I'd be side by side with Electric and Telephone, dispatched to do the same thing. You had to go out in the worst weather and fix it. In electrical storms or when there were automobile strikes, the equipment would go down. Finally you got to set anchors 5' deep to make sure the equipment didn't strain the pole too much. When all that was done, you had to put in line extenders, power supplies, taps and any other equipment that made the run live. Then for a real treat you got to use a "Lasher" to lash the cable to the high tension wire. Then you put up pulleys and ran the cable dragging it by hand pole to pole. Then you ran the high tension wire dragging it by hand from p0le to pole. Dig the hole, set the pole, fill it in with dirt around pole, tamp like crazy, gaff the pole, drill the pole, mount the hardware, go to the net pole location. Sometimes we were allowed to run on Electric Company Equipment (Poles), sometimes we had to set our own poles.įour young guys, brace and bit (no power tools), shovels, ladders, gaffs (pole climbing spikes to strap on your shoes) and safety belt. 98 degrees, high humidity, bugs biting you, sun baking you, traffic trying to kill you if the high and dangerous work didn't. I worked hand in hand with Electric and Telephone. I spent Summers and Winter breaks in College working for a Cable Company working as a Lineman on new build and repairing existing. Regardless, it's a haunting song to anyone who has worked the lines. The song can be for both the telephone lineman and the power lineman as "Searching in the sun for another overload" would definitely mean a power overload, not a telephone overload. I wonder if he's talking to his girlfriend?" I had read thought, after seeing this lonely figure in miles upon miles nothing but telephone poles, "Wow, what a lonely job. Of course back then, you had no cellular, and 2 way VHF radio probably didn't cover all corners of the service area the Lineman had to cover. David from St Augustine, FlI had read that Jimmy Webb wrote this song after seeing a Telephone Lineman up on a pole with a "TeleTalker" in rural Oklahoma talking with someone.They keep our power running regardless of the weather conditions and are considered first responders, Great movie about the dangers lineman face and the strain it puts on their families. I recently saw the movie "Life on the Line" starring John Travolta. It is indeed a haunting song and one that aptly illustrates the tough job lineman do and their love/hate relationship with their work. He needs and wants his work for the living it provides and for the exhilaration it provides. I don't interpret that he is referring to a woman. I think the singer is singing about his dedication to his job. Sean Maguire from North Of IrelandWhy refer to and show images of electrical and high tension wires if the song is about a phone engineer working on telephone lines, he would be unlikely to connect his field-phone to high electrical wires.Seventhmist from 7th HeavenEvery time it snows, I think of the passage about "that stretch down south.".Glen Campbell does an excellent job singing it. Phil from Auckland, New ZealandJimmy Webb is a great song-writer- music excellent & lyrics heartbreaking.We can all relate to the situation and put ourselves in the lineman's place, and that's why it's such a beloved song. I mean, who hasn't daydreamed about better things while doing laundry, collecting garbage, waiting tables, delivering fast food. It's the wistful and lonely tone of the melody and instrumentation that makes it so haunting. I think it's just someone working a lonely, thankless job and thinking about what he'd rather be doing (vacation, spending time with his lover, etc.) It could as easily be someone stationed in a military bunker far from home. Part of the lyrics sound like telephone, but the "overload" suggests electric. That could be telephone, as in the 60s the telephone lines were owned and maintained by the county. Lori from Tampa, Fl"I am a lineman for the county".Wichita Lineman brings me to a place and a time that I long wish were still here. It is funny as we age, things that seemed trivial and good at the time are really things that matter most today. Me and my older brothers listening to rock and roll back then, but we always turned this one up when it came on. David from VancouverThe memories this song touch’s are deep and real. It was the 60's so you had to disguise everything and provide plausible deniability in the lyrics Jimmy Webb does this masterfully. There's also reference to a "snow" storm and even fears about OD'ing on a deadly strain. The "line man" is a euphemism for a Coke dealer. AnonymousThis is actually a disguised drug song.
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