0:00:06 > 0:00:10# I've tried and I have failed, Lord... #
0:00:10 > 0:00:15In 2011, Glen Campbell announced that he had Alzheimer's
0:00:15 > 0:00:18and that his next tour would be his last.
0:00:18 > 0:00:19# ..I've lived... #
0:00:19 > 0:00:22It marked the end of a journey that had started
0:00:22 > 0:00:25over 60 years earlier with nothing but a dream.
0:00:25 > 0:00:32He showed up at my door and said, "Here I am! Make me a star."
0:00:32 > 0:00:37Glen Campbell's career had begun as a session guitarist,
0:00:37 > 0:00:41playing on huge hits by Elvis, Frank Sinatra and The Beach Boys.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44Then, under his own name,
0:00:44 > 0:00:47he recorded some of the 1960s' greatest songs.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49# ..And I need you more than want you... #
0:00:49 > 0:00:53His shining musicianship is there in every fibre of him.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56It's there in his voice, it's there in his fingers,
0:00:56 > 0:00:58it's in every gesture.
0:00:58 > 0:01:03# ..And the Wichita lineman... #
0:01:03 > 0:01:07By the end of the decade, he had his own prime-time TV show
0:01:07 > 0:01:10and starring roles in Hollywood films.
0:01:10 > 0:01:15But in the late 1970s, this clean-cut hero fell to Earth
0:01:15 > 0:01:20with stories of divorce, drink and drugs.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23Here's a guy who had always been a Southern gentleman.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26Now, all of a sudden if he's on a commercial aircraft,
0:01:26 > 0:01:31he's abusive to the flight attendants, to the other passengers,
0:01:31 > 0:01:32and the word spread.
0:01:32 > 0:01:36# There's been a load of compromising... #
0:01:36 > 0:01:39Then, like the rhinestone cowboy of his most famous song,
0:01:39 > 0:01:44Glen Campbell came back and won a new generation of fans in that
0:01:44 > 0:01:47"star-spangled rodeo".
0:01:48 > 0:01:52# Like a rhinestone cowboy
0:01:53 > 0:02:00# Riding out on a horse in a star-spangled rodeo
0:02:00 > 0:02:04# Like a rhinestone cowboy... #
0:02:11 > 0:02:17Glen Campbell was born in 1936 in Billstown, Arkansas,
0:02:17 > 0:02:24just outside the small town of Delight, population 311.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32This Southern state also produced two more flawed American heroes,
0:02:32 > 0:02:35Johnny Cash and Bill Clinton.
0:02:35 > 0:02:42Then, as now, the place is righteous, remote and rural.
0:02:42 > 0:02:47I grew up on a farm in Arkansas. I was one of 12 kids, 8 boys, 4 girls.
0:02:47 > 0:02:49And we grew up in the river bottoms,
0:02:49 > 0:02:50which is like bog land.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53And we didn't have electricity when I was a kid.
0:02:53 > 0:02:55We had to watch TV by candlelight.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58Mom's folks were from Tipperary, Ireland.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01And Dad's were from Scotland, the Campbells of Argyll.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04That's my heritage, so I'm Scotch-Irish.
0:03:04 > 0:03:09# Oh, Lord, that last long day she said goodbye... #
0:03:09 > 0:03:15Glen's father was a sharecropper, scratching a living growing cotton on someone else's land.
0:03:15 > 0:03:21The Campbells were dirt poor, and all 12 children had to help out on the farm.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24Picking cotton IS back-breaking work.
0:03:24 > 0:03:26You're on your knees and you're picking the cotton.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29And you don't make a hell of a lot of money either.
0:03:29 > 0:03:31What sort of money were you making?
0:03:31 > 0:03:33Maybe a dollar per 100 lb.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37If I worked real hard all day, I could pick 85lb. So that's 85 cents.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41It was tough. I was born in 1930, right at that Depression.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45Back then, a lot of time you didn't have enough meat to go around and stuff like that.
0:03:45 > 0:03:50- But we all made it.- We didn't have a lot of possessions, but we had a lot of love.
0:03:50 > 0:03:55And we had a big garden. We'd raise all the vegetables - peas, okra, potatoes, onions.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59We'd eat ducks or squirrels. We always had plenty to eat.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02Even though we were a poor family, we didn't know we was poor.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06They had 12 kids, and as soon as they could get in the field and work,
0:04:06 > 0:04:08those kids went to work.
0:04:08 > 0:04:13Grandma working in the cotton field just a few days after she gave birth to a child.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17So they worked as a family, suffered as a family and also celebrated as a family.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20And a lot of that's where the music came from, I think.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24# Down in Louisiana in the bright sunshine
0:04:24 > 0:04:26# I do a little boogie-woogie all the time
0:04:26 > 0:04:28# We do the Hadacol boogie
0:04:28 > 0:04:30- # The Hadacol boogie - The Hadacol boogie... #
0:04:30 > 0:04:33'So when the sun went down, anybody that was around
0:04:33 > 0:04:37'would grab a guitar or a fiddle or roll a piano out there,
0:04:37 > 0:04:41'whatever they could, and just have a big hoedown right there on the front porch,
0:04:41 > 0:04:44'just a big dance in the front yard and enjoy music all night long.'
0:04:44 > 0:04:47- # ..The Hadacol boogie - The Hadacol boogie
0:04:47 > 0:04:49- # The Hadacol boogie - The Hadacol boogie
0:04:49 > 0:04:52# Making boogie-woogie all the time... #
0:04:52 > 0:04:55Nowadays, kids choose what's available to them.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58"R&B speaks to me, rap speaks to me,
0:04:58 > 0:05:00"metal speaks to me, country speaks to me."
0:05:00 > 0:05:05But a person like Glen Campbell, everything around him would have been country music.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08There wouldn't have been this choice in front of him as a child.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12It's just part of what he crawled out of the cradle doing, as did the whole clan.
0:05:12 > 0:05:17# ..The Hadacol boogie making boogie-woogie all the time... #
0:05:17 > 0:05:19SHE LAUGHS
0:05:21 > 0:05:25We played old country music just about every Saturday night,
0:05:25 > 0:05:29but Glen just picked it up real good. Daddy got him a little Sears and Roebuck guitar
0:05:29 > 0:05:31and he started picking that thing and just picked it right up.
0:05:31 > 0:05:33He was just natural on it. Daddy was natural, too.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37He could play the piano, French horn and guitar.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40And Glen, he learned a lot from soldier boys, too.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44He passed us! He was hot on that guitar.
0:05:44 > 0:05:49I don't remember NOT having a guitar or a musical instrument in my hand.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51And then Dad bought a guitar
0:05:51 > 0:05:55for, like, 5.95, you know? It was one where the cowboy was up here
0:05:55 > 0:05:57and the rope went around the hole in the guitar,
0:05:57 > 0:06:01and the lasso and calf on this end, and the strings about that high off of the neck.
0:06:01 > 0:06:06But I found out real quick that it was lighter than pulling a cotton sack or ploughing.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12Wes Campbell, Glen's father, had a brother, his nickname was Boo,
0:06:12 > 0:06:15and Uncle Boo was quite a guitarist.
0:06:15 > 0:06:21And he showed a now five-year-old Glen Campbell how to make chords and how to play rhythm.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28Glen Campbell was a prodigy,
0:06:28 > 0:06:30and by the time he was 12 years old,
0:06:30 > 0:06:33he was incredibly adept as a guitarist.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36Not only as a rhythm guitarist but as a lead guitarist.
0:06:36 > 0:06:40He had never played in anyone's band, he had played only with Uncle Boo.
0:06:42 > 0:06:47Aged 14, Glen dropped out of school and went on tour with his Uncle Boo.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51Criss-crossing the Southern states, they picked up work wherever they could.
0:06:51 > 0:06:56GLEN: Well, it started out making a little money playing barn dances, and stuff.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00Then when I went to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to go to work with my Aunt Judy and her husband's band.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03I was 15 or just turned 16.
0:07:06 > 0:07:13It was the early 1950s and Glen got his first taste of life as a professional musician.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17We had a radio show in Albuquerque. We had a kiddies' show on Saturday, which we'd have to tape
0:07:17 > 0:07:21because we'd usually be out playing somewhere on a Saturday night.
0:07:21 > 0:07:26That was the going thing then - nightclubs - and they had bands, and that would bring people and gals in.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30People dancing and getting drunk... and throw their beer bottles at the band.
0:07:35 > 0:07:37These are rough and tumble places.
