Monday, December 31, 2018

Acclaimed Music – Songs of the Year, 1920-2018

Originally posted 12/29/2014; updated 12/31/2018.

Acclaimed Music was started in 1994 by Henrik Franzon in Stockholm, Sweden. He has aggregated multiple best-of lists to come up with all-time lists for albums and songs as well as annual lists.

  • 2018: Childish Gambino “This Is America”
  • 2017: Kendrick Lamar “Humble”
  • 2016: Beyoncé “Formation”
  • 2015: Tame Impala “Let It Happen”
  • 2014: Future Islands “Seasons (Waiting on You)”
  • 2013: Daft Punk with Pharrell Williams “Get Lucky”
  • 2012: Frank Ocean “Pyramids”
  • 2011: M83 “Midnight City”
  • 2010: Kanye West with Pusha T “Runaway”

  • 2009: Jay-Z with Alicia Keys…Empire State of Mind
  • 2008: Hercules & Love Affair “Blind”
  • 2007: M.I.A. “Paper Planes”
  • 2006: Gnarls Barkley “Crazy”
  • 2005: Arctic Monkeys “I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor”
  • 2004: Franz Ferdinand “Take Me Out”
  • 2003: OutKast “Hey Ya!”
  • 2002: LCD Soundsystem “Losing My Edge”
  • 2001: Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott “Get UR Freak On”
  • 2000: OutKast “Ms. Jackson”

  • 1999: Aphex Twin “Windowlicker”
  • 1998: Stardust “Music Sounds Better with You”
  • 1997: Radiohead “Paranoid Android”
  • 1996: The Prodigy “Firestarter”
  • 1995: Pulp “Common People”
  • 1994: Oasis “Live Forever”
  • 1993: Beck “Loser”
  • 1992: Radiohead “Creep”
  • 1991: Nirvana “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
  • 1990: Sinéad O’Connor “Nothing Compares 2 U”

  • 1989: Public Enemy “Fight the Power”
  • 1988: The La’s “There She Goes”
  • 1987: Guns N’ Roses “Sweet Child O’ Mine”
  • 1986: The Smiths “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out”
  • 1985: Madonna “Into the Groove”
  • 1984: Prince “When Doves Cry”
  • 1983: New Order “Blue Monday”
  • 1982: Michael Jackson “Billie Jean”
  • 1981: The Specials “Ghost Town”
  • 1980: Joy Division “Love Will Tear Us Apart”

  • 1979: The Clash “London Calling”
  • 1978: Blondie “Heart of Glass”
  • 1977: Sex Pistols “God Save the Queen”
  • 1976: Sex Pistols “Anarchy in the U.K.”
  • 1975: Bruce Springsteen “Born to Run”
  • 1974: Bob Marley & the Wailers “No Woman, No Cry”
  • 1973: The Stooges “Search and Destroy”
  • 1972: Stevie Wonder “Superstition”
  • 1971: Marvin Gaye “What’s Going On”
  • 1970: Derek & the Dominos “Layla”

  • 1969: The Rolling Stones “Gimme Shelter”
  • 1968: Marvin Gaye “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”
  • 1967: The Beatles “A Day in the Life”
  • 1966: The Beach Boys “Good Vibrations”
  • 1965: Bob Dylan “Like a Rolling Stone”
  • 1964: The Kinks “You Really Got Me”
  • 1963: The Ronettes “Be My Baby”
  • 1962: Booker T & the MG’s “Green Onions”
  • 1961: Ben E. King “Stand by Me”
  • 1960: The Shirelles “Will You Love Me Tomorrow”

  • 1959: Ray Charles “What’d I Say”
  • 1958: Chuck Berry “Johnny B. Goode”
  • 1957: Buddy Holly & the Crickets “That’ll Be the Day”
  • 1956: Elvis Presley “Heartbreak Hotel”
  • 1955: Little Richard “Tutti Frutti”
  • 1954: Bill Haley & His Comets “We’re Gonna Rock Around the Clock”
  • 1953: Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton “Hound Dog”
  • 1952: Lloyd Price “Lawdy Miss Clawdy”
  • 1951: Woody Guthrie “This Land Is Your Land”
  • 1950: Muddy Waters “Rollin’ Stone”

