"Wichita Lineman" is a 1968 song written by Jimmy Webb for American country music artist Glen Campbell,[2] who recorded it backed by members of the Wrecking Crew.

[4] Webb wrote "Wichita Lineman" in response to Campbell's urgent phone request for a "place"-based or "geographical" song to follow up "By the Time I Get to Phoenix".

[5] His lyrical inspiration came while driving through the high plains of the Oklahoma panhandle past a long line of telephone poles, on one of which perched a lineman speaking into his handset.

[8] Within hours of Campbell's plea from the recording studio, Webb delivered a demo that he regarded and labeled as an unfinished version of the song, warning producer/arranger Al De Lory that he had not completed a third verse or a bridge.

"[12] Webb's concerns over his song's shortcomings were quickly addressed in the studio by adding a tremolo-infused Dano bass[13] melodic interlude performed by Campbell, who had first made his reputation in the music industry as a session guitarist with the prolific but uncredited group of Los Angeles backing musicians known today as the Wrecking Crew, many of whom played on the recording.

[12] A second six-note bass lick improvised by Kaye was copied for strings by De Lory and used as a fill between the two rhyming couplets of each verse.

'"[5] After listening to the test acetates of the studio recording that Campbell had with him, Webb contributed the overdub of evocative, reverberating electronic notes and open chords heard in the intro and fadeout, respectively, of the finished track, played on his Gulbransen electric organ.

The first part of each verse (in F major) describes issues related to a lineman's job; for example, "searchin' in the sun for another overload"[b] and "if it snows, that stretch down south won't ever stand the strain."

Woodwinds: Keyboards: Percussion: Many adult "middle of the road" (MOR) artists recorded the song, including Tom Jones, Johnny Mathis, Robert Goulet, Andy Williams, Bobby Goldsboro and Engelbert Humperdinck, most of them shortly after the original version was a hit.

In 2001 the instrumental band Friends of Dean Martinez included a cover version on their studio album of the same name, featuring lap steel guitarist Bill Elm.

Smith, Willie Hutch, the Meters, Fatback Band, These Animal Men, Maria McKee, Reg Presley of the Troggs, Shawn Lee, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, James Taylor, R.E.M., The Clouds, Earl Van Dyke, Zucchero Fornaciari, King Harvest, Johnny Cash, Dwight Yoakam, Wayne Newton, Tony Joe White, Stoney LaRue, B.E.F., Urge Overkill,[56] Black Pumas,[57] Colin Hay and the Nottingham Youth Jazz Orchestra (Combo).

Other covers of the song include that of Wade Hayes, who released a version in August 1997[60] that peaked at number 55 on the US country music charts.

[67] After Campbell's death, Webb sang the song with Little Big Town as a tribute during the 51st Annual Country Music Association Awards on November 8, 2017.

The English rock band, Elbow covered the song on the Zoe Ball Show on BBC Radio 2 as a surprise for the actor Paul Rudd, on October 19, 2019.

[72] The song was used in the opening and closing scenes of the Ozark season 2 episode, "Badger", to emphasize the setting and tone of the beginning and end of Darlene and Jacob Snell's romance.

[73] Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) can be heard briefly singing the song in the season four episode of Parks and Recreation, "The Debate".

The track's fadeout was voiced over for many years by longtime English DJ Steve Wright to close his BBC Radio shows.