He is too good, too much in touch with what he is doing, so much so that he never writes anything by accident. As for me, I think Webb has seldom, if ever, written a bad song. “Wichita Lineman”, “Up, Up and Away” and “Phoenix” have received accolades from almost everyone, while one of his biggest hits “Macarthur Park” is reviled in many quarters as a cake that should never have been baked. Now the funny thing about Webb is that his songs have been named both the best and the worst.

He also is an occasional collaborator, which means he takes the credit for both music and lyrics on most of his tunes. His groundbreaking book about songwriting, Tunesmith, published in 1998, shows Jimmy at a grand piano, his preferred instrument for composition. He only ever composed one song with a guitar, and it‘s not one that many people have ever heard (“Ocean in His Eyes” from 1973). If the twentieth century has been called the century of the guitar, Jimmy Webb should logically have found another century for his tunes. Frank Sinatra called it “the greatest torch song ever written”. Jimmy Webb is the premier individual pop composer (I am excepting songwriting teams such as Lennon/McCartney and rockers Jagger/Richards) of the past sixty years, and his masterwork “By The Time I Get To Phoenix” sets a standard that will not soon be equaled.

Tunesmith jimmy webb audiobook