Introduction:
Glen Campbell’s Final Song: A Farewell Written in Music
Some songs become unforgettable because of the story they tell. Others become deeply moving because of the story behind them. Glen Campbell’s recording of “Funny (How Time Slips Away)”, featuring his longtime friend Willie Nelson, belongs to both worlds—a beautiful farewell shaped by friendship, memory, and the quiet courage to keep creating even when time itself was becoming harder to hold onto.
After being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2011, Glen Campbell faced a heartbreaking reality: the disease was gradually taking away memories, words, and abilities that had been at the center of his life. Yet instead of allowing the diagnosis to define his final years, Glen made a deeply personal decision. He wanted to record one more album—a final collection of songs that meant something to him.
Following his Goodbye Tour in 2013, Glen returned to the recording studio with the help of longtime friend and producer Carl Jackson. Together, they worked on twelve songs that Glen had loved for years. The result was Adiós, an album that would ultimately become much more than a collection of recordings. It became Glen’s musical farewell.
Among those songs was Willie Nelson’s timeless classic, “Funny (How Time Slips Away).” Written by Willie in the 1960s, the song tells the story of two people whose lives have gone in different directions, leaving behind memories, regret, and the painful realization that time has moved on. In Glen’s final chapter, those words carried an almost unbearably personal meaning.
Carl Jackson remembered that these were songs Glen genuinely loved. They were the songs he would casually play at home whenever he picked up his guitar. Recording them was, in many ways, about giving Glen the opportunity to complete the musical dreams that remained on his heart.
The sessions were not easy. Alzheimer’s had begun to affect Glen’s ability to remember lyrics, so Carl stood beside him, providing large-print lyrics and sometimes helping him record one line at a time. Yet something remarkable remained: Glen’s musical instinct. Even as memories faded, his melodies and his ability to connect emotionally with a song endured.
After Glen recorded his part of “Funny (How Time Slips Away),” Carl reached out to Willie Nelson’s producer, Buddy Cannon. Willie heard the recording and immediately wanted to be part of it. He recorded his vocals separately, which were later combined with Glen’s performance.
But there is one heartbreaking detail that makes the recording even more poignant: Glen never got to hear the finished duet.
Adiós was released on June 9, 2017, when Glen was already in the late stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Just two months later, on August 8, he passed away at the age of 81.
For Glen’s wife, Kim, the album represented something beautiful. It gave her husband one final opportunity to return to the place where he had always belonged—the recording studio, surrounded by music.
Today, “Funny (How Time Slips Away)” feels like more than a duet between two legendary artists. It is a final conversation between old friends, a tribute to a lifetime of music, and a reminder that even when memories disappear, the emotions carried by a song can remain.
Glen Campbell may not have heard the final version, but through this recording, his voice continues to speak—and somehow, time has not taken that away.