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Highwayman (song)

"Highwayman"
Single by The Highwaymen
from the album Highwayman
Released May 6, 1985
Recorded 1984
Genre
Length 3:06
Label Columbia
Writer(s) Jimmy Webb
Producer(s) Chips Moman
The Highwaymen singles chronology
"Highwayman"
(1985)
"Desperados Waiting for a Train"
(1985)
Music sample

"Highwayman" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb, about a soul with incarnations in four different places in time and history: as a highwayman, a sailor, a construction worker on the Hoover Dam, and finally as a captain of a starship. Webb first recorded the song on his album El Mirage, released in May 1977. The following year, Glen Campbell recorded his version, which was released on his 1979 album Highwayman. In 1985, the song became the inspiration for the naming of the supergroup The Highwaymen, which featured Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson. Their first album, Highwayman, became a number one platinum-selling album, and their version of the song went to number one on the Hot Country Songs Billboard chart in a twenty-week run. Their version earned Webb a Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1986. The song has since been recorded by other artists. Webb himself included a different version on his 1996 album Ten Easy Pieces, a live version on his 2007 album Live and at Large, and a duet version with Mark Knopfler on 2010 album Just Across the River.

According to Jimmy Webb, he wrote the song in London while he was finishing up work on his album El Mirage, which was produced by George Martin. After a late-night round of "professional drinking" with his friend Harry Nilsson, Webb went to sleep and had "an incredibly vivid dream":


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Wikipedia

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