292 Goodbye Glen Campbell - Southern Nights

Chart  entered :  26  March  1977

Chart  peak : 28

Glen   looked  to  have  shot  his  bolt  by  the  beginning  of  1971  as  far  as  the  UK  was  concerned  and  even  in  the  US   his   record  in  the  main  chart  was  patchy  over  the  next  four  years. Then  in  1975  the  deathless  survivors' anthem  "Rhinestone  Cowboy"  zoomed  to  number  one  in  the  States  and  was  a  hit  all  over  the  world  , reaching  number  4  here. Two  years  later  he  chalked  up  a  second US  number  one  with  this  one.

"Southern  Nights"  was  written  by  Allen  Toussaint  although  Glen  tweaked  the  lyrics  slightly  to  make  it  more  personal.  It's  an  unashamedly  nostalgic  song  with  a  Tex-Mex  flavouring  with  banjos, horns  and  harmonies   popping  up  behind  a  memorable  guitar  lick  and  Glen's  laconic  delivery. The  "ta-da-da "  hook  puts  the  icing  on  the  cake. Its  rather  modest  showing  here  may  reflect  a  general  ambivalence  towards  songs  celebrating  the  spiritual  home  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  but  this  is  a  great  song  with  which  to  sign  off.

It  was  the  lead  single  from  an  album  of  the  same  name. The  follow  up  was  a  sprightly  version  of  Neil  Diamond's  "Sunflower"  with  some  great  slide  guitar  and  a  whistled  refrain. It  made  number  39  in  the  US  in   1977. The  following  year  he  got  to  number  38 in  the  US  with  Michael  Smotherman's  soft  rock  ballad  "Can  You  Fool"  from  his next  album  "Basic" . Smotherman  also  wrote  the  follow  up  "I'm  Gonna  Love  You"  which  didn't  break  out  of  the  country  charts

1979's  "Highwayman"  didn't  yield  any  hits   with  the  Elvis  tribute  "Hound  Dog  Man"  missing  out  despite  a  great  bass  line. In  the  UK  Capitol  don't  seem  to  have  bothered  releasing  more  than  one  single  per  LP  by  this  point. In   July  1980  he  recorded  a  12  bar  blues   duet  of  "Somethin  Bout  You  Baby  I  Like "  with  Rita  Coolidge  which  is  pretty  average  but  got  to  number  44  in  the  US. The  follow  up  "Hollywood  Smiles"  is  Larry  Weiss's  very  obvious  attempt  to  re-write  "Rhinestone  Cowboy"  but  lightning  didn't  strike  twice. His  third single  of  the  year  was  the  theme  tune  to  the  Clint  Eastwood  movie  Any  Which  Way  You  Can, a  classy  MOR  ballad  but  perhaps  too  low  key  for  the  charts.

It  featured  on  his  last  album  for  Capitol  ""It's  The  World  Gone  Crazy" released  in  1981  and  the  next  single  Smotherman's  bar-room  ballad  "I  Don't  Wanna  Know  Your  Name"  gave  him  a  moderate  hit   reaching  number  65.  The  follow-up  was  a  duet  "Why  Don't  We  Just  Sleep  On  It  Tonight "  with  Tanya  Tucker ,  a  passable  country  pop  effort  but  an  unwise  move  as  Tucker  was  barely  out  of  her  teens. Rumours  they  were  linked  romantically  didn't  do  his  career  any  favours  and  the  single  barely  even  registered  on  the  country  charts. He  scored  his  last  hit  for  nearly  35  years  when  his  semi-novelty  tune  "I  Love  My  Truck"  from  the  soundtrack  of  The  Night  The  Lights  Went  Down  In  Georgia  in  late  1981.

Thereafter  Glen  was   confined  to  the  country  charts  releasing  a  new  album  pretty  much  every  year  but  not  raising  any  interest  outside  the  country  constituency. Even  that  deserted  him  in  the  nineties  when  he  turned  to  making  Christian  albums. Contemporary  artists  like  Chris  Isaak  and  REM  would  fete  him  without  any  recommendation  that  his  current  output  was  worth  checking  out. Glen's  recording  career  ground  to  a  halt  in  1999 , save  for  appearing  a  novelty  dance  version  of  "Rhinestone  Cowboy"  which  got  to  number  12  here  in  2002   and  there  was  a five  year  hiatus  before his  last  Christian  album  in  2004. Four  years  later  he   took the  Johnny  Cash  route   and  reunited  with  Capitol  for  2008's   "Meet  Glen  Campbell"  where  he  took  on  some  modern  rock  and  pop  classics  with  the  help  of  Cheap  Trick  and  Wendy  Melvoin. His  voice  isn't  as  shot  as  Cash's  was  but  it's  still  an  inessential  listen. Still  it  worked  to  an  extent  reaching  number  56  in  the  UK   and  making  a  minor  showing  in  the  US charts.

Glen  went  into  the  studio  to  record  a  follow  up  in  the  same  vein  in  2009  but  encountered some  problems  remembering  lyrics  and  received  a  diagnosis  of  Alzheimer's  Disease. It  was  decided  to  continue  recording  the  album  with  producer  Julian  Raymond  helping  Glen  compose  some  final  songs  and  bringing  in  a  host  of  star  collaborators  such  as  Billy  Corgan, Chris  Isaak, Teddy  Thompson, Paul  Westerberg  and  many  others. It  was  released  as  "Ghost  On  The  Canvas"  in  2011  with Glen's  condition  now  public  knowledge  to  a  generally  positive  reception  though  some  critics  thought  it  over-sentimental  in  parts. The  album  respectfully  charted  in  the  twenties  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.

Glen  then  announced  an  enormous   worldwide  farewell  tour  running  from  August  2011  to  November  2012. Most  of  his  family  accompanied  him  on  stage. The  Australian  leg  in  August  2012 had  to  be  cancelled  but  otherwise  he  managed  to  complete  it.  A  documentary  film  "I'll  Be  Me"  was  made  and  the  title  tune  gave  him  a  final  minor  hit  in  the  US  last  year.  In  April  2014  he  was  admitted  to  a  long-term care  hospital  so  I'm  guessing  that's  the  last  we'll  hear  from  him.