(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)
Glen Campbell - "Rhinestone Cowboy"
Hit Number 1: September 6, 1975
Stay at Number 1: 2 Weeks
One of the strangest coincidences in music history involves "Rhinestone Cowboy." The song was originally written by Larry Weiss, a songwriter based out of Brooklyn, and he was writing about his own struggles with trying to make it into the songwriting business. However, Weiss didn't sing that much, and when he did record his version, it didn't end up going anywhere. So he had this song that he put a lot of heart into, but no one to sing it, and other artists had turned it down. Even though Weiss' version is all but forgotten about today, it still had some minor airplay around the globe, and it managed to make it onto the charts in Australia, albeit not very high. (#71 to be exact) But by complete chance, none other than Glen Campbell happened to hear the song while he was on tour in Australia. Campbell became obsessed with the song, buying a cassette tape of it and listening to it all the time. He knew he had to record it. He liked the song that much.
When Campbell returned back home to the U.S., he told Al Khoury, who worked as an A&R man at Campbell's Capitol label, that he had the perfect song to record. Khoury reassured Campbell that he instead had a song in mind that he really wanted Campbell to take a shot at. What was the song that Khoury had in mind? Well, that was also "Rhinestone Cowboy." Obviously now Campbell saw this as a major sign that he was meant to record the song, not only because of the insane coincidence that both he and Khoury had the same song in mind, but also because Campbell could relate to it. Campbell was a late bloomer in the music world. Before he was 30, he performed at honky-tonks, and worked as a demo singer and a session musician in Los Angeles. It wasn't until the late '60s after he had turned 30 that he started cranking out a bunch of hits, namely country-pop songs that had a deep-thinking, serene mentality to them. The late '60s saw Campbell get into the top 5 with songs like "Wichita Lineman" and "Galveston," which both fall into that song type I was just talking about. (The former is a 10. The latter is an 8)
But "Rhinestone Cowboy" is a song about a country veteran who's just trying his best to keep going in the business. It's often a struggle, but he's optimistic that some really good things have yet to come for him. By the time 1975 came around, Campbell hadn't had a hit in 4 years, and his career seemed to hit a snag. Now, I don't know if Campbell envisioned "Rhinestone Cowboy" as being a comeback hit for himself, or if he didn't care and just wanted to record it because he could relate to it, but either way it ended being his big comeback. Campbell was able to do something in his career that a lot of people couldn't do: be a country artist who consistently crossed over onto the pop charts. Even in the late '60s, Campbell was making the top ten on the charts, and now he had his first #1 hit. And it only took years to do that.
It's easy to hear the optimism and joyful attire that "Rhinestone Cowboy" gives off, but the song is oozing in charisma, which is what sells itself to me. I talk about charisma on here a lot, but "Rhinestone Cowboy" is soaked in it, and Campbell truly does sound like the grizzled country veteran he was, just trying to continue to make it in the music business. Rhinestones are fake jewels that are often seen on country-style clothing, so when a country artist (or I guess a cowboy) wears them, it implies that he's doing well for himself. So when Campbell is gloating about becoming a rhinestone cowboy, it takes a great deal of charisma and showmanship to pull it off. He does just that. Campbell's performance is so much fun, and it's the greatest thing about the song.
That chorus, too, hits, and it doesn't hold back. The verses are fine, but that chorus is well worth waiting for. The strings are gleaming, and Campbell sings with that fiery showmanship that makes the song so addicting and loveable. I bet it makes for a fun karaoke song, no matter how bad or how drunk you might be. (Side note: I bet this song goes that much harder when you're drunk. "Rhinestone Cowboy" while you're drunk? Are you kidding? That sounds like a good time) Which that leads to my last point; if I wanted to make it as simple as possible, I would say that "Rhinestone Cowboy" is simply a good time. It's not rocket surgery or brain science!
"Rhinestone Cowboy" would become Campbell's signature song, and I can't even imagine how hard it went in his live shows. Things would end very sadly for Campbell later in life, but there's no need to get into that while talking about such a happy song. It also wouldn't make much sense to do that now, because we'll get to hear from Campbell again in this blog. By then I'm sure he would have received a lot of cards and letters from people he didn't even know.
GRADE: 8/10
IN POP CULTURE:
Bruce Springsteen covered "Rhinestone Cowboy" for his 2019 album Western Stars. Here's a video of him doing the song live:
(Shockingly, Bruce Springsteen will never appear in this blog, unless you count his contribution to USA for Africa's "We are the World." His highest-charting single was 1984's "Dancing in the Dark," which made it to #2. It's an 8.)
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