Rhinestone Cowboy

"Rhinestone Cowboy"
Cover image from Glen Campbell's hit single recording "Rhinestone Cowboy"
Single by Glen Campbell
from the album Rhinestone Cowboy
B-side "Lovelight"
Released May 26, 1975
Format 7-inch single
Recorded February–March 1975
Genre Country
Length 3:15
Label Capitol
Songwriter(s) Larry Weiss
Producer(s) Dennis Lambert, Brian Potter
Glen Campbell singles chronology
"It's a Sin When You Love Somebody"
(1975)		 "Rhinestone Cowboy"
(1975)		 "Country Boy (You Got Your Feet in L.A.)"
(1975)

"It's a Sin When You Love Somebody"
(1975)		 "Rhinestone Cowboy"
(1975)		 "Country Boy (You Got Your Feet in L.A.)"
(1975)

"Rhinestone Cowboy" is a song written by Larry Weiss and most famously recorded by American country music singer Glen Campbell. The song enjoyed huge popularity with both country and pop audiences when it was released in 1975.

Background and writing

Weiss wrote and recorded "Rhinestone Cowboy" in 1974, and it appeared on his 20th Century Records album Black and Blue Suite. It did not, however, have much of a commercial impact as a single. In late 1974, Campbell heard the song on the radio, and during a tour of Australia, decided to learn the song. Soon after his return to the United States, Campbell went to Al Coury's office at Capitol Records, where he was approached about "a great new song" — "Rhinestone Cowboy".[1]

Several music writers noted that Campbell identified with the subject matter of "Rhinestone Cowboy" — survival and making it, particularly when the chips are down — very strongly. As Steven Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic put it, the song is about a veteran artist "who's aware that he's more than paid his dues during his career ... but is still surviving, and someday, he'll shine just like a rhinestone cowboy."[2]

Chart performance

Released in May 1975, "Rhinestone Cowboy" immediately caught on with both country and pop audiences. The song spent that summer climbing both the Billboard Hot Country Singles and Billboard Hot 100 charts before peaking at number one by season's end - three nonconsecutive weeks on the country chart, two weeks on the Hot 100. Billboard ranked it as the number-two for 1975. It also went topped the charts in Canada and several other countries.

During the week of September 13 — the week the song returned to number one on the Billboard country chart, after having been nudged out for a week by "Feelins'" by Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn — "Rhinestone Cowboy" topped both the country and Hot 100 charts simultaneously. This was the first time a song had accomplished the feat since November 1961, when "Big Bad John" by Jimmy Dean did so.

"Rhinestone Cowboy" was one of six songs released in 1975 that topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Country Singles charts. The other songs were "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" by Freddy Fender, "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" by B. J. Thomas, "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" and "I'm Sorry"/"Calypso," both by John Denver, and "Convoy" by C. W. McCall.

The song was also the sole Glen Campbell track in a promotional-only compilation album issued by Capitol records titled The Greatest Music Ever Sold (Capitol SPRO-8511/8512), that was distributed to record stores during the 1976 holiday season as part of Capitol's "Greatest Music Ever Sold" campaign, which promoted 15 "Best Of" albums released by the record label.

After Glen Campbell died in August 2017, "Rhinestone Cowboy" charted in Country Digital Song chart at No. 12. The song has sold a total of 368,000 downloads in the digital era in the United States as of August 2017.[3]

Charts

Re-recorded version

Glen Campbell recorded a new version of the song in 2013 on his final studio album titled, See You There.

Awards

"Rhinestone Cowboy" was certified gold for sales of 1 million units by the Recording Industry Association of America.[15]

The song became one of Glen Campbell's signature songs and won numerous awards from the Country Music Association, Academy of Country Music, and American Music Awards. It also obtained nominations for a Grammy Award for Best Country Song as well as for Record of the Year, but did not win.

Use in films

Films

"Rhinestone Cowboy" served as the basis for the film Rhinestone (1984), starring Sylvester Stallone and Dolly Parton

The song also made the soundtracks of the films High School High (1996) and Daddy Day Care (2003).

"Rhinestone Cowboy" along with several other Glen Campbell tracks was used in War on Everyone (2016)

Notable cover versions

"Rhinestone Cowboy" has been covered by artists including Thom Yorke and Radiohead, Soul Asylum, Belle and Sebastian, Lloyd Green, Charley Pride, Chris LeDoux, Loretta Lynn and White Town.

