder where he's been

5. The Beautiful South - Woman In The Wall

A drunken wife-abuser takes it way too far one night and walls up her body to cover up his crime. She's gonna haunt him till he cracks...

Cry freedom for the woman in the wall
Cry freedom for she has no voice at all
I hear her cry all day, all night
I hear her voice from deep within the wall
Made a cross from knitting needles
Made a grave from hoover bags 
Especially for the woman in the wall

4. Carrie Underwood - Two Black Cadillacs

A lady discovers her husband has been sleeping with someone else, so she gets the other woman's number and gives her a call. The only time they ever meet is at his funeral...

It was the first and the last time they saw each other face to face

They shared a crimson smile and just walked away

And left the secret at the grave

I really wouldn't mess with Carrie Underwood. Check out what happens to the abusive husband in Church Bells... or hear the warning she gives a cheating partner here.

3. Nick Cave - Song Of Joy

In an album called Murder Ballads - in which every track drips blood - the opener is perhaps the darkest of all. Imagine a strange doctor turned up on your doorstep late at night and told you a story about how his wife and three children had all been murdered while he was out on his rounds. He quotes Milton, breaks off into bursts of "La la la la la"s and then asks if you've got a room?

Are you going to let him in?

You are?

2. The Dixie Chicks - Goodbye, Earl

Earl sounds like a right git, to be fair. He is played by one of my favourite actors - NYPD Blue's Denis Franz - in the video, though, so I don't like to see him get rolled up in a tarp like that. The dancing Zombie Earl at the end is worth sticking around for though.

Little tip: if you're married to one of the Dixie Chicks and she cooks black-eyed peas for tea... feign a stomach ache.

Well, the weeks went by and spring turned to summer
And summer faded into fall
And it turns out Earl was a missing person who nobody missed at all

1. Jimi Hendrix - Hey Joe

Hey! Joe! Where you going with that gun in your hand?

I'm goin' down to shoot my old lady
You know I caught her messin' 'round with another man..

That's not gonna end well, is it?


Not that I'm looking for them (I got into enough trouble with the other half when I posted My Top Ten Divorce Songs) but your suggestions are always welcome...