0:07:37 > 0:07:39I mean, they were called knife and gun clubs, figuratively,
0:07:39 > 0:07:44but the joke was, if you didn't have a knife or gun, you were given one at the door.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51And Glen, a young 15-year-old, did not know what a bordello was.
0:07:51 > 0:07:56He told me, he said, "I didn't understand why the men kept coming in there
0:07:56 > 0:08:02"and visiting with those pretty women, but they didn't stay very long
0:08:02 > 0:08:04"and none of the women ever left with them.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09"I began to wonder if those women had any kind of personality at all."
0:08:09 > 0:08:11MUSIC: "Tequila" by The Champs
0:08:14 > 0:08:17Glen was married with a child by the age of 20.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20He was soon a star around Albuquerque, and musicians
0:08:20 > 0:08:25travelling through New Mexico began to check out this kid and his hotshot guitar.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32The first time I met him was backstage in Albuquerque, New Mexico,
0:08:32 > 0:08:36at this show I was performing at with The Champs.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38Remember The Champs? Tequila?
0:08:41 > 0:08:45A good friend of mine, Jerry Naylor, he was friends with Glen Campbell,
0:08:45 > 0:08:50and so Jerry brought Glen backstage to get our autographs
0:08:50 > 0:08:52and I never let him live it down.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54# Tequila! #
0:08:54 > 0:08:57Then he invited us to come and see his band.
0:08:57 > 0:09:02So we went down there and first note I heard him play, I went crazy.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05Just a great guitar player. And then when he sang, that capped it.
0:09:05 > 0:09:11So afterwards I told him, I said, "There's only one place for you to go and that's Los Angeles."
0:09:11 > 0:09:13And he took me up on it.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17He actually showed up at my doorstep a few months later
0:09:17 > 0:09:21and said, "Here I am! Make me a star."
0:09:23 > 0:09:24# Tequila! #
0:09:28 > 0:09:31Jerry Fuller was Glen's only contact in LA.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35He'd arrived guitar in hand and just a few dollars in his pocket.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39Jerry got Glen his first gig, hooking up with The Champs
0:09:39 > 0:09:43as they promoted their hit instrumental, Tequila.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47Bob Morris from Tulsa, Oklahoma.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49Glen Campbell from Murfreesboro, Arkansas.
0:09:49 > 0:09:56It was a good band. We toured with Jack Scott, Danny & The Juniors.
0:09:56 > 0:10:00It was cool. It was a good four-piece band. We sang anything, played anything.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07But the gig with The Champs was short lived.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11Glen, now with a young family to support, had to earn a living.
0:10:11 > 0:10:16He tracked across LA, playing clubs by night,
0:10:16 > 0:10:20making radio jingles and doing demos by day.
0:10:20 > 0:10:27Finally, on a tiny west coast label, he started to release records under his own name.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29# Tequila! #
0:10:29 > 0:10:32Glen had a little record out during those lean days
0:10:32 > 0:10:36called Turn Around, Look At Me.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40And that was barely '60, I think, '60, '61.
0:10:40 > 0:10:42# There is someone
0:10:44 > 0:10:47# Walking behind you
0:10:48 > 0:10:53# Turn around
0:10:53 > 0:10:55# Look at me... #
0:10:55 > 0:11:00That was the first record I ever bought. It was a 45 and I wore it out.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03# ..Watching your footsteps... #
0:11:03 > 0:11:06Gorgeous, sweet voice floats out,
0:11:06 > 0:11:09and it also happened to be a really nice song,
0:11:09 > 0:11:11and then this guy singing like an angel.
0:11:11 > 0:11:13And it was Glen.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17# ..There is someone... #
0:11:17 > 0:11:22I was a Southern Baptist minister's son, so I can remember getting down beside the bed
0:11:22 > 0:11:28and actually praying, saying, "Dear God, please let me meet this guy Glen Campbell one of these days."
0:11:28 > 0:11:30I was only 14.
0:11:30 > 0:11:35# ..Turn around
0:11:35 > 0:11:37# Look at me... #
0:11:37 > 0:11:42Jimmy Webb's prayers wouldn't be answered for another six years.
0:11:44 > 0:11:49For now, Glen's opening was as a session guitarist.
0:11:49 > 0:11:54People would hear these demos and say, "Who is that? Who's that playing the guitar?"
0:11:54 > 0:11:58And everybody recognised the talent, of course.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02# You just settle, baby How I love you... #
0:12:05 > 0:12:08If you're a true stylist on your instrument,
0:12:08 > 0:12:10you're constantly soaking up influences.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14And so by the time he hit the studio scene in LA,
0:12:14 > 0:12:18although his root was as a country guitarist,
0:12:18 > 0:12:22he, by that time, had reached out and transcended it in many ways.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30Whether it be bluegrass, rock, pop, whatever,
0:12:30 > 0:12:34you have to be able to be versatile to survive in that environment.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37MUSIC: "Good Vibrations" by The Beach Boys
0:12:39 > 0:12:45Glen's prowess on the guitar got him into the hottest session music scene in the pop world.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49Working for producers like Phil Spector and Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys,
0:12:49 > 0:12:53he played on some of the biggest hits of the 1960s.
0:12:53 > 0:12:59In 1963 alone, he was on almost 600 different tracks.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03# ..I'm picking up good vibrations... #
0:13:03 > 0:13:07Across Los Angeles, a music revolution was taking place.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10# ..I'm picking up good vibrations Good vibrations... #
0:13:10 > 0:13:14Glen had joined a band of gifted session players making these pop music symphonies.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16At the time they were anonymous,
0:13:16 > 0:13:19now they're known as the Wrecking Crew.
0:13:21 > 0:13:26The Wrecking Crew was a small group that ended up secretly,
0:13:26 > 0:13:28and I do mean secretly,
0:13:28 > 0:13:32playing on hit record after hit record, and the public never knew.
0:13:32 > 0:13:33And the reason for that
0:13:33 > 0:13:36is the record labels didn't want the public to know.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39They didn't want you and I or anybody to know
0:13:39 > 0:13:42that your favourite artist wasn't playing on the album,
0:13:42 > 0:13:45because they thought that would be bad for business.
0:13:45 > 0:13:50As well as The Beach Boys, other tracks that Glen played on included Daydream Believer by The Monkees...
0:13:52 > 0:13:55# ..Cheer up, sleepy Jean... #
0:13:55 > 0:13:58..You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling by the Righteous Brothers...
0:14:01 > 0:14:04# ..Bring back that lovin' feeling... #
0:14:04 > 0:14:06..and Viva Las Vegas by Elvis.
0:14:06 > 0:14:08# Viva...
0:14:08 > 0:14:13# Viva Las Vegas... #
0:14:13 > 0:14:20What's extraordinary is that Glen Campbell did all this despite a major disadvantage.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23Most of the session musicians, particularly in Los Angeles -
0:14:23 > 0:14:25that's not true in Nashville -
0:14:25 > 0:14:27but in New York and Los Angeles,
0:14:27 > 0:14:30it is pretty much expected that you can read charts, read music.
0:14:30 > 0:14:35And Glen's singularity on that scene was that he was so gifted
0:14:35 > 0:14:39that he could hold his own with those people and not read a note.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51Ears...ears out to here. He was great.
0:14:51 > 0:14:56When I'd hum him some line that an arranger would write an idea down,
0:14:56 > 0:14:59he says, "OK, how does this go, Carol?" I'd go, "Da-da-da-da,"
0:14:59 > 0:15:01and he got it just like that.
0:15:01 > 0:15:03Well, he's like no other.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06I've played in symphony sessions with him.
0:15:06 > 0:15:11No matter what it was, if it was Shostakovich or hillbilly music,
0:15:11 > 0:15:16you'd just play it and then he was ready to play a part on top of it.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18Pretty magnificent, really.
0:15:18 > 0:15:23It was a very distinct discipline, and that's one of the reasons producers would use him,
0:15:23 > 0:15:28is because it was very expensive to record back then.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31And it had to be right on and quick and fast and in and out,
0:15:31 > 0:15:33certainly in the case of The Monkees.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37The truth is, we weren't really allowed top get in the studio and play.
0:15:37 > 0:15:43Peter Tork tells the story of going into an early session with the Wrecking Crew with his bass guitar
0:15:43 > 0:15:46and they said, "What are you doing here?!"
