He was 75. He had sold millions of records with songs like “Rhinestone Cowboy”, “Wichita Lineman” and “Gentle on My Mind”. Now the doctors told him his memory would slowly fade away.
Glen did not hide. Instead, he went back on the road with his family band, including three of his own children, for one last goodbye tour. It ran for 151 shows. Some nights he forgot words or repeated a song. The crowds did not care. They stood and cheered for him every time.
A film crew followed him along the way for a documentary called “Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me”.
During that time, Glen said something to his family that stayed with them. It was not like he was going to miss anyone anyway, he told them, because he would not remember.
His producer, Julian Raymond, turned those words into a song.
In January 2013, Glen walked into Sunset Sound in Los Angeles to record it. Some of the legendary studio players who had worked with him in the 1960s were there with him, including Hal Blaine, Joe Osborn and Don Randi. They got it done in four takes, in one day.
It was the last song Glen Campbell ever recorded.
“I’m still here, but yet I’m gone,” he sings. And then the line that breaks every heart: he will not miss the people he loves, because he will not remember them. It is the people around him who will carry the pain.
The song came out on September 30, 2014. By then, Glen had moved into a care home in Nashville and could no longer perform.
The music video shows old family films, scenes from his long career and scans of his own brain.
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” was nominated for an Oscar, and Tim McGraw sang it at the Academy Awards. In 2015, it won the Grammy for Best Country Song.
Glen Campbell died on August 8, 2017, at the age of 81. His last song is still the one that makes people stop whatever they are doing and just listen.
Do you have a Glen Campbell song that takes you back? Tell us in the comments.
