On the cover there’s what looks like a red, Mosrite, resonator guitar with “Glen Campbell” on the fretboard—it’s a cool looking guitar—I wonder who owns it, at this point? On the back cover there’s a b&w photo, that looks like it’s taken from a water-tower, of Glen walking the tracks with his guitar case. I believe this record came out the year after “By the Time I get to Phoenix,” and I doubt if he was riding the rails at this point, but it’s a nice image. I like this record just fine—I can always listen to Glen Campbell. It’s not going to be one of my favorites, due to the omission of Jimmy Webb songs, which are the best. Songs here are all over the place; there’s two by John D. Loudermilk, a Bob Dylan, a Bob Lind, a Roy Orbison—I’m surprised there’s no Beatles. Not a record I’ll probably put on too often, just because I like one or two others better. The best thing here might be that cover photo.
Archive for December, 2020
Glen Campbell “Hey, Little One”
There’s not much information on this album cover! Besides the names of the songs, not much. No photo of Don Lee, even. It’s a great album cover, though. In front of a psychedelic background of various sized yellow and green circles (they look like an out-of-focus field of flowers, or 1960s wallpaper)—there’s a photo of an attractive blond woman, smiling, holding a wooden spoon. The wooden spoon is legit—you can tell it’s been well-used in the kitchen. The woman, of course, is suppose to represent the “Everyday Housewife.” In the title song, Don Lee sings, “Such are the dreams of the everyday housewife, who gave up the good life for me.” It’s a bit melancholy.
The songs kind of waver between, country, pop, and bluesy rock’n’roll. The internet tells me it’s from 1967—who knows how accurate that is. The musical style is pretty much all over the place, but for the most part, I would have guessed a decade earlier. It’s sounds like someone who’d heard plenty of Chuck Berry and Elvis, but was well-insulated form Dylan and the Beatles. I don’t know whether to assume the songs are by Don Lee or someone else—no credits—and I’m not going to diligently scour the internet. There’s quite a variety of songs. My favorite, lyrically, anyway, is “Wine Drinking”—here’s a good line: “Slip away from yourself on a misty ship of fools/Too late you’ll find, you’ve lost your mind/ and that drinkin’ has ruined you.” It’s not exactly a party song.
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