0:15:46 > 0:15:48MUSIC: "Strangers In The Night"
0:15:50 > 0:15:56Glen played lead guitar on a giant Sinatra hit called Strangers In the Night.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59# Strangers in the night
0:15:59 > 0:16:02# Exchanging glances
0:16:02 > 0:16:04# Wondering in the night... #
0:16:04 > 0:16:08Now, you gotta realise Glen still had a lot of Billstown, Arkansas, in him.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12So when he's in this recording session, he couldn't take his eyes off Sinatra.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15I knew the song because we had run the song at least ten times
0:16:15 > 0:16:17before Sinatra came into the studio.
0:16:17 > 0:16:22I was the last guitar player on the end, and he was over there singing. Well, I was looking at him.
0:16:22 > 0:16:27Just listening to him sing and when he'd look over, I'd go back to the paper, like I knew what I was doing.
0:16:27 > 0:16:33So when we got a take, he went into the producer and said, "Who is the fag guitar player on the end?"
0:16:33 > 0:16:34LAUGHTER
0:16:34 > 0:16:39"He's obviously gay, he's obviously homosexual, because he keeps staring at me."
0:16:39 > 0:16:44And Bowen said, "No, Mr Sinatra, he's not gay.
0:16:44 > 0:16:48"He just is... starstruck to the max."
0:16:48 > 0:16:52MUSIC: "Surfing USA" by The Beach Boys
0:16:52 > 0:16:57But Glen's own star was on the rise.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00When Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys pulled out of a tour,
0:17:00 > 0:17:03the band recruited Glen as his replacement.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07I was a Beach Boy for a year, I played bass and sang the high parts.
0:17:07 > 0:17:09- A Beach Boy?- Yeah. - How did that happen?
0:17:09 > 0:17:13Brian got sick and from doing their sessions and studio work,
0:17:13 > 0:17:15they asked me if I would go on the road and play.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19I said, "Sure!" The money was good, more than I was making in the studios.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22They had a bunch of dates booked in Texas.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25They asked me two days before,
0:17:25 > 0:17:27would I go and play bass and do Brian's parts?
0:17:27 > 0:17:32Well, I'm not a bass player. I can play bass but I'm not a bass player.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35# ..Everybody's gone surfing
0:17:35 > 0:17:37# Surfing USA... #
0:17:37 > 0:17:41Glen went out and put on the stripped short-sleeved shirt, like the rest of The Beach Boys,
0:17:41 > 0:17:43and they liked him and he liked doing it,
0:17:43 > 0:17:45but after six months or so,
0:17:45 > 0:17:48Glen always had his eye on his own career,
0:17:48 > 0:17:51he didn't want to be a lifetime Beach Boy.
0:17:51 > 0:17:57# ..But I couldn't stay away from you... #
0:17:58 > 0:18:02Brian Wilson wrote Glen a new song, Guess I'm Dumb.
0:18:02 > 0:18:07Unfortunately, it sounded just like a Beach Boys track and it flopped.
0:18:07 > 0:18:11# ..Evermore, evermore I guess I'm dumb...#
0:18:11 > 0:18:13As a guitarist he was incomparable,
0:18:13 > 0:18:18but as a singer, Glen Campbell was still searching for his own identity.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21The problem Glen had to start with
0:18:21 > 0:18:26was he sounded so good, he sounded like so many other people.
0:18:26 > 0:18:27And he had the ability to do that.
0:18:27 > 0:18:29He didn't have an identity of his own,
0:18:29 > 0:18:32he didn't have that Glen Campbell identity.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35# ..Till you set me free... #
0:18:35 > 0:18:38Glen was a regular on the US pop show Shindig,
0:18:38 > 0:18:41but always covering other people's songs.
0:18:41 > 0:18:43# ..I can feel... #
0:18:43 > 0:18:47His label, Capitol Records, was starting to getting worried.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50# ..You gave me all the things... #
0:18:50 > 0:18:55As gifted as he was, I think there were four or five albums before the breakthrough,
0:18:55 > 0:18:57before he actually had a hit.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00That really speaks to the differentness of the time,
0:19:00 > 0:19:03that a label would stick with an artist like that.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06That wouldn't happen today, I don't believe.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12# It's knowing that your door is always open
0:19:12 > 0:19:16# And your path is free to walk... #
0:19:16 > 0:19:19Finally, Capitol Records' patience was rewarded,
0:19:19 > 0:19:23although it was Glen who found the breakthrough song.
0:19:23 > 0:19:28It was 1967, and folk singer John Hartford's Gentle On My Mind
0:19:28 > 0:19:31reflected the new, relaxed mood.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34It's knowing that your door is always open and your path is free to walk.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38I thought that was a great line to start a song with.
0:19:38 > 0:19:40He had slow on his mind, I think.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44He's just...doon-chucka-doon-chucka on the banjo.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48I heard it and said, "If you've got something like Gentle On My Mind,
0:19:48 > 0:19:53"say it and get out the way and let people reflect on what the song is."
0:19:53 > 0:19:56And that's what happened, that's why I sped it up like I did.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58And the rest is history, I guess.
0:19:58 > 0:20:00# I still might run in silence
0:20:00 > 0:20:03# Tears of joy might stain my face
0:20:03 > 0:20:07# And a summer sun might burn me till I'm blind
0:20:09 > 0:20:13# But not to where I cannot see you walking on the back roads
0:20:13 > 0:20:19# By the rivers flowing gentle on my mind... #
0:20:19 > 0:20:20It was a song that at the time
0:20:20 > 0:20:24fitted the profile of everything else that was going on.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26If you put it into context,
0:20:26 > 0:20:30you know, we're talking about the summer of love
0:20:30 > 0:20:32and the hippies and all of that.
0:20:32 > 0:20:37And it seemed to fit right in with that whole atmosphere of the time,
0:20:37 > 0:20:40even the title of the song alludes to that.
0:20:40 > 0:20:42# ..By the rivers of my memories
0:20:42 > 0:20:46# Ever smiling Ever gentle on my mind... #
0:20:46 > 0:20:48Gentle On My Mind is not a typical pop song,
0:20:48 > 0:20:51it's not even a typical country song.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53It's just a little off there in oddball folk land.
0:20:53 > 0:20:58And I think maybe it's very differentness is what worked.
0:20:59 > 0:21:03Glen followed Gentle On My Mind with another unconventional pop song,
0:21:03 > 0:21:07this time from an album he'd heard by Johnny Rivers.
0:21:07 > 0:21:11# By the time I get to Phoenix
0:21:11 > 0:21:13# She'll be rising... #
0:21:13 > 0:21:20By The Time I Get To Phoenix was written by a 21-year-old songwriter named Jimmy Webb -
0:21:20 > 0:21:25the same teenage fan who'd fallen in love with Glen's first single.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29# She'll laugh when she reads the part... #
0:21:29 > 0:21:31It made me cry cos I was homesick.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35# By the time I get to Phoenix She'll be rising... #
0:21:35 > 0:21:40I made the trip from Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico, you know, Albuquerque.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44It was just backtracking home. And it made me real homesick when I heard that.
0:21:44 > 0:21:49# By the time I get to Phoenix
0:21:49 > 0:21:53# She'll be rising... #
0:21:53 > 0:21:58So he calls up Al De Lory at Capitol, who was his producer,
0:21:58 > 0:22:01who, by the way, was also in the Wrecking Crew.
0:22:01 > 0:22:06He was a great pianist. So he says, "Al, I think we've got our hit."
0:22:06 > 0:22:10# She'll laugh when she reads the part
0:22:10 > 0:22:14# That says I'm leaving
0:22:17 > 0:22:19# Cos I've left that girl
0:22:19 > 0:22:25# So many times before... #
0:22:26 > 0:22:31He had exquisite taste in songs, but he could sing anything.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34You can hear another person sing the same song,
0:22:34 > 0:22:37the same words, it doesn't have the same effect.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40It's something that he was really born with.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44It's there in every fibre of him, it's there in his voice,
0:22:44 > 0:22:48it's there in his fingers, it's in every gesture.
0:22:48 > 0:22:53And I think that is where the country part comes in because in order to be a great country singer,
0:22:53 > 0:22:58that's your key right there, you have to be believable.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01# Oh, and she'll cry
0:23:01 > 0:23:06# Just to think I'd really leave her... #
0:23:06 > 0:23:11There's a certain honesty about Glen's rendition of all the songs that he's recorded.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13It's like he lived it.
