“What surprises people about Wichita Lineman is that it was written in a hurry. If I'd had more time, I would have looked at that couplet and taken it out”: Jimmy Webb on Elvis, his lost weekend with Nilsson and Lennon, and that classic lyric

Jimmy Webb.

“I was in the Nancy Sinatra Suite of the International Hotel in Las Vegas. Late-’60s, sometime,” recalls legendary songwriter Jimmy Webb. “Elvis was appearing there and a bunch of us had been invited upstairs to meet The King. Lotta well known faces... Lou Adler, John Phillips. Elvis and I were talking. Y’know, getting along just fine. He told me that he wanted to record my song, MacArthur Park. I thought it was a great idea and I’m sure it would have been an astounding record.”

There was a problem, though: “I hadn’t figured on Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis’ manager,” says Webb. “He kept a close eye on people and didn’t like anyone getting too close to Elvis. Seems I was getting too close. The Colonel stood up and announced, ‘Right, y’all got to leave because Elvis has picked a girl’.