If You See Me Getting Smaller, I'm Leaving by Jimmy Webb

Album: El Mirage (1977)

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Songfacts®:

Jimmy Webb is a very successful songwriter whose credits include "MacArthur Park" and "By the Time I Get to Phoenix." Webb also recorded his own material, including this song. Music industry veteran Hans Ebert tells us this story: "I interviewed Jimmy many years back after a gig in LA and, as I love the song - especially the title - asked him about it. Apparently, the line came from Waylon Jennings, who was pissed off at how long a shoot for a music video was taking. That was his line to the director before walking off into the sunset and never to return.
I also remember raving about this track and the album it's from - El Mirage - to Jerry Greenberg who, at the time was reporting in to Ahmet Ertegun. His reply: "Hans, you must be one of three people in the world who has bought that piece of s--t."

Comments: 1

Mike from Midhurst, United KingdomThis is a great song. Webb had an idea that he wanted the "whoosh" of a sailplane (glider) so he and producer George Martin set up microphones all down the runway at El Mirage where Webb played with his sailplanes. Sure enough he flew all the way down the runway and the selfsame "whoosh" was recorded and can be heard towards the end of this song.

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