0:23:13 > 0:23:19And to this day, I wonder if the guy ever did leave Phoenix.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23# She just didn't know... #
0:23:23 > 0:23:29The partnership of Glen Campbell and Jimmy Webb is one of the most celebrated in pop music history,
0:23:29 > 0:23:33but it got off to an unpromising start.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36We were working on a commercial for General Motors.
0:23:36 > 0:23:41General Motors had given me an obscene amount of money - God knows what they paid him -
0:23:41 > 0:23:43but this brought us together.
0:23:43 > 0:23:50There was Glen tuning his guitar, I walked over and put my hand out to say, "Hi, I'm Jimmy Webb."
0:23:50 > 0:23:53And he looked up and never took his hands off the guitar
0:23:53 > 0:23:57and just said, "When you going to get a haircut?"
0:23:59 > 0:24:04But an enduring friendship developed between singer and songwriter,
0:24:04 > 0:24:06so when Glen was looking for a follow-up to Phoenix,
0:24:06 > 0:24:09he got on the line to Jimmy Webb.
0:24:09 > 0:24:15They call me and said, "Can you write us a song about a town?"
0:24:15 > 0:24:21And I said, "Well, I'm not sure I want to write a song about a town right now.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23"I think I've overdone that."
0:24:23 > 0:24:26He said, "Well, can you do something geographical?"
0:24:26 > 0:24:29So I spent the rest of the afternoon, all afternoon,
0:24:29 > 0:24:32sweating over Wichita Lineman.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35With that song and all of his hit singles to follow,
0:24:35 > 0:24:40who did Glen want to plan his sessions, but his fellow Wrecking Crew players,
0:24:40 > 0:24:44cos they're his pals and they're the best in the business.
0:24:44 > 0:24:46We knew that this tune was special.
0:24:46 > 0:24:52And they said, "Create an intro, Carol." So I went... to F.
0:25:04 > 0:25:10- Leaving room for...- # I am the lineman for the county... #
0:25:10 > 0:25:15- Carry that motif. - # And I drive the main roads
0:25:15 > 0:25:21# Searching in the sun for another overload... #
0:25:21 > 0:25:23Just keeping it very simple.
0:25:23 > 0:25:28Cos when you first get the tune rolling, you want to stay in the background as much as possible.
0:25:28 > 0:25:32And he starts singing. And when he did, the hair stood up on my arms.
0:25:34 > 0:25:36I said, "Ohh, this is deep!"
0:25:37 > 0:25:42# And the Wichita Lineman
0:25:42 > 0:25:48# Is still on the line... #
0:25:48 > 0:25:53I'd seen these guys up on these poles out in the middle of nowhere talking on the telephone
0:25:53 > 0:25:58and I thought, "What if he was talking to his girlfriend?" It just popped into my head.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01So I remember sending that song over to them later that day
0:26:01 > 0:26:06and I actually hadn't really finished it.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09So the second verse ends...
0:26:09 > 0:26:13# And I need you more than want you
0:26:16 > 0:26:20# And I want you for all time
0:26:22 > 0:26:26# And the Wichita Lineman
0:26:28 > 0:26:34# Is still on the line... #
0:26:39 > 0:26:41I just played this...
0:26:48 > 0:26:51I don't know, a couple of weeks later, I ran into him somewhere
0:26:51 > 0:26:56and I said, "So, I guess you guys didn't like that song?"
0:26:56 > 0:26:58He said, "Oh, we cut that."
0:26:58 > 0:27:01I said, "Well, it wasn't done."
0:27:01 > 0:27:06I said, "I was just humming the last bit."
0:27:06 > 0:27:09And he said, "Oh, well, it's done now."
0:27:09 > 0:27:15# I am a lineman for the county... # APPLAUSE
0:27:15 > 0:27:19# And I drive the main roads
0:27:20 > 0:27:29# I'm searching in the sun for another overload
0:27:29 > 0:27:34# And I hear you singing in the wires... #
0:27:34 > 0:27:38You've got to totally acknowledge the importance of Jimmy Webb
0:27:38 > 0:27:41and those songs in Glen's career.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44I mean, Wichita Lineman, when you listen to the lyrics of that song,
0:27:44 > 0:27:50you know, you're almost there in the telephone lines, aren't you? You can hear them whistling.
0:27:50 > 0:27:55He really has always been able to bring that feeling of a song to the fore.
0:27:59 > 0:28:06# I know I need a small vacation... #
0:28:06 > 0:28:08Jimmy doesn't write too many duff tunes
0:28:08 > 0:28:11and, yeah, you're right, they did hit it off.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14I don't think you can reduce that stuff too much.
0:28:14 > 0:28:19It doesn't really work like that. You just capture lightning in a bottle.
0:28:21 > 0:28:23I love the way Jimmy Webb writes his songs,
0:28:23 > 0:28:27because he has a wonderful way of writing songs
0:28:27 > 0:28:30that you know, from the opening line, what the story is,
0:28:30 > 0:28:32you don't have to wait.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35By the time I get to Phoenix She'll be rising.
0:28:35 > 0:28:37Straight away, you've got the picture there.
0:28:37 > 0:28:41He made me sound good, he made me sound like a genius,
0:28:41 > 0:28:44but really I just did what I did and he had the wherewithal
0:28:44 > 0:28:51to follow through and hit some notes that really, honestly he shouldn't have been able to hit.
0:28:51 > 0:28:56And a lot of other singers would have said, "Hey, listen, take this home and work on it, son,
0:28:56 > 0:28:59"cos I can't sing that!"
0:28:59 > 0:29:03Wichita Lineman made Glen Campbell a star.
0:29:03 > 0:29:08In 1968, he outsold The Beatles in the USA
0:29:08 > 0:29:11and cleaned up at that year's Grammy Awards.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14His blend of country and pop was new
0:29:14 > 0:29:21and paved the way for future country cross-over artists like Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers.
0:29:21 > 0:29:25It enabled him to sing on Top 40 radio.
0:29:25 > 0:29:28When a lot of country artists were stuck in their own little milieu,
0:29:28 > 0:29:30he was right in the middle of the charts
0:29:30 > 0:29:33and just selling millions of records.
0:29:33 > 0:29:40And he introduced the idea of country music as a cross-over possibility.
0:29:40 > 0:29:45# Where's the playground, Susie? #
0:29:45 > 0:29:51Other contemporary Americans such as Jerry Lee Lewis, such as Chuck Berry, such as Elvis,
0:29:51 > 0:29:56they saw their popularity dwindle in the wake of the British invasion.
0:29:56 > 0:30:01Glen, he emerged! His star ignited!
0:30:01 > 0:30:05Glen's clean-cut good looks attracted the attention of
0:30:05 > 0:30:07the American TV networks.
0:30:07 > 0:30:12In the summer of 1968 he took over from hip comic duo
0:30:12 > 0:30:16The Smothers Brothers in their prime time Sunday night slot.
0:30:16 > 0:30:18- Tommy, that's a hippopotamus. - What hippopotamus?
0:30:18 > 0:30:22He's a horse. He's the smartest horse in the whole world.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25In fact, in the whole San Fernando Valley, aren't you, big fella?
0:30:25 > 0:30:27The Smothers Brothers were no fools.
0:30:27 > 0:30:32They hired him to do six episodes in the summer of '68. And it was perfect.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35It also made CBS Television very happy
0:30:35 > 0:30:38because the Smothers Brothers, as funny as they were,
0:30:38 > 0:30:41were also a big thorn in the side of the network
0:30:41 > 0:30:43because they were pushing the envelope.
0:30:43 > 0:30:46They wanted to mention the war in Vietnam and all that.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49Glen wasn't going to mention any of that. CBS loved Glen.
0:30:49 > 0:30:52Ladies and gentlemen, Glen Campbell.
0:30:52 > 0:30:56Glen Campbell was a Republican and this, along with
0:30:56 > 0:31:00his well-groomed appearance, went down well with middle America.
0:31:00 > 0:31:04CBS dropped the Smothers Brothers and gave Glen his own show.
0:31:06 > 0:31:10# For once in my life I have someone who needs me
0:31:10 > 0:31:13# Someone I've needed so long... #
0:31:13 > 0:31:17Tommy Smothers and Dick Smothers gave Glen what was arguably
0:31:17 > 0:31:19the biggest break he ever had.
0:31:19 > 0:31:21# Somehow I know I'll be strong... #
0:31:21 > 0:31:25Americans who'd been listening to his hits on the radio,
0:31:25 > 0:31:28had a face to place with the hits.
