1984 · Behind the Songs
A J.D. Souther ballad that traveled from Linda Ronstadt to Glen’s mid-eighties country.
The recording in context
Some songs are travelers. “Faithless Love” was written by J.D. Souther, one of the defining songwriters of the 1970s Los Angeles scene, and its most famous reading belonged to Linda Ronstadt, who recorded it for Heart Like a Wheel in 1974. A decade later, Glen Campbell picked it up for his 1984 album Letter to Home — and took it to the Top 10 of the country chart.
It was a natural fit. Souther’s lyric is about love that won’t stay put, and Campbell — the great interpreter of the restless heart — sang it like a man who had seen every mile of that road. The single reminded everyone that, hits aside, he was one of the finest ballad singers Nashville ever borrowed.
Listen closely
Campbell doesn’t push. He lets the melody’s ache do the talking, his guitar work understated beneath a vocal that sounds lived-in. Where Ronstadt’s version burns, his smolders.
Listen to the phrasing on the title line — the way he lets “faithless” hang in the air a beat too long. Nobody sang disappointment more prettily.
A great song, twice blessed — first by Ronstadt, then by Glen.