"Galveston" is a song written by Jimmy Webb and popularized by American country music singer Glen Campbell who recorded it with the instrumental backing of members of The Wrecking Crew.[3] In 2003, this song ranked number 8 in CMT's 100 Greatest Songs in Country Music. Campbell's version, produced by Al De Lory, also went to number 1 on the country music charts.[4] On other charts, "Galveston" went to number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the "Easy Listening" charts.[5] It was certified gold by the RIAA in October 1969.[6]
Background and writing
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,[7] 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,[8] 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".[9][10]
The original Capitol single's label (2428: 45-70488) also credits producer De Lory as the arranger and conductor.
Other cover versions
Within a year of Campbell's hit version, Rolling Stone states, "recordings of 'Galveston' had sold six million copies, having been cut by 27 different artists, from fellow country star Faron Young to jazz great Dizzy Gillespie."[14]
^Breihan, Tom (August 6, 2019). "The Number Ones: Glen Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy"". Stereogum. Retrieved June 26, 2023. ...a series of lush, considered, heartsick country-pop singles that Campbell recorded with his Wrecking Crew comrades...1969's "Galveston"...
^"The Pop Protest Song". Songwriter Jimmy Webb's melancholy ode to a simpler time exemplified what one might consider to be the "tonal protest song," replacing as it does more typical anti-war language with a reflection on the emotional uncertainty of war that even hawks in the heartland could identify with.
^"Jimmy Webb - "Galveston" (Live for WFUV)". YouTube. 2010-07-28. Retrieved 2016-10-02. In a Sound Observations interview, he claimed: "If there was a statement, and obviously I was saying something, I prefer to say it wasn't anti-war – that it was more about an individual getting involved in a war and realizing that he'd rather be somewhere else." He then went on to explain that it was not to be a "hit-you-over-the-head" protest song.