0:31:28 > 0:31:31# Long before I knew
0:31:31 > 0:31:34# Someone warm like you... #
0:31:34 > 0:31:36Oh, it was wonderful. I'd call Mother, say,
0:31:36 > 0:31:39"Mother, don't forget, Glen's going to be on tonight at 7.00."
0:31:39 > 0:31:42And we'd all have our televisions tuned in. We'd always watch it.
0:31:42 > 0:31:44And it made... I was filled with pride.
0:31:44 > 0:31:47Thinking, "That's my brother and he's really going places."
0:31:47 > 0:31:50Glen's own career was hot at this point that all the other
0:31:50 > 0:31:52A-list vocalists wanted to be on that show.
0:31:52 > 0:31:57# All I really wanna do
0:31:59 > 0:32:02# Is, baby, be friends with you... #
0:32:02 > 0:32:05He was tall, he was slender, he looked clean-cut.
0:32:05 > 0:32:09This guy looked like somebody you'd want to date your daughter.
0:32:09 > 0:32:13# I don't want to compete with you... #
0:32:13 > 0:32:17Anybody who makes it big in TV, particularly in music,
0:32:17 > 0:32:21I think has to have an extremely wide appeal.
0:32:21 > 0:32:24And that is one thing that country music has always had.
0:32:24 > 0:32:27Country music doesn't care if you're six or if you are 90,
0:32:27 > 0:32:29if you like us, we like you.
0:32:29 > 0:32:31# Far from Folsom prison... #
0:32:31 > 0:32:33And Glen understood that instinctively.
0:32:33 > 0:32:36If you can't hug a fat lady, don't go into country music.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39It's not about "I'm cooler than you are," you know,
0:32:39 > 0:32:40that just doesn't wash.
0:32:40 > 0:32:43And that's why it works so well on television,
0:32:43 > 0:32:45and that's why that show worked so well.
0:32:45 > 0:32:47Because Glen appealed to the world.
0:32:47 > 0:32:51# Blow my blues away. #
0:32:51 > 0:32:53CROWD APPLAUD
0:32:53 > 0:32:54Two years earlier,
0:32:54 > 0:32:57Glen had been a virtually unknown session musician.
0:32:57 > 0:33:01Now he was America's fastest rising star.
0:33:01 > 0:33:03For his family it was a shock.
0:33:04 > 0:33:05We were mobbed.
0:33:05 > 0:33:09I mean, everywhere we went, once he really started to take off.
0:33:09 > 0:33:13It was hard going anywhere because everybody wanted his autograph
0:33:13 > 0:33:16and we couldn't eat, our food would get cold.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20He really got big very, very quickly. Superstardom.
0:33:20 > 0:33:22The hits came at the right time
0:33:22 > 0:33:24and then all of a sudden you're doing a network TV show
0:33:24 > 0:33:26where you're seen by - what? - 52 million a week
0:33:26 > 0:33:28or something like that.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31We sold 65 million albums.
0:33:31 > 0:33:34I couldn't have planned that whole scenario if I had wanted to.
0:33:37 > 0:33:40Part of Glen Campbell's appeal was that he cut a comfortable,
0:33:40 > 0:33:42middle-of-the road figure
0:33:42 > 0:33:45in a country riven by protests against the Vietnam war.
0:33:45 > 0:33:49Then Jimmy Webb brought Glen a new composition.
0:33:49 > 0:33:53It was an anti-war song called Galveston.
0:33:53 > 0:33:56When I first showed him Galveston, it was a ballad.
0:33:56 > 0:33:57SLOW MELODIC MUSIC
0:33:57 > 0:34:01# Galveston, oh, Galveston
0:34:04 > 0:34:08# I still hear your sea winds blowing... #
0:34:08 > 0:34:14Well, he went out. And, of course, he rearranged it. It was like...
0:34:14 > 0:34:16HE LAUGHS
0:34:16 > 0:34:18Are you ready for the intro? It was like...
0:34:18 > 0:34:20PLAYS HIGH TEMPO VERSION
0:34:27 > 0:34:31# Galveston, oh, Galveston... #
0:34:31 > 0:34:34Wham! Wham! You know, big drums.
0:34:34 > 0:34:37And it almost sounded patriotic.
0:34:37 > 0:34:39It was like, "Let's go kick their ass, boys!" You know?
0:34:39 > 0:34:41HE LAUGHS
0:34:42 > 0:34:47# Galveston, oh, Galveston
0:34:47 > 0:34:51# I still hear your sea winds blowin'
0:34:53 > 0:34:57# I still see her dark eyes glowin'... #
0:34:57 > 0:35:02Galveston, yes, may have been about a guy in the Vietnam War,
0:35:02 > 0:35:05longing to go home to Galveston and everything,
0:35:05 > 0:35:08but I don't think the public gave it a whole lot of thought.
0:35:08 > 0:35:11# Galveston, oh, Galveston... #
0:35:11 > 0:35:13Also, he was on the side of the troops.
0:35:13 > 0:35:16And he could understand a guy longing for home.
0:35:16 > 0:35:18To him, it wasn't a comment on the war,
0:35:18 > 0:35:22whether the war was good or bad, it was just about a guy that
0:35:22 > 0:35:25was in the Army and missed his home in Texas.
0:35:25 > 0:35:30# I clean my gun and dream of Galveston... #
0:35:32 > 0:35:36Hit records with Glen Campbell definitely pegged me
0:35:36 > 0:35:40as middle-of-the-road, leaning to the right, because he was a Republican.
0:35:40 > 0:35:45He had Bob Hope on the Glen Campbell Show. He had John Wayne on.
0:35:45 > 0:35:47All those guys were hawks.
0:35:47 > 0:35:50They were, you know, "Let's go over there and blow 'em to hell!"
0:35:50 > 0:35:52You know?
0:35:52 > 0:35:59I was an anti-war guy but, musically, we spoke the same language.
0:35:59 > 0:36:04# Galveston, oh, Galveston... #
0:36:04 > 0:36:08It was John Wayne who propelled Glen's career even higher,
0:36:08 > 0:36:11with a co-starring role in his new western True Grit.
0:36:13 > 0:36:16He presented something that the public wanted to hear.
0:36:16 > 0:36:17They could relate to Glen.
0:36:17 > 0:36:20He was singing cool stuff but he wasn't threatening in any way.
0:36:20 > 0:36:24That's certainly part of why John Wayne wanted him for True Grit.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27But Wayne, though, I think, in the background in Hollywood,
0:36:27 > 0:36:31did know that Glen was certainly not a leftist.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35# One day, little girl... #
0:36:35 > 0:36:37Glen had second billing to John Wayne.
0:36:37 > 0:36:41Glen sang the title song from that picture.
0:36:41 > 0:36:43# As soon as you've won
0:36:43 > 0:36:46And he was an absolutely dreadful actor, Glen.
0:36:46 > 0:36:48His timing was terrible.
0:36:48 > 0:36:51You've got to learn that you can't have everything your own way.
0:36:51 > 0:36:53When I've bought and paid for something, I'll have it my way.
0:36:53 > 0:36:55I don't understand this conversation at all!
0:36:55 > 0:36:57That was my first picture.
0:36:57 > 0:36:59And I thought I was so bad in True Grit that
0:36:59 > 0:37:03I made John Wayne shine so well that he won his only Oscar.
0:37:03 > 0:37:07Well, Wayne's horse bit Glen's horse. Savagely, on the neck.
0:37:07 > 0:37:11Glen's horse thereafter was afraid of John Wayne's horse.
0:37:11 > 0:37:15And when the director rode closely to John Wayne,
0:37:15 > 0:37:19Wayne's horse would exhale forcefully and Glen's horse would
0:37:19 > 0:37:23dramatically and rapidly turn its head in an effort to get away.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26I thought he did a terrific acting job.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29I was very surprised he didn't go on and on.
0:37:29 > 0:37:34At the time, you know, they compared him to Sinatra
0:37:34 > 0:37:36in From Here To Eternity,
0:37:36 > 0:37:40and how Sinatra opened up a whole new career as a great actor.
0:37:40 > 0:37:43And I thought Glen was going to follow that.
0:37:43 > 0:37:47But by the early 1970s, Glen was looking out of date
0:37:47 > 0:37:51alongside new denim-clad country rock bands like the Eagles.
0:37:51 > 0:37:55# Standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona
0:37:55 > 0:37:57# Such a fine sight to see... #
0:37:57 > 0:38:01Don't forget, his popularity ascent was just white hot.
0:38:01 > 0:38:03And anything that hot is certain to burn out.