  • 1949: Hank Williams “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”
  • 1948: John Lee Hooker “Boogie Chillen’”
  • 1947: Bill Monroe & the Blue Grass Boys “Blue Moon of Kentucky”
  • 1946: Charles Trenet “Beyond the Sea (La Mer)”
  • 1945: Edith Piaf “La Vie En Rose”
  • 1944: Les Brown with Doris Day “Sentimental Journey”
  • 1943: Duke Ellington “Come Sunday”/“Black, Brown, and Beige”
  • 1942: Bing Crosby with the Ken Darby Singers & the John Scott Trotter Orchestra “White Christmas”
  • 1941: Billie Holiday “God Bless the Child”
  • 1940: Quintet of the Hot Club of France “Nuages”

  • 1939: Billie Holiday “Strange Fruit”
  • 1938: Artie Shaw Begin the Beguine
  • 1937: Robert Johnson “Hellhound on My Trail”
  • 1936: Robert Johnson “Crossroads (aka "Cross Road Blues")”
  • 1935: The Carter Family “Can the Circle Be Unbroken (Bye and Bye)”
  • 1934: Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter “The Midnight Special”
  • 1933: Bennie Moten’s Kansas City Orchestra “Moten’s Swing”
  • 1932: Bing Crosby “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”
  • 1931: Cab Calloway “Minnie the Moocher”
  • 1930: Duke Ellington “Mood Indigo”

  • 1929: Fats Waller “Ain’t Misbehavin’”
  • 1928: Louis Armstrong “West End Blues”
  • 1927: Blind Willie Johnson “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground”
  • 1926: Jelly Roll Morton “Black Bottom Stomp”
  • 1925: Bessie Smith with Louis Armstrong “St. Louis Blues”
  • 1924: Paul Whiteman with George Gershwin “Rhapsody in Blue”
  • 1923: Bessie Smith “Down Hearted Blues”
  • 1922: James P. Johnson “Carolina Shout”
  • 1921: Al Jolson “April Showers”
  • 1920: Mamie Smith “Crazy Blues”
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2018: Top 25 Albums

First posted 1/8/2021.

Dave’s Music Database:

Top Albums of 2018

Based on a combination of year-end lists and overall status in Dave’s Music Database, these are the top 25 albums of 2018:

  1. Kacey Musgraves Golden Hour
  2. Drake Scorpion
  3. Janelle Monáe Dirty Computer
  4. Cardi B Invasion of Privacy
  5. Lady Gaga with Bradley Cooper A Star Is Born soundtrack
  6. Post Malone Beerbongs & Bentleys
  7. Travis Scott Astroworld
  8. Robyn Honey
  9. The 1975 A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships
  10. Pusha T Daytona

  11. Mitski Be the Cowboy
  12. Ariana Grande Sweetener
  13. Arctic Monkeys Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino
  14. Black Panther soundtrack
  15. Noname Room 25
  16. Christine & the Queens Chris
  17. Brandi Carlile By the Way, I Forgive You
  18. Pistol Annies Interstate Gospel
  19. Rosalía El Mal Querer (A Toxic Love)
  20. Queen Bohemian Rhapsody soundtrack

  21. The Carters (Jay-Z & Beyoncé) Everything Is Love
  22. Courtney Barnett Tell Me How You Really Feel
  23. Jack White Boarding House Reach
  24. Neko Case Hell-On
  25. Eminem Kamikaze

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Top 50 Songs of 2018

Dave’s Music Database:

Top 50 Songs of 2018

These are the top 50 songs of the year based on their overall performance in Dave’s Music Database, which is determined by combining chart data, sales figures, streaming, video views, and aggregates from year-end lists.

Check out “Top Songs and Albums of the Year” lists here.