In 1975, Cher performed it live during her The Cher Show.[16]

The American country singer Slim Whitman covered the song in 1976 on his Red River Valley album. Also in 1976, Canadian comedian Nestor Pistor recorded a parody version, "Winestoned Plowboy", which was itself a modest hit on Canada's country music charts in 1977.[17]

Johnny Carson performed a comedic cover version to open the March 4, 1976 broadcast of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. The episode was released on DVD in 2016 along with other episodes from that particular week, with Carson referencing his preparations for the performance and Doc Severinsen and the NBC Orchestra performing instrumental versions of the song each night. After his performance, Carson announced that songwriter Larry Weiss was in the audience, a fact he claimed to be unaware of when he sang it a few minutes earlier.[18]

South African singer Ray Dylan covered it on his album Goeie Ou Country - Vol. 3.[19]

Canadian country singer George Canyon covered it in 2016 for the #ForeverCountry series.[20]

Language versions

Belgian singer Claire recorded the song in 1975 as "Vreemde Vogels" ("Strange Birds") and had a hit with her version in Flanders. It made it to number 14 on the Ultratop Flanders chart, staying in the chart for 5 weeks. It also made it to number 2 on the Vlaamse Top 10 chart.[21]

The song was covered in 1976 in French as "Je m'appelle Michèle" interpreted as an autobiographical piece by French singer Michèle Torr. In 1978, and with lyrics more in line with the English original lyrics, it was recorded as "Cowgirl dorée" by the Canadian French singer Renée Martel. The French lyrics of Martel's version were written by Robert Charlebois.

In 1977 it was released as a duo by Peter Belli & Ulvene in Danish under the title "Verdens bedste kone" and again in 1977 in Finnish as "Muukalainen oon kai" interpreted by Kari Tapio.[22]

Rikki & Daz version

In 2002, the British duo Rikki & Daz (made up of Daz Sampson and Ricardo Autobahn (real name John Matthews) released a revamped version of the song with additional lyrics and music plus arrangement from the original. Titled "Rhinestone Cowboy (Giddy Up Giddy Up), the single actually features Glen Campbell singing in the refrain. A music video was also released including Campbell.

Track list[23]

  1. "Rhinestone Cowboy (Giddy Up Giddy Up)" (Radio Edit) - (3:22)
  2. "Rhinestone Cowboy (Giddy Up Giddy Up)" (Extended Version) (5:01)
  3. "Rhinestone Cowboy (Giddy Up Giddy Up)" (Shake Before Use Remix) (6:00)
  4. "Rhinestone Cowboy (Giddy Up Giddy Up)" (Spray Remix) (5:27)

Plus

Music Video of "Rhinestone Cowboy (Giddy Up Giddy Up)"[24]

References

  1. ↑ Gilbert, Bob and Gary Theroux, "The Top Ten: 1956-Present," Pop Record Research, Fireside Books, Simon & Schuster, New York. 1982 ( ISBN 0-671-43215-X)
  2. ↑ Song Review by Ed Hogan. "Rhinestone Cowboy - Glen Campbell | Song Info". AllMusic. Retrieved 2016-10-10.
  3. ↑ Bjorke, Matt (August 21, 2017). "Top 30 Digital Country Singles Sales Chart: August 21, 2017". Roughstock.
  4. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  5. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Glen Campbell – Rhinestone Cowboy" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  6. ↑ "Musicline.de – Glen Campbell Single-Chartverfolgung" (in German). Media Control Charts. PhonoNet GmbH.
  7. ↑ "Nederlandse Top 40 – Glen Campbell" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40.
  8. ↑ "Charts.nz – Glen Campbell – Rhinestone Cowboy". Top 40 Singles.
  9. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Glen Campbell – Rhinestone Cowboy". Singles Top 100.
  10. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 66.
  11. ↑ "Glen Campbell Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  12. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 44.
  13. ↑ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". collectionscanada.gc.ca.
  14. ↑ "Jaaroverzichten – Single 1975" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Hung Medien. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  15. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-05-19. Retrieved 2007-06-14.
  16. ↑ CherVEVO: Rhinestone Cowboy (from 'The Cher Show', 1975)
  17. ↑ "Nestor Pistor, Winestoned Plowboy". Ontario Library Review, Volumes 62-63 (1978). p. 51
  18. ↑ The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, March 4, 1976; released on DVD as part of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson: The Vault Series (Time-Life, 2016)
  19. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-01-10. Retrieved 2014-01-10.
  20. ↑ George Canyon YouTube channel: "Rhinestone Cowboy" (Forever Country Cover Series)
  21. ↑ Ultratop website: Claire - "Vreemde Vogels"
  22. ↑ SecondHandSongs: "Rhinestone Cowboy" by Glen Campbell
  23. ↑ Discogs: "Rhinestone Cowboy (Giddy Up Giddy Up)" Song page
  24. ↑ YiuTube: Music video of Rikki & Daz song "Rhinestone Cowboy (Giddy Up Giddy Up)" featuring Glen Campbell
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