"I love early 20th century classical music. But I admire them more - and that spark of genius that creates a song like The Beatles' 'Penny Lane' or Burt Bacharach and Hal David's 'Anyone Who Had a Heart.' And immersing myself in classical music and the improvisations of great jazz musicians, like Miles Davis, makes me realize that my gifts were not as generously bestowed in my lifetime. "I tend to admire the people I always admired. And if you've learned anything by the time you're 70, it's to look at things differently. "Because I'm at that magic age - and it is magic, in positive and negative ways - of 70. "Well, it would be strange if I didn't look at it from a different perspective," he replied. Webb's most recent album, 2013's "Still Within the Sound of My Voice," teamed him with such musical admirers as Brian Wilson, Lyle Lovett, Carly Simon, David Crosby and Art Garfunkel, whose 1977 album, "Watermark," featured 10 songs written by Webb.ĭoes music mean something more or different to him now than it did 40 years ago - or in 2015, for that matter? "There are so many recordings of 'MacArthur Park' that - whatever one might say, positive or negative - no one can deny that it's been covered." "Probably everybody has had a go at 'MacArthur Park,' so it doesn't surprise me," Webb said. Yet, in an interview shortly before his death in 1979, even George couldn't resist taking a dig at the lyrics to "MacArthur Park" - in particular the lines: Someone left the cake out in the rain / I don't think that I can take it / 'Cause it took so long to bake it / And I'll never have that recipe again / Oh no! "Being considered part of the right-wing establishment was a characterization that I reacted to very vehemently," Webb recalled. It includes the line: The (revolution's) theme song will not be written by Jim Webb, Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell. Just how middle-of-the road Webb was considered is perhaps best documented in 1970's "The Revolution Will Not be Televised," a searing, proto-rap anthem by Gil Scott-Heron. His stardom, however, came from writing middle-of-the-road pop songs covered by such decidedly un-hip artists - at least to a young generation of rock fans - as Sinatra, Liberace, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Benny Goodman and Connie Stevens. His fans included several rock icons, including Paul McCartney. He performed at the groundbreaking Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and staunchly opposed the war in Vietnam. Webb was a hip young guy with long hair who liked to smoke pot. So was Webb, who soon found Elvis Presley seeking him out for musical advice. ![]() He started wearing a big diamond ring on the fourth finger of his right hand. He had a little more spring in his step after that. S took my father and me to the Jockey Club for an early dinner and the two of them chatted away like old Army buddies. Then, Sinatra sang the Webb-penned "Didn't We?" In 1968, Webb's dad beamed with pride when Frank Sinatra had Jimmy stand up and take a bow during one of 'Ol Blue Eyes' performances at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. In 1965, The Supremes recorded Webb's song "My Christmas Tree." The following year, Johnny Rivers recorded "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," followed by an album that featured seven more songs by Webb. It was a wonderfully inaccurate prediction. "This songwriting thing is just going to break your heart, son," his father told him. Webb decided to stay, the better to pursue the possibility of a songwriting career in Los Angeles. His father and siblings packed up to move back to Oklahoma. In 1964, his mother died of complications from an inoperable brain tumor. ![]() In 1963, Webb's family settled in Colton, near San Bernardino, when he was in high school. And, soon enough, music would bring him international fame, fortune and the means to bring his sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll lifestyle to a premature end. And Webb, who was not yet 22 when he won his first Grammy in 1968, writes prose far more eloquently than most musicians.īorn in rural Oklahoma, he grew up as the son of a frequently on-the-move Baptist preacher who regarded rock 'n' roll as the devil's music.īut it was the piano and songwriting that would provide Webb with his salvation from small-town life. With or without a sequel, "The Cake and The Rain" tells a singular story. Jimmy Webb achieved fame and wealth as a young man, thanks to writing an array of hit songs for other artists.
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