    DMDB Top 1%:

  1. Lil Nas X with Billy Ray Cyrus “Old Town Road” (2018)
  2. Drake “God’s Plan”
  3. Lady Gaga with Bradley Cooper “Shallow”
  4. Drake “In My Feelings”
  5. Ariana Grande “Thank U, Next”
  6. Lewis Capaldi “Someone You Loved”
  7. Post Malone with Swae Lee “Sunflower”

    DMDB Top 2%:

  8. Drake “Nice for What”
  9. Zedd with Maren Morris & Grey “The Middle”
  10. Cardi B with Bad Bunny & J. Balvin “I Like It”

  11. Panic! At the Disco “High Hopes”
  12. Halsey “Without Me”
  13. Childish Gambino “This Is America”
  14. Travis Scott with Drake “Sicko Mode”
  15. 5 Seconds of Summer “Youngblood”
  16. Marshmello with Bastille “Happier”
  17. Post Malone with Ty Dolla $ign “Psycho”
  18. Juice Wrld “Lucid Dreams”

    DMDB Top 5%:

  19. XXXtentacion “Sad!”
  20. Benny Blanco with Halsey & Khalid “Eastside”

  21. Dan + Shay “Tequila”
  22. Calvin Harris with Dua Lipa “One Kiss”
  23. Post Malone “Better Now”
  24. Post Malone “Wow.”
  25. Ariana Grande “No Tears Left to Cry”
  26. Marshmello with Anne-Marie “Friends”
  27. Ella Mai “Boo’d Up”
  28. Imagine Dragons “Natural”
  29. Dean Lewis “Be Alright”
  30. Lil Baby with Gunna “Drip Too Hard”

  31. Ava Max “Sweet But Psycho”
  32. Kendrick Lamar with SZA “All the Stars”
  33. Shawn Mendes “In My Blood”
  34. Dan + Shay “Speechless”
  35. Trevor Daniel “Falling”
  36. Khalid “Better”
  37. Lil Baby with Drake “Yes Indeed”
  38. Khalid & Normani “Love Lies”

    DMDB Top 10%:

  39. Kodak Black with Travis Scott & Offset “Zeze”
  40. Morgan Wallen “Whiskey Glasses”

  41. XXXtentacion “Moonlight”
  42. Drake “Nonstop”
  43. Lauv “I Like Me Better”
  44. Mumford & Sons “Guiding Light”
  45. Tyga with Offset “Taste”
  46. Janelle Monáe “Make Me Feel”
  47. Shaed “Trampoline”
  48. DJ Snake with Selena Gomez & Cardi B “Taki Taki”
  49. The Weeknd “Call Out My Name”
  50. 21 Savage with J. Cole “A Lot”

Resources/Related Links:

First posted 12/26/2021; last updated 1/17/2023.

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Monday, December 24, 2018

Today in Music (1818): “Silent Night” performed for first time

Stille Nacht, Heilge Nacht (Silent Night, Holy Night)

Joseph Mohr (words, Franz Gruber (music), John Freeman Young (English translation)

Writer(s):Joseph Muhr, Franz Gruber (see lyrics here)

First Charted: December 16, 1905 (Haydn Quartet)

Peak (all versions): 2 PM, 19 GA, 30 HR, 2 AC, 54 CW, 16a RB, 8 UK, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): 30.0 US (Bing Crosby)

Airplay/Streaming (in millions – all versions): 3.0 radio, 186.26 video, -- streaming

Silent Night

Bing Crosby with the Guardsmen Quartette

First Charted: December 21, 1935

Peak: 7 US, 30 HR, 19 GA, 8 UK, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): 30.0 US

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 3.0 radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards (Mohr/Gruber):

Click on award for more details.

Awards (Bing Crosby):

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

We might never have heard this popular Christmas carol if it hadn’t been for mice rendering a church organ useless. Popular accounts have suggested that mice ate out the bellows of the organ SF at Nikolaus-Kirche (Church of St. Nicholas) in Oberndorf, Austria. WK Father Joseph Mohr was concerned about having music for the 1818 Christmas Eve service. He’d written a poem called “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht” and presented it to his friend Franz Xaver Gruber, a headmaster and amateur composer, hoping he could do something with it for guitar. SF The pair gave the first public performance of the song with only Mohr’s guitar accompaniment at the service. SF

Since then, the song has become one of the most popular in the world, having been translated into more than 44 languages. WK However, it is John Freeman Young’s English translation published in 1859 that is the most frequently sung today. WK

It became the most recorded song of the first half of the 20th century. PM In Britain, it is the most recorded Christmas song of all time. SF To date, it has been recorded by more than 300 artists including Elvis Presley, Simon & Garfunkel, Linda Ronstadt, Boyz II Men, Stevie Nicks, Tori Amos, Mannheim Steamroller, Mahalia Jackson, Andrea Bocelli, Sinead O’Connor, and Brad Paisley. WK

The best known version is the 1935 recording by Bing Crosby with sales estimated as high as 30 million. PM Bing proved to be successful with a few other tunes as well; he sold over 300 million records with well over 300 charted songs over 35 years time (1928-63) and landed 36 songs at #1, more than any other recording act in history. PM

Resources:

Related Links:

First posted 7/8/2012; last updated 12/20/2023.

 
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Saturday, December 22, 2018

The Gibb Brothers (Bee Gees & more): Top 100 Songs

Barry, Robin, Maurice, and Andy Gibb

Bee Gees et al

Top 100 Songs

Twins Maurice (died 1/12/2003) and Robin Gibb (died 5/20/2012) were born on this day (December 22) in 1949 in Douglas, Isle of Man, UK. Together with their older brother Barry (born 9/1/1946 in Douglas, Isle of Man, UK), they formed the Bee Gees, a group known for three-part harmony and falsetto voices. The family moved to Australia in 1958, where the Bee Gees started as a pop-rock act. They returned to the UK in 1967 and and hit their commercial peak in the latter-half of the 1970s when they became disco icons. Their string of hits from 1977’s Saturday Night Fever soundtrack made for one of the greatest chart dominations ever accomplished by a group as the album lingered atop the U.S. album chart for six months fueled by four #1 hits.

They landed three more songs atop the Billboard Hot 100 with their 1979 album Spirits Having Flown. Their success waned after that, but over a forty-year run, they sold more than 220 million albums. Their younger brother, Andy (born 3/5/1958, died 3/10/1988), was also a successful singer.

Saturday Night Fever is featured in the DMDB book The Top 100 Albums of All Time. One of that soundtrack’s songs, “Stayin’ Alive,” is featured in the DMDB book The Top 100 Songs of the Rock Era 1954-1999.

For a complete list of the Bee Gees’ DMDB honors, check out the DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry.

Click here to see other acts’ best-of lists.

Awards:

Top 100 Songs

Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists, appearances on compilations and live albums by the featured act, and songs’ chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. Songs which hit #1 on various charts are noted. (Click for codes to singles charts.)

DMDB Top 1%:

1. B-M-R: Stayin’ Alive (Bee Gees, 1977) #1 US, CB, HR, RR, CN, AU
2. B-M-R: Night Fever (Bee Gees, 1977) #1 US, CB, HR, RR, UK, CN
3. B-M-R: How Deep Is Your Love (Bee Gees, 1977) #1 US, CB, RR, AC, CN
4. A-B-M-R: Shadow Dancing (Andy Gibb, 1978) #1 US, CB, HR, RR, AU
5. B-M-R: Islands in the Stream (Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton, 1983) #1 US, CB, AC, CW, CN, AU

DMDB Top 5%:

6. B: I Just Want to Be Your Everything (Andy Gibb, 1977) #1 US, CB, HR, RR, UK, AU
7. B-R: Woman in Love (Barbra Streisand, 1980) #1 US, CB, HR, RR, AC, UK, CN, AU
8. B-R: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (Bee Gees, 1971) #1 US, CB, HR, CN
9. B-M-R: Too Much Heaven (Bee Gees, 1978) #1 US, HR, RR, CN
10. B-M-R: You Should Be Dancing (Bee Gees, 1976) #1 US, CB, CN

11. B-M-R: Jive Talkin’ (Bee Gees, 1975) #1 US, CB, HR, RR, CN
12. B-M-R: Tragedy (Bee Gees, 1979) #1 US, CB, HR, RR, UK, CN
13. B-M-R: The Lights Went Out in Massachussets (Bee Gees, 1967) #1 UK
14. B-M-R: If I Can’t Have You (Yvonne Elliman, 1977) #1 US, CB, RR, CN
15. B: Grease (Frankie Valli, 1978) #1 US, CB, HR, RR, CN
16. B-R: To Love Somebody (Bee Gees, 1967)
17. B-M-R: More Than a Woman (Bee Gees, 1977)

DMDB Top 10%:

