Songwriter Jimmy Webb On Glen Campbell: 'He Really Taught Me A Lesson In Bravery'
Jimmy Webb (@realjimmywebb) is one of the world’s greatest songwriters. His list of hits, including “Up Up and Away,” Wichita Lineman” and “MacArthur Park,” has been recorded by Glen Campbell, Frank Sinatra, Linda Ronstadt and countless other artists.
He writes about his skyrocketing rise to fame in a new memoir called “The Cake and the Rain,” and he joins Here & Now‘s Robin Young to talk about it ahead of a special tribute concert Wednesday night at Carnegie Hall.
- Find more great reads on the Here & Now bookshelf
- Scroll down to read an excerpt from “The Cake and the Rain”
More Photos
Book Excerpt: ‘The Cake And The Rain’
By Jimmy Webb
1969
“So let me get this straight,” I said into the telephone. “You have a new Corvette for me?”
“That’s right, Mr. Webb. We owe you three brand-new Corvettes for the work you did with Mr. Campbell.”
“So this would be my second Corvette and . . .”
“And, we would owe you one more. You could get the four- hundred-fifty cubic-inch option next year. That’s a lot of car.”
“Wow, that’s far out!”
I had done some work with Glen Campbell on a commercial earlier in the year. We had already collaborated on a top-twenty record, “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” but had met only once, when
