Highwayman (song)

"Highwayman" is the title of a song written by American songwriter Jimmy Webb, about a soul with incarnations in four different places in time and history, a highwayman, a sailor, a construction worker on the Hoover Dam, and finally as a star ship captain.Hurst, Hawkeye. - "Waylon and Johnny Walk the Straight and Narrow Together". - Orlando Sentinel. - July 21, 1985.

Background

Webb wrote the song while in a London hotel suite. His suite included a piano, and after he woke up from a dream about being an English highwayman, he went to the piano and started writing the song.Holmes, Peter. - "Jimmy Webb - The hot seat". - The Sun-Herald. - September 24, 2000.

"I had a black cape and pistols, and I was definitely a bandit. A highwayman, as it were. I was being chased within an inch of my life by these grenadiers on horseback, and I knew for a fact that if they caught me, they were going to kill me." — Jimmy Webb, on the song: "The Highwayman".Cooper, Peter. - "Webb a master at songwriting". - The Tennessean. - June 23, 2006.

He first recorded it for his 1977 album El Mirage, released that May.

Glen Campbell version

Webb then brought the song to Glen Campbell, who recorded it in 1978. But his record label, Capitol Records, wanted him to go in a different direction and record music like the group The...
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