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“I need you more than want you and I want you for all time. “
“Someone left the cake out in the rain.”
“By the time I get to Phoenix. . .”
“Galveston, oh Galveston, I can see your sea waves crashing.”
“Up, up, and away in my beautiful balloon.”
 
Jimmy Webb’s songs are deeply embedded in our culture.  His catalog of music and lyrics spans multiple genres and appeals to all living generations.  He is always on the lists of the most important songwriters.  With songs including “Wichita Lineman”, “By the Time I Get to Phoenix”, “The Worst that Could Happen”, “MacArthur Park”, “Galveston”, “Didn’t We”, “All I Know”, “The Highwayman”, “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress”, he is clearly beloved by the best voices and admired by songwriters everywhere. Webb has been dubbed a modern-day Gershwin/Porter/Berlin and is considered to be a bona fide progenitor of the Great American Songbook, yet at the same time appeals directly and widely to the country/pop/rock/rap culture of today.
 
In his live shows, Jimmy’s intimate style is juxtaposed against his stature and exquisite piano skills.   His humor and storytelling create such a personal atmosphere that the audience cries, laughs and sings as if in the presence of a long lost relative here for a brief visit.    Jimmy walked with giants and regales audiences with stories of Mr. Sinatra, Elvis, Louis Armstrong, Art Garfunkel, Linda Ronstadt, Harry Nilsson, Richard Harris, Glen Campbell. . .   As Paul Zollo wrote in Songwriters on Songwriting, “A night with Jimmy at the keys is not unlike getting to hear George Gershwin or Cole Porter live.  It’s hard to believe one guy could have written all these amazing songs.   If you get a chance to see him live, grab it. “    Webb is also superb at leading songwriting lectures and guest speaking on the subject.
 
Webb’s music runs the spectrum of modern music genres: country, pop, rock, jazz, rap, heavy metal, new age, gospel, disco, EDM, classical—and more.  And his songs have been recorded by the foremost interpreters of these genres.  Jimmy’s schooling was at Motown where he was hired as a writer while still in his teens. Motown artists Billy Eckstine, the Supremes, and Brenda Holloway were among the first to record Webb’s music.
 
Few songwriters, and perhaps no other living songwriter, can boast the far-reaching range of artists who have recorded their songs. The list extends over genres and generations. Webb’s music shows no bounds and no expiration date. Here is a small sample of the list, in no particular order!

• Glen Campbell
• Frank Sinatra
• Barbra Streisand
• Richard Harris and Donna Summer (both reach number one, twice, with the same song)
• Waylon Jennings
• Johnny Maestro and the Brooklyn Bridge
• Thelma Houston
• The Fifth Dimension
• Isaac Hayes
• Johnny Rivers
• Linda Ronstadt
• Tony Bennett
• Art Garfunkel
• James Taylor
• Sammy Davis, Jr.
• Josh Groban
• Idina Menzel
• Michael Feinstein
• The Highwaymen (Cash, Nelson, Kristofferson, Jennings named their supergroup after Webb’s song)
• Paddy McAloon
• ODESZA (EDM)
• Guns N’ Roses
• The Black Pumas
• Michael Ball
• Alfie Boe
• Ye

 INFLUENCING THE ZEITGEIST
Jimmy’s influence on his peers and other songwriters is singular.

• Billy Joel referred to Jimmy as “an American icon.” Billy “deconstructed” the lyric of “Wichita Lineman” prior to presenting Jimmy with the Johnny Mercer Award at a Songwriters Hall of Fame Ceremony (2003). Billy, who admits to having spent a lot of time thinking about Jimmy’s music, summed up Jimmy’s trademark move stating that Jimmy’s characters prove that “ordinary people can be thinking extraordinary thoughts”— the essence of “Wichita Lineman.” 
• Early in Jimmy’s career, during a random meet up, Louis Armstrong encouraged Jimmy to “stick with it, Kid. Stick with it.”  The advice was conveyed to Jimmy in a Las Vegas artist’s rehearsal room, while Armstrong studied the youngster’s sheet music and played “Didn’t We,” which he immediately recognized as a hit.  Jimmy fell back on these words from the Great Man during many low moments. 
• Bob Dylan called “Wichita Lineman” “the greatest song ever written.”  And he included “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” in his 2022 The Philosophy of Modern Song. 
• Bruce Springsteen acknowledged that his 2019 album, Western Stars, was profoundly impacted by the music of Jimmy Webb. 
• Linda Ronstadt: “Jimmy Webb is one of the only contemporary songwriters who can write songs right into the orchestra and his songs have 17-layer emotions and sophisticated chord changes that are absolutely dazzling.” 
• John Mayer: “I learned to write music by reading Jimmy Webb’s book, Tunesmith.” 
• Judy Collins: “The songs of Jimmy Webb drive me nuts. They’re so wonderful and I love singing them.  I recorded “Paul Gauguin in the South Seas” and it taught me more about singing than I had learned since I studied voice. It’s like climbing without a rope.” 
• Keith Urban describes his earliest songwriting inspiration: “Jimmy Webb, twelve chords and the truth!”   
• Frank Sinatra called “By the Time I get to Phoenix” the greatest saloon song ever written. 
• Glen Campbell: “Jimmy Webb has a power of very deep understanding. He cares about people, not politics, and what happens between people is extremely important to him in his writing.” 
• Dominic Green in The Wall Street Journal on Webb’s superbly written memoir, The Cake and the Rain: “It is novelistic, perfectly plotted and quite possibly the best pop-star autobiography yet written. . . No one writes songs like Jimmy Webb does, and no musician ever wrote a biography like this.” 
• Elvis Presley was a great admirer of Jimmy. The two would speak about Jimmy’s arrangements and orchestrations. Elvis wanted to record “MacArthur Park” but the infamous Colonel made that an unattainable happening. There is a live bootleg version of Elvis performing the song, a source of pride for Jimmy. 
• Jon Landau, Bruce Springsteen’s manager, referred to Webb’s “P.F. Sloan” as “A masterpiece that could not be improved on.” 
• Peter Reilly of Stereo Review noted: “Jimmy Webb is the most important pop music figure to emerge since Bob Dylan.” 
• Stephen Holden of The New York Times said that “Jimmy Webb is a Master of his Trade.” 
• Rick Rubin and Dave Cobb during Rick’s podcast: ““Wichita Lineman” is THE perfect song.” 

And perhaps, most importantly:

•  W. O., Jimmy Webb fan: “Jimmy’s music isn’t just in my head, it runs in my veins. It keeps me alive.”