0:38:03 > 0:38:07But, yes, his career cooled. But he had staying power.
0:38:07 > 0:38:10His core audience was comprised of country music fans.
0:38:10 > 0:38:12And they are the most loyal fans on earth.
0:38:12 > 0:38:15I mean, he'd play the Hollywood Bowl for four nights in a row
0:38:15 > 0:38:16and sell it out.
0:38:16 > 0:38:20And everybody knew who he was. And everybody could sing those songs.
0:38:20 > 0:38:25As Glen's ratings slipped, his American TV series was cancelled,
0:38:25 > 0:38:28but in 1973 he crossed the Atlantic
0:38:28 > 0:38:31and launched a new music show on the BBC.
0:38:31 > 0:38:33Thank you very much.
0:38:33 > 0:38:38I'd like to thank everyone for making my stay in Great Britain
0:38:38 > 0:38:40a very pleasurable one. It's really been fantastic.
0:38:44 > 0:38:48Playing to Britain's dedicated country music audience,
0:38:48 > 0:38:52it also showed that Glen had lost none of his skills on the guitar.
0:38:54 > 0:38:57Glen was making some of his best music.
0:38:57 > 0:39:01A new album with Jimmy Webb showed a new mature style
0:39:01 > 0:39:03for both singer and songwriter.
0:39:03 > 0:39:05When I saw the record that said,
0:39:05 > 0:39:08"Reunion - Glen Campbell and Jimmy Webb",
0:39:08 > 0:39:11I paid money for that record. I couldn't wait to hear it.
0:39:13 > 0:39:19# I fell out of her eyes
0:39:19 > 0:39:24# I fell out of her heart... #
0:39:25 > 0:39:29People have said that's the best album Glen and I ever made.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33But things had begun to, for all of us,
0:39:33 > 0:39:37things had started to fall apart in the record department.
0:39:37 > 0:39:43# And I fell and fell alone... #
0:39:45 > 0:39:47If you sold 300,000 or 400,000 records,
0:39:47 > 0:39:51that just wasn't good enough, you know. We are not interested in that.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54The record companies would actually let artists go.
0:39:54 > 0:39:59They wanted that big platinum album but just rocked the world.
0:39:59 > 0:40:03# The moon's a harsh mistress... #
0:40:05 > 0:40:09In 1975 Capitol Records decided to take one last shot
0:40:09 > 0:40:11at reviving Glen's recording career.
0:40:11 > 0:40:14They teamed him up with young producers Dennis Lambert
0:40:14 > 0:40:18and Brian Potter, who'd just had a major hit with the Four Tops.
0:40:18 > 0:40:21He was still an incredibly popular artist.
0:40:21 > 0:40:25He just had lost a little bit of his momentum on radio.
0:40:25 > 0:40:28And that's not a small thing, certainly.
0:40:28 > 0:40:33It wasn't easy to regenerate the kind of excitement
0:40:33 > 0:40:35and interest in new recordings.
0:40:35 > 0:40:40Glen is an artist who has had this great past, and now maybe needs
0:40:40 > 0:40:45a defining song that, for him, would be like his theme.
0:40:47 > 0:40:50The key song came from an unlikely source.
0:40:50 > 0:40:53Larry Weiss was a young singer-songwriter
0:40:53 > 0:40:56whose debut album had just been released.
0:40:56 > 0:40:57And he came up to our office
0:40:57 > 0:41:00and he was playing in cuts from his new album.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03One of them was Rhinestone Cowboy.
0:41:03 > 0:41:07I don't think he was originally terribly interested in
0:41:07 > 0:41:10giving it up, because this was a new record of his own.
0:41:10 > 0:41:13I wanted to be able to take it to Glen and play it for him.
0:41:13 > 0:41:18I knew, even just in that meeting, that it was that strong a song.
0:41:18 > 0:41:22# I've been walking these streets so long
0:41:22 > 0:41:26# Singin' the same old song... #
0:41:26 > 0:41:29I did not know what a rhinestone cowboy was when I wrote the song.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32I was living in LA, I was hardly aware of country music.
0:41:32 > 0:41:35I heard the phrase somewhere, at a party or something.
0:41:35 > 0:41:37And put my own story to it.
0:41:37 > 0:41:41I made it a guy who was overdue, walking the streets on Broadway.
0:41:42 > 0:41:46As far as the chorus was concerned, that came from another place.
0:41:46 > 0:41:49A movie in the late '40s called Buffalo Bill.
0:41:49 > 0:41:53And the last scene in that movie, he comes riding out
0:41:53 > 0:41:56in a star-spangled rodeo, with flags draped over the seats,
0:41:56 > 0:42:01on a white horse with his white beard and white long hair.
0:42:01 > 0:42:05And he thanks everybody for the wonderful life that he had.
0:42:07 > 0:42:10MUSIC: "Rhinestone Cowboy" by Glen Campbell
0:42:10 > 0:42:14# I've been walking these streets so long
0:42:14 > 0:42:16# Singing the same old song
0:42:18 > 0:42:24# I know every crack in these dirty sidewalks of Broadway... #
0:42:24 > 0:42:28Rhinestone Cowboy was Glen Campbell's first number one,
0:42:28 > 0:42:32topping both the American pop and country charts simultaneously.
0:42:32 > 0:42:36It went on to sell over a million copies.
0:42:36 > 0:42:40If ever a song defined a personality, it would be Rhinestone Cowboy
0:42:40 > 0:42:43and Glen Campbell. I mean, he became the rhinestone cowboy.
0:42:43 > 0:42:47With the white outfit. And the song is just wonderful.
0:42:47 > 0:42:50It has the downtrodden, "I'm a nobody" verses,
0:42:50 > 0:42:54and the soaring "I'm making it" chorus.
0:42:54 > 0:42:58# Like a rhinestone cowboy
0:43:00 > 0:43:05# Riding out on a horse in a star-spangled rodeo... #
0:43:05 > 0:43:07It just floored me. It was the story of my life.
0:43:07 > 0:43:09I'm a lyric man.
0:43:09 > 0:43:13When I'm listening to a record, the lyrics grab me first.
0:43:13 > 0:43:17If I like it, then I understand what the whole picture was about.
0:43:17 > 0:43:20That's when I got the whole picture what a Rhinestone Cowboy was,
0:43:20 > 0:43:22cos that's what I'd been doing for a while.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25I hadn't had a hit record in two or three years.
0:43:25 > 0:43:28And for the right image for the rhinestone cowboy, who else do
0:43:28 > 0:43:33you go to than the king of country music fashion, Manuel Cuevas?
0:43:33 > 0:43:35# Riding out on a horse in a star-spangled rodeo... #
0:43:35 > 0:43:39It's white outfit with a John Wayne shirt with roses.
0:43:39 > 0:43:43Whatever I could visualise at the time of the Rhinestone Cowboy.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46Of course, we put rhinestones on it.
0:43:46 > 0:43:49We made him shine and had fun with it.
0:43:49 > 0:43:53The truth is, you can make beautiful suits for ugly people
0:43:53 > 0:43:55and they don't come out that pretty.
0:43:55 > 0:43:58But he's a beautiful person inside and out.
0:43:58 > 0:44:00And if you make him beautiful clothes, well,
0:44:00 > 0:44:03all the better for the situation, right?
0:44:03 > 0:44:05The better for everybody, I should say.
0:44:05 > 0:44:07Naturally, I was happy to have a hit.
0:44:07 > 0:44:10But I also knew in my heart of hearts that he really sold the song
0:44:10 > 0:44:13a lot more than I did. At least, that's how I arrived at it.
0:44:13 > 0:44:15I was, of course, thrilled that it did
0:44:15 > 0:44:19and surprised that it has become such a huge American anthem.
0:44:23 > 0:44:25# Southern nights
0:44:25 > 0:44:29# Have you ever felt those southern nights?
0:44:29 > 0:44:33After Rhinestone Cowboy, Glen had another US number one single
0:44:33 > 0:44:35with Southern Nights in 1977,
0:44:35 > 0:44:39but behind the scenes things were falling apart.
0:44:41 > 0:44:45He divorced Billie Jean, his wife of 15 years, and married
0:44:45 > 0:44:50Sarah Davis, but that marriage was stormy and didn't last long.
0:44:50 > 0:44:52His drinking was getting out of control
0:44:52 > 0:44:56and now combined with a serious cocaine addiction.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59# To anyone who can truly say
0:44:59 > 0:45:02# That he has found a better way... #
0:45:02 > 0:45:05I think that there was a lot of turmoil in his own
0:45:05 > 0:45:06personal life at the time.
