Many songwriters will do whatever they can to glorify themselves and their work. By contrast, the legendary tunesmith Jimmy Webb decided to use a song from his first solo album to throw the spotlight on one of his contemporaries.
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With “P.F. Sloan”, Webb drew attention to a songwriting standout in his own right. The song began with a somewhat comical incident. Under Webb’s guidance, it became nothing less than an eternal tribute to the resilience of not just Sloan, but also of songwriters in general.
From One Writer to Another
P.F. Sloan never quite earned the notoriety in his time that his contributions to pop music deserved. While other artists such as Barry McGuire (“Eve Of Destruction”) and Johnny Rivers (“Secret Agent Man”) scored massive hits with songs written by Sloan, he mostly stayed behind the scenes.
Webb could certainly relate. While Glen Campbell, Richard Harris, The Fifth Dimension, and others minted hits with his originals, he didn’t get the chance to record a proper solo album (Words And Music) until 1971. That’s where “P.F. Sloan” first appeared, with Webb delivering a passionate vocal.
When you listen to the lyrics of “P.F. Sloan”, you might think that Webb was referring to Sloan’s disappearance from the music scene in the 70s. As he explained in an interview with Mojo (as reported by Songfacts), Webb actually launched the song based on a somewhat bizarre interaction he had with Sloan one evening:
“One night, he and I went to see Randy Newman at the Troubadour. We all agreed to come back to my house and play some pool. We were in separate cars, and about halfway there, I realized that P.F.’s car had gone. He’d missed the turn I guess. We went to my house and everybody said, ‘What happened to P.F.?’ So I started thinking. The song seemed like a funny idea at first, then it became a serious piece about a line of communication between writers and the public.”
Examining the Lyrics of “P.F. Sloan” by Jimmy Webb
Jimmy Webb used that fateful evening’s escapades as a jumping-off point. Perhaps he wanted to return the favor to Sloan for how he took the younger Webb under his wing when they met in the 60s. In any case, “P.F. Sloan”, in Webb’s hands, becomes a kind of testament to the importance of songwriting work.
“I have been seeking P.F. Sloan,” Webb begins, almost like a private detective on the case. “No one ever heard the song/That boy sent winging,” he laments, hinting at the obscurity of the anonymous tunesmith. “You just smiled and read the Rolling Stone,” he sneers at the audience. “While he continued singing.”
In the remaining verses, Webb uses the lyrics to criticize the general indifference of the times. The second verse spends time complaining about the fate of Roy Rogers’ horse Trigger, how, after his death, he was “stuffed and dried.” London Bridge gets moved from its rightful location as well.
The final verse finds Webb sarcastically referencing the political climate. “Nixon came and came to stay,” he scoffs. “They’ve taken all the sins away.” But he ends with a wondrous series of lines about Sloan. “He was summer burned, he was winter blown,” Webb explains. “He turned the corner all alone/But he continued, yes, he continued singing.”
In the chorus, Jimmy Webb chastises his audience for not recognizing the true voices behind pop radio. “Don’t sing this song,” he warns. “It belongs to P.F. Sloan.” We’ll forgive you if you don’t heed that warning, because “P.F. Sloan” deserves to eternally ring out.
Photo by Anna Webber/Getty Images for Country Music Hall Of Fame And Museum
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