Day 4 - 220 -- A Musical Loss

Well, the news today made me wonder about the blog yesterday, since Brian Wilson played a major role in another singer-songwriter-musician's life -- Glen Campbell, who died today. In his early career, Campbell worked as a session musician as part of Phil Spector's Wrecking Crew, a much sought after backing group. Campbell was part of this group when they played with Jan and Dean, The Righteous Brothers, the Monkees, Frank Sinatra, and so many others. Brian Wilson got to know Campbell's session work. When Wilson pulled out of the 1965 tour, he brought in Glen Campbell to tour in his stead, making Campbell a Beach Boy. Not something everyone is aware of, I'm sure. <smile>. During the taping of Pet Sounds, the Wrecking Crew played a major role in developing the new sound Wilson heard in his head. Campbell was part of this historic album, where he played guitar and banjo.

With the experience from his session work, Campbell moved to a solo career. His amazing tenor voice and ability to personalize songs, made him a star. He launched about 75 albums and sold around 45 million records, some going gold, platinum and double platinum. He earned several Grammy awards in 1967 and 1968 (and several others in the decades that followed) -- one of the first artists to cross the country-pop lines in a single awards year. The term crossover artist was coined from Campbell's career. In his later years, Campbell continued to record. Thankfully, music can stimulate brains of those with dementias. He put a face on Alzheimer's disease by doing his farewell tour surrounded by family on stage. It took a lot of personal strength for them all to walk that road so publicly.

It took a lot of thought to choose a song -- or in this case two songs -- to share here. The first is a duet with a Canadian artist. The lyrics are a goodbye song, which seemed appropriate today. This duet is one of the gems that is lesser known and shouldn't be. The intertwined melodies and  blending of two voices is magical. The second is not a song where we can pick out Campbell's work easily. It is however, part of that astounding album, Pet Sounds. These lyrics also say what many artists could say, given that his session work was on hundreds of songs from the 1960s. It is also something that many of us could say since his work has been part of our lives' soundtracks. Enjoy!

I say a little prayer/By the time I get to Phoenix -- Anne Murray and Glenn Campbell (from an eponymous duo album)

God Only Knows -- The Beach Boys (from Pet Sounds album)