0:45:06 > 0:45:11He was trying to come to terms with all this sudden new success,
0:45:11 > 0:45:16back on top, again headlining Las Vegas as, you know,
0:45:16 > 0:45:19the superstar that he already was.
0:45:19 > 0:45:22This was just sort of piling it on.
0:45:22 > 0:45:24And I see some of these artists that come up
0:45:24 > 0:45:28and their dream is to get a pickup truck, a new boat,
0:45:28 > 0:45:31a place to go fishing, a house and a house for their mom.
0:45:31 > 0:45:33Then after they get that, OK, what's the goal?
0:45:33 > 0:45:36You're the best guitar player, one of the best singers,
0:45:36 > 0:45:39you've got everything going for you. What's your next goal?
0:45:39 > 0:45:41# A country boy
0:45:41 > 0:45:43# You got your feet in LA
0:45:43 > 0:45:46# But take a look at everything you own... #
0:45:46 > 0:45:50He was living in this mansion on the top of Mulholland Drive.
0:45:50 > 0:45:53All by himself, literally, there was no-one around him.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56And it was kind of a sad time for him, I think.
0:45:56 > 0:45:59And now it seemed that something was missing.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02And it seemed all a little hollow because there he was,
0:46:02 > 0:46:07kind of sad and wondering, you know, what is this really all about?
0:46:07 > 0:46:09# A country boy
0:46:09 > 0:46:11# You got your feet in LA
0:46:11 > 0:46:13# But take a look at everything you own... #
0:46:13 > 0:46:16I think I probably just quit letting God run my life.
0:46:16 > 0:46:22And I actually just got into drugs and booze pretty heavy.
0:46:22 > 0:46:26# Country boy. #
0:46:29 > 0:46:31I don't think he knew who he was then.
0:46:31 > 0:46:34Here's a guy who had always been a southern gentleman.
0:46:34 > 0:46:38Now, all of a sudden, if he's on a commercial aircraft, he's abusive to
0:46:38 > 0:46:42the flight attendants, to the other passengers, and the word spread.
0:46:42 > 0:46:45Soon there was even more to talk about,
0:46:45 > 0:46:48as Glen's next relationship hit the headlines.
0:46:48 > 0:46:51Glen was going through a divorce,
0:46:51 > 0:46:55and a divorce that was really highly publicised for obvious reasons.
0:46:55 > 0:46:57And Glen gets a call one night...
0:46:57 > 0:46:58HE LAUGHS
0:46:58 > 0:47:03..and she says, "I understand you're going through a divorce."
0:47:03 > 0:47:04And he says yes.
0:47:04 > 0:47:07And she says something to the effect, I'm paraphrasing,
0:47:07 > 0:47:11"I know you're hurting and it sounds to me like you could use a friend."
0:47:11 > 0:47:14And he said, "Well, I'm sure I can."
0:47:14 > 0:47:18And...the caller was Tanya Tucker.
0:47:18 > 0:47:21MUSIC: "Highway Robbery" by Tanya Tucker
0:47:21 > 0:47:25His marriage to Sarah had been turbulent but, you know what?
0:47:25 > 0:47:30It had been placid when compared to his union with Tanya.
0:47:31 > 0:47:33# I wasn't trying to outrun you... #
0:47:33 > 0:47:38Tanya Tucker was the explosive wild girl of country music.
0:47:38 > 0:47:41A star since her teens and still only 21,
0:47:41 > 0:47:44her relationship with Glen was tabloid heaven.
0:47:44 > 0:47:46Well, as one southerner to another,
0:47:46 > 0:47:48how about the pleasure of this next song?
0:47:48 > 0:47:52Why certainly, Mr Campbell. I'm just sitting out here on the front porch.
0:47:52 > 0:47:56I was 21, 22 and that probably didn't help.
0:47:56 > 0:48:00He was 44 and thinking he was 22.
0:48:00 > 0:48:02And that probably didn't help.
0:48:02 > 0:48:06# Every night I hope and pray
0:48:06 > 0:48:10# A dream lover will come my way
0:48:10 > 0:48:13But this dream love quickly turned into a nightmare,
0:48:13 > 0:48:17with stories of drink, drugs, fights and smashed hotel rooms.
0:48:17 > 0:48:21# Dream, dream lover
0:48:21 > 0:48:25Glen, I think, he just wants to be Glen.
0:48:25 > 0:48:30And when people put ideas in...they try to take advantage of him.
0:48:30 > 0:48:33And she tried to take advantage of him.
0:48:33 > 0:48:37She tried to use him to further her career. It was very hard.
0:48:37 > 0:48:40It was hard on the people that liked him and were around him.
0:48:40 > 0:48:42# I want a dream lover... #
0:48:42 > 0:48:45I really don't want to talk about it. OK, I'll say it like this.
0:48:45 > 0:48:46If I talk about her real truthfully,
0:48:46 > 0:48:50I'd have to say a lot of things that I wouldn't want to say about her.
0:48:50 > 0:48:52It's a long story. HE LAUGHS
0:48:52 > 0:48:55Every day was the same madness, you know.
0:48:55 > 0:49:01There was a period in '79-'80 - it was when I almost went, I thought.
0:49:01 > 0:49:03I had to reach up to touch bottom.
0:49:03 > 0:49:06He had been seen as really clean-cut.
0:49:06 > 0:49:09The relationship with Tanya Tucker, the drug-fuelled craziness
0:49:09 > 0:49:13and all that stuff...I wouldn't say it damaged his reputation,
0:49:13 > 0:49:15but it certainly changed his reputation.
0:49:15 > 0:49:17Country music fans are very loyal.
0:49:17 > 0:49:20And this is when he comes back to Nashville.
0:49:20 > 0:49:22This is when he comes to Nashville and starts making records,
0:49:22 > 0:49:24instead of in LA.
0:49:24 > 0:49:27And maintains a very steady presence in the country charts.
0:49:27 > 0:49:31All through even the worst of his substance-abuse problems.
0:49:34 > 0:49:37# And the queen's still the belle of the ball... #
0:49:37 > 0:49:42In the 1980s, Glen Campbell was still a big draw with country fans,
0:49:42 > 0:49:47in the US and in the UK, but his personal problems continued.
0:49:47 > 0:49:50The turning point was a blind date in New York
0:49:50 > 0:49:53where he met his current wife Kimberly.
0:49:53 > 0:49:57When I first met Glen, on our first date, we went out to eat
0:49:57 > 0:50:01and he bowed his head to say a prayer before the meal began.
0:50:01 > 0:50:02And I thought, "Yes!"
0:50:02 > 0:50:06Cos I had been asking the Lord to send me a Christian man.
0:50:06 > 0:50:11So we had a great date but as the night progressed,
0:50:11 > 0:50:14I realised that he had a terrible drinking problem.
0:50:14 > 0:50:18- It wasn't terrible. I was enjoying it.- I should have added, "Be specific when you pray!"
0:50:18 > 0:50:21She accepted a blind date to go out with Glen Campbell
0:50:21 > 0:50:23and she'd never heard of the guy.
0:50:23 > 0:50:25She had no idea who he was.
0:50:25 > 0:50:28She subsequently said, "Had I known about Glen Campbell
0:50:28 > 0:50:32"and his reputation, I would have never agreed to go out with him."
0:50:33 > 0:50:36# Some day
0:50:36 > 0:50:39# And some way
0:50:39 > 0:50:44# You realise that you've been blind... #
0:50:45 > 0:50:48Kimberly Woollen was a former Radio City dancer,
0:50:48 > 0:50:51but with strong Christian beliefs.
0:50:51 > 0:50:54These were tested by Glen's behaviour.
0:50:54 > 0:50:58Even their wedding wasn't without surprises.
0:50:58 > 0:51:04And that night at the wedding when he talked to Kimberly's mother,
0:51:04 > 0:51:09he said to her, "You know, aren't you excited, Mom,
0:51:09 > 0:51:12"that you're going to be a grandmother?"
0:51:12 > 0:51:15Kimberly's mother didn't know she was three months pregnant.
0:51:15 > 0:51:18That's how the mother learned.
0:51:18 > 0:51:20# You just laughed
0:51:20 > 0:51:23# And you called me a clown... #
0:51:23 > 0:51:25It was a new start for Glen,
0:51:25 > 0:51:29with Kimberly's faith playing an increasingly large part in his life.
