The Wichita Lineman: Searching in the Sun for the World’s Greatest Unfinished Song

Jones (David Bowie) delivers an enthusiastic, though tedious, fan note to a song that Rolling Stone ranked as the 16th greatest country song of all time. Glenn Campbell made Jimmy Webb’s “Wichita Lineman” famous in 1968 (he recorded the song before Webb had finished writing it), and Jones devotes an inordinate amount of space tracing Campbell’s work as a studio musician and his rise to solo stardom on the heels of his hit record “Gentle on My Mind.” Jones then offers a chronicle of Webb’s rise to songwriting fame, from his early days at Motown to “MacArthur Park,” which became a disco hit with Donna Summer in 1978. Following the opening chapters—which offer little new information about Campbell or Webb—Jones finally attempts to analyze the song’s enduring power, noting that the loneliness of the lyrics (“I need you more than want you/and I want you for all time”) is echoed in the melody that travels through a series of haunting changes. Jones’s passion is evident, but he never truly explains why “Wichita Lineman” is the world’s greatest unfinished song. (Sept.)