A little more than eight years ago Alice Cooper published “Alice Cooper, Golf Monster: A Rock ‘n’ Roller’s Life and 12 Steps to Becoming a Golf Addict.” But until today, the idea of Cooper hooking drives, wearing awful golf shoes, cruising the links, using a putter and trading quips with yaw-haw corporate golf guys never crossed my mind. Largely because I haven’t particularly cared what Cooper has been up to in a long time, no offense. But I respect what he had to say yesterday about poor Glen Campbell.

From “Wichita Lineman” Wikipage:

“Jimmy Webb‘s inspiration for the [‘Wichita Lineman’] lyric came while driving through Washita County in rural southwestern Oklahoma. At that time, many telephone companies were county-owned utilities, and their linemen were county employees. Heading westward on a straight road (arguably Country Road 152) into the setting sun, Webb drove past a seemingly endless line of telephone poles, each looking exactly the same as the last.

“Then, in the distance, he noticed the silhouette of a solitary lineman atop a pole. He described it as ‘the picture of loneliness’. Webb then ‘put himself atop that pole and put that phone in his hand’ as he considered what the lineman was saying into the receiver.

“Glen Campbell added in a statement to the Dallas Observer that Webb wrote the song about his first love affair with a woman who married someone else.[11]

“The musicians used on the recording included Campbell, Al Casey and James Burton (guitar), Carol Kaye (bass), Jim Gordon (drums), Jimmy Webb and Al De Lory (piano). The orchestral arrangements were by De Lory.