0:51:30 > 0:51:35They've now been married for 30 years, through good times and bad.
0:51:36 > 0:51:40We had a lot of dark valleys that we had to walk through.
0:51:40 > 0:51:42But I knew that he was seeking God.
0:51:42 > 0:51:44Glen changed his circle of friends
0:51:44 > 0:51:47and started playing golf with the preacher and the deacons
0:51:47 > 0:51:50and they really just surrounded him with a lot of love.
0:51:50 > 0:51:53I could beat them, so I enjoyed that.
0:51:53 > 0:51:56She went through a lot, too.
0:51:56 > 0:51:59She didn't have it really easy for a while there, either.
0:51:59 > 0:52:01And I think she gave him an ultimatum.
0:52:01 > 0:52:03Thank goodness he took her up on it.
0:52:03 > 0:52:08Because who knows what he would be like now if he were by himself.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11Every hanger-on in the world would be trying to get piece of him.
0:52:20 > 0:52:25In 2003 there was one final and highly publicised relapse.
0:52:25 > 0:52:29Arrested for drunk-driving, Glen fought with police officers
0:52:29 > 0:52:32and was jailed for ten days.
0:52:32 > 0:52:35His police mug-shot was shown around the world.
0:52:37 > 0:52:42I finally got to...to learn what was right and what was wrong.
0:52:42 > 0:52:45What was good and what was bad.
0:52:45 > 0:52:48And what you SHOULD be doing instead of what you WERE doing.
0:52:48 > 0:52:50I quit drinking, smoking, everything.
0:52:50 > 0:52:52Cocaine, you name it.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55I think I got as close to hell as I want to get.
0:52:55 > 0:53:00I was very blessed to get my life turned around.
0:53:04 > 0:53:07MUSIC: "Times Like These " by Glen Campbell
0:53:07 > 0:53:10Over the last ten years, there's been a turnaround in
0:53:10 > 0:53:12Glen Campbell's music, as well.
0:53:12 > 0:53:16With a team of young producers, he released an acclaimed new album
0:53:16 > 0:53:20covering songs by bands including U2 and the Foo Fighters.
0:53:20 > 0:53:25# It's times like these you learn to love again
0:53:26 > 0:53:28# It's times like these
0:53:28 > 0:53:31# Time and time again... #
0:53:31 > 0:53:34I love it when they get to make a victory lap.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37Like Johnny Cash did. I just love that.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41That they can, you know, do that one more ride around the arena
0:53:41 > 0:53:44and come out with guns blazing.
0:53:44 > 0:53:46And Glen gets to do that.
0:53:48 > 0:53:54# It's times like these you learn to live again... #
0:53:54 > 0:53:57Over seven decades, Glen Campbell has overcome a poor upbringing,
0:53:57 > 0:54:00the struggle to make it in the music business
0:54:00 > 0:54:04and his own demons with drink and drugs.
0:54:04 > 0:54:09But in 2011 he faced an even greater challenge.
0:54:09 > 0:54:11# Time and time again... #
0:54:11 > 0:54:16I had read some reviews where the reviewers had accused
0:54:16 > 0:54:19Glen of being drunk on stage.
0:54:19 > 0:54:22So much so, that he could not remember the lyrics.
0:54:22 > 0:54:25Kimberly, his wife, in the wake of those reviews,
0:54:25 > 0:54:29she came forward and said, "My husband has Alzheimer's."
0:54:29 > 0:54:33We had suspected that something was going on for years,
0:54:33 > 0:54:37and I had taken him to neurologists and had some testing done.
0:54:37 > 0:54:41- Short term memory was beginning to... - Oh, yeah.- ..go away.
0:54:41 > 0:54:45Well, I didn't want to remember all that stuff that was in my past.
0:54:45 > 0:54:47I was glad I was forgetting it.
0:54:47 > 0:54:50So we're just taking it day by day. And God is faithful.
0:54:50 > 0:54:55- And we're just going to trust in Him and rely on Him for the future.- Amen.
0:54:55 > 0:54:58- She'd make a good preacher, wouldn't she? - HE LAUGHS
0:55:00 > 0:55:06# I know a place between Life and death for you and me... #
0:55:06 > 0:55:09Glen's final album Ghost On The Canvas
0:55:09 > 0:55:14was released in 2011 to universal acclaim.
0:55:14 > 0:55:18He then embarked on farewell tour across Europe
0:55:18 > 0:55:21and America with three of his children in the band.
0:55:21 > 0:55:26# Ghost on a canvas
0:55:26 > 0:55:29# No... #
0:55:29 > 0:55:32When I went to see him perform live, the farewell tour,
0:55:32 > 0:55:36he'd forget something or screw up and he just would laugh about it
0:55:36 > 0:55:37and make a joke.
0:55:37 > 0:55:40Yeah, to his credit, he just threw it right out there.
0:55:40 > 0:55:44"This is where I'm at, this is what's happening, this is what I got.
0:55:44 > 0:55:48"Take it or leave it." And we all took it.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51# We all fall in love
0:55:51 > 0:55:54# With ghosts on the canvas... #
0:55:55 > 0:55:58I don't really pull my punches with him or anything.
0:55:58 > 0:56:02If he tells me a joke more than four or five times I'll tell him,
0:56:02 > 0:56:03"Quit telling me the same joke."
0:56:03 > 0:56:08And Glen just says, "Oh, I forget things. That's all."
0:56:08 > 0:56:11# Ghost on the canvas... #
0:56:14 > 0:56:17I remember one particularly difficult moment,
0:56:17 > 0:56:19we were in the wings behind the band.
0:56:19 > 0:56:22I'm standing there just looking at him with a smile on my face,
0:56:22 > 0:56:24and I said, "You're doing pretty good, Hoss."
0:56:24 > 0:56:28And he said... He looked at me for a minute and he said,
0:56:28 > 0:56:30"Did you write Wichita Lineman?"
0:56:30 > 0:56:32HE LAUGHS
0:56:32 > 0:56:34And I said, "Yes, I did."
0:56:36 > 0:56:40And, you know, there's some moments like that where you...
0:56:41 > 0:56:46You feel for a second like it hurts.
0:56:46 > 0:56:49MUSIC: "The Rest Is Silence" by Glen Campbell
0:56:50 > 0:56:53I think people love him
0:56:53 > 0:56:58because he symbolises America's last age of innocence.
0:56:58 > 0:57:01Of wholesomeness. Of decency.
0:57:01 > 0:57:05I think he appealed to grassroots America.
0:57:05 > 0:57:08And then the fact that he had all of those talents,
0:57:08 > 0:57:10that was just the icing on the cake.
0:57:15 > 0:57:18You know, people find their heroes.
0:57:18 > 0:57:21And if it's not the Lone Ranger, it's Glen Campbell.
0:57:21 > 0:57:25If it's not Glen Campbell it's Johnny Cash.
0:57:25 > 0:57:30And believe me, to us, Glen was our hero because he was the Kid.
0:57:33 > 0:57:37MUSIC: "A Better Place" by Glen Campbell
0:57:37 > 0:57:41# I've tried and I have failed, Lord... #
0:57:41 > 0:57:46When I think of Glen Campbell, the word that comes to mind is golden.
0:57:46 > 0:57:49He was a golden boy. He was beautiful.
0:57:49 > 0:57:53He was gifted. He had the voice of an angel. He just...
0:57:56 > 0:57:59In his prime, no-one could touch him.
0:58:01 > 0:58:03# One thing I know
0:58:06 > 0:58:09# The world's been good to me... #
0:58:09 > 0:58:11I mean, I don't want to sound like I'm bragging but he's one
0:58:11 > 0:58:13of the best guitar players
0:58:13 > 0:58:15and one of the best singers in the world to me.
0:58:15 > 0:58:18I mean, I like a lot of other singers, too, but Glen is special.
0:58:18 > 0:58:20I guess, cos he's my brother.
0:58:23 > 0:58:27# Some days I'm so confused, Lord... #
0:58:27 > 0:58:33If you think of country people as being stupid and backward,
0:58:33 > 0:58:37then you don't understand what's going on.
0:58:37 > 0:58:41I just think he's an honest, straight-forward country boy
0:58:41 > 0:58:45who somehow or other hit the big time.
0:58:47 > 0:58:50# One thing I know
0:58:53 > 0:58:56# The world's been good to me
0:58:56 > 0:58:59# A better place
0:59:01 > 0:59:05# Awaits you, you'll see... #
0:59:10 > 0:59:13Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd