Here (reposted from the Guilty Pleasures thread):
No less than Bob Dylan once called it "the best song ever written", and it's not hard to see why: The lyrics say volumes in just a few plain-spoken lines, whereas Dylan sometimes used far more words to not say as much. And, while Dylan could write decent simple folk-styled music, he (IMO) hadn't nearly Jim Webb's level of compositional craftmanship, subtly yet gloriously on display here.
Webb's music to "Wichita Lineman" is simultaneously dead-simple, yet sophisticated within that simplicity and complex in its implications. There's just one strain, repeated three times, with no middle-eight. On the last verse, Glen plays the first half of the melody on baritone guitar, to serve as a breather. So little is there, yet what is there is stunning - the verses start in F major, unexpectedly modulate to D major, then just as unexpectedly go back to F; those two tonic chords F and D are only occasionally heard in root position; and the first half of the verse occupies seven bars and the second half, ten. It's music that Aaron Copland would have been proud of, whose avoidance/subversion of musical cliches gives it the power to stand up to repeated listenings. And yet, somehow, unless you're a musician listening analytically, it just sounds like country music and almost anyone can connect with it.
Intro: ........ | Fmaj7 ..| Fsus4 | Fmaj7 .| Fsus4 ..|
Verse Pt I: ||: Bbmaj7 | F/A ...| C7sus4 | Dm A ..| G ......| D ........| D ........|
Verse Pt II: .| Csus2 ...| Csus2 | G/B ....| Gm/Bb | D/A ...| A7sus4 | Bbmaj7 | C ........| Bb .....| Csus4 ......:||
Debbie Harry is a lousy lip-syncher, but who cares?
And this is my nomination for the all-time most perfect pop song:
Cobra handling and cocaine use are a bad mix.
"Follow You, Follow me"
Genesis *finally* wrote a song we could sing in the shower, and they never looked back.
You mean you never sing "Giant Hogweed" in the shower?
Cobra handling and cocaine use are a bad mix.
This is one of my all time favorite pop-song from my all time favorite (art)pop band. Great tune, great lyric, wonderful video and very, very European.
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