"Galveston"
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@jodi said in "Galveston":
I so love his voice. And this song.
️Having come across this video, I've been reading about what this song means.
As much as I liked the melody, I never cared, that much, for the Glenn Campbell song.
Until I found this video.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galveston_(song)
The protagonist is a soldier waiting to go into battle who thinks of the woman he loves and his hometown of Galveston, Texas. The song was first released in 1968 by a mournful-sounding Don Ho,[6] who introduced Glen Campbell to it when Ho appeared as a guest on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour. Campbell's recording of the song, released in early 1969, was perceived by many (who listened carefully to the lyrics) as being a Vietnam War protest song,[7] but Campbell performed it up-tempo. In his original promo video, Campbell was dressed as a soldier in a military-style outfit. Webb has challenged the implication of Campbell's version that it was in any way "a patriotic song". According to Webb, the song is "about a guy who's caught up in something he doesn't understand and would rather be somewhere else".
In Ho's recording, the second verse was:
Galveston, oh Galveston
Wonder if she could forget me
I'd go home if they would let me
Put down this gun
And go to Galveston.However, in both Campbell's version and in Webb’s own 1972 release (and his later performances), this verse was:
Galveston, oh Galveston
I still hear your sea waves crashing
While I watch the cannons flashing
I clean my gun
And dream of Galveston. -
I just noticed this.
At 3:52 or so, the song goes into a totally foreign key, making the listener feel disoriented and confused, much like the soldier narrating the song.
And then...a few seconds later, he returns to the home key.
Never one of my favorite songs - until today.
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Exploring the music of Jimmy Webb....
Wow,
"Highwayman" - a song of a man in four incarnations, made famous by Waylon, Kristofferson, et al.
*[Willie Nelson:]
*I was a highwayman
Along the coach roads I did ride
With sword and pistol by my side
Many a young maid lost her baubles to my trade
Many a soldier shed his lifeblood on my blade
The bastards hung me in the spring of twenty-five
But I am still alive[Kris Kristofferson:]
I was a sailor
I was born upon the tide
And with the sea I did abide
I sailed a schooner round the Horn to Mexico
I went aloft and furled the mainsail in a blow
And when the yards broke off they said that I got killed
But I am living still[Waylon Jennings:]
I was a dam builder
Across the river deep and wide
Where steel and water did collide
A place called Boulder on the wild Colorado
I slipped and fell into the wet concrete below
They buried me in that great tomb that knows no sound
But I am still around
I'll always be around, and around and around and around and around...[Johnny Cash:]
I'll fly a starship
Across the Universe divide
And when I reach the other side
I'll find a place to rest my spirit if I can
Perhaps I may become a highwayman again
Or I may simply be a single drop of rain
But I will remain
And I'll be back again, and again and again and again and again...** -
Mrs. George always liked "Worst That Could Happen" recorded by (I think Brooklyn Bridge).
I always hated that song. Hated it.
Had no idea that Webb wrote it.
When you get rid of all the pop stuff, and strip it down to a piano and vocal, it's really quite a remarkably sad song (as are a lot of Webb's songs).
Link to video -
G George K referenced this topic on