18. B-R: Emotion (Samantha Sang, 1977) #1 CB, CN
19. A-B: Love Is Thicker Than Water (Andy Gibb, 1977) #1 US, CB, HR
20. B-M-R: Heartbreaker (Dionne Warwick, 1982) #1 AC

21. B-M-R: Lonely Days (Bee Gees, 1970) #1 CB, HR, AU
22. B: The Grease Megamix (Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta, 1990) #1 AU
23. B-M-R: Guilty (Barbra Streisand & Barry Gibb, 1980)
24. B-M-R: Love So Right (Bee Gees, 1976)
25. B-M: Words (Bee Gees, 1968) #1 CN
26. B-M-R: Love You Inside Out (Bee Gees, 1979) #1 US, CN
27. B-M-R: More Than a Woman (Tavares, 1977)
28. All I Have to Do Is Dream (Andy Gibb & Victoria Principal, 1981)
29. B-M-R: I Started a Joke (Bee Gees, 1968) #1 CN, AU
30. B-M-R: Nights on Broadway (Bee Gees, 1975)

DMDB Top 20%:

31. B: An Everlasting Love (Andy Gibb, 1978)
32. B-R: To Love Somebody (Michael Bolton, 1992) #1 AC
33. B: Our Love (Don’t Throw It All Away) (Andy Gibb, 1978)
34. B-M-R: Fanny, Be Tender with Me Love (Bee Gees, 1975)
35. B-M-R: Chain Reaction (Diana Ross, 1985) #1 UK, AU
36. B-M-R: I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You (1968) #1 UK
37. B-R: Come on Over (Olivia Newton-John, 1976) #1 AC
38. B-M-R: How Deep Is Your Love (Portrait, 1995)
39. B-M-R: Run to Me (Bee Gees, 1972)
40. R: Hold on to My Love (Jimmy Ruffin, 1980)

41. B-M-R: Alone (Bee Gees, 1997)
42. B-R: Emotion (Destiny’s Child, 2001)
43. B-R: New York Mining Disaster 1941 (Bee Gees, 1967)
44. B-M-R: The Woman in You (Bee Gees, 1983)
45. B-R: My World (Bee Gees, 1972)
46. B-M: Don’t Forget to Remember (Bee Gees, 1969)
47. B-M-R: How Deep Is Your Love (Take That, 1996) #1 UK
48. B-M-R: Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are) (Pras Michel, 1998) *
49. B: What Kind of Fool (Barbra Streisand with Barry Gibb, 1980) #1 AC
50. B-M-R: Desire (Andy Gibb, 1980)

51. B-M-R: First of May (Bee Gees, 1969)
52. B-M-R: You Win Again (Bee Gees 1987) #1 UK
53. B: I Can’t Help It (Andy Gibb with Olivia Newton-John, 1980)
54. B-M-R: One (Bee Gees, 1989) #1 AC
55. B-M: Alive (Bee Gees, 1972)
56. B: This Woman (Kenny Rogers, 1983)
57. B-M: Shine Shine (Barry Gibb, 1984)
58. B-M-R: Boogie Child (Bee Gees, 1976)
59. B: Spicks and Specks (Bee Gees, 1966)
60. B-R: Love Me (Yvonne Elliman, 1976)

61. B-M: Tomorrow Tomorrow (Bee Gees, 1969)
62. B-M-R: Jumbo (Bee Gees, 1968)
63. B-R: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (Al Green, 1972)

Beyond the DMDB Top 20%:

64. B: Take the Short Way Home (Dionne Warwick, 1983)
65. A-B: Time Is Time (Andy Gibb, 1977)
66. B-M-R: Edge of the Universe (Bee Gees, 1975)
67. Oh! Darling (Robin Gibb, 1978)
68. B-M: Eaten Alive (Diana Ross with Michael Jackson, 1985)
69. B-R: Paying the Price of Love (Bee Gees, 1993)
70. B-M-R: He’s a Liar (Bee Gees, 1981)

71. B-M: Eyes That See in the Dark (Kenny Rogers, 1983)
72. B-M: I.O.I.O. (Bee Gees, 1970)
73. B-M-R: Someone Belonging to Someone (Bee Gees, 1983)
74. B-M-R: Islands in the Stream (Vanessa Jenkins with Bryn West, Sir Tom Jones & Robin Gibb; 2009) #1 UK
75. B-M-R: Islands in the Stream (Bee Gees, 1998)
76. B-M-R: I Saw a New Morning (Bee Gees, 1973)
77. B-R: Mr. Natural (Bee Gees, 1974)
78. B-R: Holiday (Bee Gees, 1967)
79. B-R: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (Michael Bublé, 2003)
80. B-M-R: I Started a Joke (Faith No More, 2003)

81. B-R: Promises (Barbra Streisand, 1980)
82. B-M-R: This Is Where I Came In (Bee Gees, 2001)
83. B-M-R: Immortality (Celine Dion with the Bee Gees, 1997)
84. B-M-R: Living Eyes (Bee Gees, 1981)
85. M-R: Boys Do Fall in Love (Robin Gibb, 1984)
86. B-M-R: Still Waters Run Deep (Bee Gees, 1997)
87. B-R: For Whom the Bell Tolls (Bee Gees, 1993)
88. B: Don’t Wanna Live Inside Myself (Bee Gees, 1971)
89. B-M: World (Bee Gees, 1967)
90. B-M: If Only I Had My Mind on Something Else (Bee Gees, 1970)

91. B-M-R: Wouldn’t I Be Someone (Bee Gees, 1973)
92. B-M-R: All the Love in the World (Dionne Warwick, 1982)
93. B-M-R: We Tryin’ to Stay Alive (Wyclef Jean & the Refugee All Stars, 1997) **
94. R: Saved by the Bell (Robin Gibb, 1969)
95. B-M-R: Ups and Downs (Snoop Dogg with the Bee Gees, 2005) ***
96. B-M-R: E.S.P. (Bee Gees, 1987)
97. B-M-R: Only One Woman (Marbles, 1968)
98. B-M-R: Stayin’ Alive (Richard Ace, 1978)
99. A: Me Without You (Andy Gibb, 1980)
100. B-M-R: Buried Treasure (Kenny Rogers, 1983)

* samples “Islands in the Stream”
** samples “Stayin’ Alive”
*** samples “Love You Inside Out”

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First posted 5/20/2012; updated 6/5/2022.
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Friday, December 21, 2018

50 years ago: Glen Campbell topped the country chart with “Wichita Lineman”

Wichita Lineman

Glen Campbell

Writer(s): Jimmy Webb (see lyrics here)

First Charted: November 2, 1968

Peak: 3 US, 2 CB, 3 HR, 16 AC, 12 CW, 7 UK, 14 CN, 15 AU (Click for codes to singles charts.)

Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.2 UK, 1.2 world (includes US + UK)

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 32.54 video, 46.38 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

Glen Campbell worked as a session guitarist in Los Angeles in the 1960s and even served as a vocalist with the Beach Boys for a short time. His big break as a solo artist came in 1967 when he recorded a song by Jimmy Webb called “By the Time I Get to Phoenix”. The song was a #2 country hit.

Campbell turned to the man he’d called “the best musical poet to come out of America” TC for another gem. It proved to have immense crossover appeal, hitting #1 on the country and adult contemporary charts as well as going top 10 on the top charts in the U.S. and U.K. It was also nominated for a Grammy for Record of the Year.

Webb was inspired by a real-life event to write his tune about a lonely telephone line repairman who ironically labors to ensure that others stay connected. He was driving through a remote area of northern Oklahoma and was struck by the image of a lineman working on a telephone pole out in the middle of this flat, remote area which was “almost surreal in its boundless horizons and infinite distances.” TC

In “just two short verses and one chorus, [it] says as much in them as many authors say in a lifetime.” BBC The music, which included Webb playing Hammond organ, matched the story with its “somehow vast and yet empty soundscape.” TB Webb told Campbell later that “Phoenix,” “Lineman,” and Campbell’s other Webb-penned hit “Galveston” were all about the same character. TB

Resources:

  • BBC BBC Radio 2 (2004). “Sold on Song Top 100”.
  • CR Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Page 388-9.
  • MC Neil McCormack (3/13/09). Telegraph.co.uk “100 Greatest Songs of All Time”
  • TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 101.

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First posted 11/2/2011; last updated 11/4/2021.

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