Glen Campbell

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE Glen Campbell?

I read the saddest thing this past Sunday.  Glen Campbell's present wife (his fourth wife) told reporters this past weekend that her husband can no longer play his guitar.

This country music icon, who still plays the background music in my head when I think of my life in the late 1960s, can in reality no longer play the guitar.

When I read that, it made me too sad to think of anything else for a few minutes. Can you think of anything sadder than a guitarist forgetting how to play his instrument??? So very sad.

Glen Campbell was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease back in 2011.  He is in the late stages of the disease today, and I fear we will lose this talented man very soon. 

Alzheimer's is the Devil.  

Back in 1967 when I was at that awkward age of 12, too old to be a child and too young to be an adult, Mr. Campbell's Gentle on My Mind and By The Time I Get To Phoenix (both grammy winners) played through long afternoons of homework and daydreaming of being 16 and grown-up.  

The next year, when I was at the even more awkward age of 13, it was Witchita Lineman playing on the 8-track-tape-players of my friends' cars as we rode around the neighborhoods and trolled all the local teen hot spots.

NOTE:  In 1968 in South Carolina you could get your drivers license at age 14, but that changed the next year, so I had to be 15 before I could get my license and then it was restricted to daylight hours until I turned 16, but my friends, only two years older than me, had their licenses in 1968, so we often rode around together when I was 13.  

I can still hear that Witchita Lineman song playing over and over and over.  ♫♪♪♫•*•.¸♫♪♪♫He's still on the liiiiine.♫♪♪♫•*•.¸♫♪♪♫

The next year, 1969, it was ♫♪♪♫•*•.¸♫♪♪♫Galveston, oh Galveston; I still hear your seawinds blowing; I still see her dark eyes glowing. She was twenty one, when I left Galveston.♫♪♪♫•*•.¸♫♪♪♫ and so on until life took over and I didn't hear from Glen Campbell for quite awhile.

Then in 2015 Mr. Cambell's song, I'm Not Gonna Miss You, won the grammy.  Remarkable.  

That thief people call, Alzheimer's, has now stolen this man's memories, as well as stolen his music left unwritten. Someone please find a cure.  Please.

Here is his grammy winning song, I'm Not Gonna Miss You, for your listening pleasure.  Please send him healing and comforting thoughts as you watch the video.  

What a talent lost.  What a talent lost.