Glen Campbell and Jimmy Webb

[Randy]

I credit Jimmy for writing a great song and Glen and Al DeLory and the wrecking crew for making it a hit with the faster tempo. Mike , guess all these standing people at the end are "soul-less" also by your opinion. My opinion respectfully differs from yours.


https://youtu.be/dd9nMrvBbmA?t=141" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Mike Joyce]

Hi Cowpoke, Yes, Jimmy was inspired to write the song when he saw the cannons which were on display from the Spanish -American war.Of course most people associate it with the Vietnam war which was raging at the time. I would think it certainly helped make the song a big hit as it would have touched a nerve with a lot of the listeners at the time.
It always amazes me that America went to Cuba in 1898 to help the Cubans, who were being oppressed by the Spanish and liberated them at that time. At the time the army was using basic rifles and cannons and horse mounted cavalry and then only 64 years later there were supersonic jets, aircraft carriers, and nuclear missiles on the very same island. What a rapid development in technology.

[Cowpoke]

Mike, I never knew the song was about a soldier in Cuba! Learn something new every day here...

[Mike Joyce]

Oh Randy, You have no soul. The ballad version is excellent. When I first heard it in 1977 on the Festival Hall concert I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise up.Glen nails it so perfectly in his singing and the orchestration just sweeps you away.
The slower version really empathises the story of the song and the longing of the soldier fighting in Cuba.
Still we all have our favourites, that is what music is all about.

[Cowpoke]

Well Randy I hear what you are saying. I agree that the faster tempo of Glen's version worked great, fitted the song perfectly. And I disagree with Jimmy when he said Glen made it more pro-war that way.

But...I cannot the deny the sheer beauty of the ballad version of Galveston.



Glen sings this so devastatingly beautiful, it's almost surreal.

And later, Glen and Jimmy did it again as a ballad and again, Glen hits it out of the ballpark.



And, have I convinced you, just a little?

[Randy]

Yes Cowpoke, I have heard Jimmy say something to the effect of the tempo being upped or turned up faster being like a march, "let's go kick their arze " I believe he said, and I never agreed with that. In fact you can put me on record as the slow version is not good. I've heard Glen sing it slow,, in my mind to accommodate Jimmy,, and I may be wrong on that , but no , no way did I like that.

[Cowpoke]

Hope this link works. Article about Galveston ("is there a better anti-war pop song?" the writer asks) and Glen's Goodbye Tour. It's from a book called Poetry Night at the Ballpark and Other Scenes from an Alternative America by Bill Kauffman.

https://books.google.com/books?id=xOFEC ... 22&f=false" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hi Randy,
You are right in what you say. If you hear the lyrics the war is just the back drop as to why they are separated in the first place. It doesn't actually make a statement on the war itself. If you listen to Universal soldier, that is without doubt an anti war song and doesn't beat about the bush on its topic. Jimmy was telling the story from the perspective of two people in love,longing to be together again and in the man's case hoping not to die before he could return.to Galveston. The song isn't about Galveston either, as I have read in other blogs that again is just where the story is set. It is about two people in love who happen to live there. Randy I am sure you will remember that Jimmy wasn't too pleased when Glen reset the tempo and in fact Jimmy himself said he felt this made it a pro war song.Hear Jimmy's comments on The sessions DVD.

[Dee]

Writer of ’60s, ’70s hits honors Glen Campbell at Spirit Square
("Jimmy Webb The Campbell Years")
The Charlotte Observer
By Mark Price
February 2, 2016

In this article, Jimmy Webb talks again about Glen Campbell including how they found success together:

“He (Glen) had that instrument that was like Thor’s hammer, a gift from God. It was a five-octave voice with a plaintive crack, a kind of wail. If you listen to ‘Wichita Lineman,’ he breaks your heart. Glen was born to be the ‘Rhinestone Cowboy.’ Once we got together, it was like a house on fire.

Jimmy even makes a reference to Donald Trump.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/entert ... 43518.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Have any fans here seen this show yet? We would love to read your thoughts about it!

[Dee]

Phoenix A.jpg (62.24 KiB) Viewed 8880 times

A road trip from Phoenix to Oklahoma – just for the kicks
Mark Footer explores the eclectic American southwest on a 1,000-mile drive from Phoenix to Oklahoma City. And it all started with a song.
Post Magazine
Mark Footer
January 31, 2016

Mark Footer's intro to his article:

Described as “the greatest torch song ever written” by no less an expert than Frank Sinatra, By the Time I Get to Phoenix is the tale of a man leaving his woman for the umpteenth time, but this time for good. The song, written by Jimmy Webb in 1965, takes the listener on a lonely road trip across the American southwest, through Phoenix and Albuquerque to Oklahoma City, and has been performed by Glen Campbell (most famously), Isaac Hayes and Nick Cave, with his Bad Seeds. I’m not leaving anyone, but I am interested to see where the song takes me.

Follow Footer's trip here: http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-maga ... just-kicks" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Dee]

'THE GLEN CAMPBELL YEARS'
Songwriter Jimmy Webb brings tribute show to High Point
January 31, 2016
Subscribers only

A couple of excerpts, quotes taken from Jimmy Webb's comments about Glen and also Jimmy's tribute show:

“Glen Campbell was a standout human being in my life — he would’ve been in anyone’s life,” says Webb, who will bring his tribute show, “Jimmy Webb: The Glen Campbell Years,” to the High Point Theatre this week. “For me particularly, he was the organ that took my music to the masses. And what a voice it was, with his five-octave range — his voice was such a gift.”

“We try to peel back the Alzheimer’s story and the ‘Goodbye Tour’ story, which was really an amazing, heroic thing, and so fitting of the guy I knew — it was a heroic way to address such a grim fate,” Webb says.

“But this show is about the fiber of this guy — the vulnerabilities we all have, and the way we overcome our vulnerabilities, whether it’s substance abuse or Alzheimer’s. For all of us, it’s one challenge after another, and he was amazing in his ability to reinvent himself — to come out of what some would perceive as public relations disasters and just keep going.”

http://www.hpenews.com/life/songwriter- ... b9b22.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;