I love everything about this recording; a great song of course (Jimmy Webb) - gorgeous melody, sparely evocative lyrics - but also a wonderful, soaring vocal, the playing of no less than the legendary Wrecking Crew, which included Campbell (that guitar solo two minutes in!), a sound that is the sea breeze and surf of that place he's left behind and all of his longing to be back there.
They quite genuinely don't make 'em like this any more, you know.
PS: The seafront at Galveston had a hard, hard battering from Hurricane Ike in 2008, by which time still more young men were cleaning their guns far from their loved ones, in invaded lands.
Interesting Artist - 'Great Song' (1969) (see below)
(12/03: Just had this 'returned to draft' and the Mediafire file deleted, so assume it's a copyright thang - have restored the post without the file: sheesh, you all already own it anyway. Ropey, but great, old video clip here).
(23/03: Brilliantly this has been 'taken down' AGAIN. even though there is no link here. So - I have now removed the words that identify the track. Call off the bots! Sheesh x 4).
Just brilliant. Used to play this as a kid.
ReplyDeleteLove it. And that line 'I am so afraid of dying' - just perfect. Can you imagine anyone writing something similar now. Or delivering it like Glen.
ReplyDeleteDid you hear his comeback album? Very good.
i stuck this on at the weekend. Saturday morning, getting my Geek Lair in order. I had to stop, listen, then play it again. It's a recording that demands your attention and that is totally engaging on every level. I love it to bits...
ReplyDelete"I clean my gun and think of Galveston" is a great line.
ReplyDeleteA mate of mine went to Galveston just because of this song (at college we talked about visiting Tulsa, Clarksville, Monterey and all the other great "song cities") and said it was a bit of a dump unfortunately.
Got to love a bit of Glen.
ReplyDeleteIt's not Southern Nights, this one, is it?
x
My mum bought us a cheap 60s comp when I was 7 with this on it. Have loved it ever since. And then there's Wichita Lineman. What a great song.
ReplyDeleteMy mum loved Galveston. Wichita Lineman is my particular favourite. There's a great version of that somewhere out there by Prefab Sprout - they used to play it live a lot. I'll see if I've got a copy somewhere and maybe post it.
ReplyDeletehe's a king round here is glen despite the suffering he put us through at manchesters foul bridgewater hall a few years back. the poor man was dying out there courtesy of a vile joyless audience of bussed in pensioners. it was desperately sad so we ran off to the pub after five songs
ReplyDeletex
Um, is anyone else having trouble with the link? When I click on it I end up in the Wrecking Crew's wiki page.
ReplyDeleteOops - thanks Adam: too much cutting and (mis)pasting at this end. Apologies. Fixed now.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely bunch of comments. Frameable! I was a bit glum earlier, but you cheered me up no end.
It's my old LP of this that's been soundtracking my Sunday mornings these last few weeks; like Alistair I've very often picked the needle up at the end of this track and put it right back down at the start again. 'Wichita Lineman' too of course
The local library's got the new one, so I shall troll along there forthwith.
Manchester Miss A can be a cruel place.
PS: I really love the idea of that 'song cities' tour; and yet still in my head (and Jimmy's song) the beach in Galveston is more lovely than I know it will ever be for real. And so is Monterey.
ReplyDeletePPS: Playing this often makes me want to hear Nanci Griffith's 'Lone Star State Of Mind' next. Mostly because the opening lines are
Your phone call took me by surprise
Gee, it's been a long, long time
Since those hot and humid Texas nights
When we went swimming in the tide
And Corpus Christi seems so far away
And I'm not talking 'bout the miles
And there ain't much I wouldn't give today
Just to see one of your smiles
Perhaps I'll post that tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely outstanding, Mr H.
ReplyDeleteBless you dear boy.
ReplyDeleteThanks Davy, got it now. Take it easy on Manchester though, some of us live here.
ReplyDeleteThen you'll know.
ReplyDeleteHa ha, mmmm, true.
ReplyDeleteSong city though I think.
Arf! Oh yes...
ReplyDeletenice one a classic
ReplyDeletePicked this album up in a charity shop last year for the proverbial 50p - primarily for the cover. And with memories of Lineman and Galveston I thought I might find some other gems on the vinyl within. Bit disappointed in the end though.
ReplyDeleteword veri: groanda - who probably would have been at ally's Glen gig!
Another of my college mates did make it to Monterey and called me in London at 2 in the morning just to say "Lee! I'm in Monterey and nothing's happened!"
ReplyDeleteThe plan included taking the last train to Clarksville and being 24 hours from Tulsa. You know, the silly bollocks you plan to do when you're a student.
I don't know if this counts but I got lost in France once.
ReplyDeleteI got lost in the supermarket once. Spent Christmas with some friends one year. Started drinking Christmas Eve at about 11am, finished drinking December 29th in time to have a bath and some sleep for New Years Eve.
ReplyDeleteChristmas morning we ventured out to buy some cigs and some ingredient we were missing for Christmas lunch and found a supermarket open around the corner. It was the longest narrowest supermarket I've ever seen. I got vertigo.
They paid for our shopping and had to come back and find me.
ReplyDeleteIt was one of those Christmases. One of the guys had made a snowball, almost all for himself, of coke. It was fun to watch him melt over the course of the week.
I left my heart in San Francisco.
ReplyDeleteNo Class A drugs were involved.
I left my heart at Papworth General (HMHB)
ReplyDeleteI want to do the By The Time I Get To Phoenix itinerary (talking of Jimmy Webb, and all). Apparently the timelines don't quite work out.
ReplyDeleteWith a strategic cough in the right places, I used to convince my dozy mates that the magnificent Charlene sang,
ReplyDelete'I've been to Paradise ..
But I've never been to Leeds'.
Arf! My version was always
ReplyDeleteI've been to Clapham South
But I've never been to Cheam
Although, actually, I had.
PS: Major I've always wondered about that - 'By the time I make Albuquerque'...days had gone by, etc
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear you had trouble with the internet popo over this.
ReplyDeleteStrangely there was no email notification: but both draft reversion and file deletion happened suddenly and simultaneously, so it must have been The Man. *shrugs*
ReplyDeleteWe love this album but esp. 'Galveston'. It's a tune that goes with anything you're doing... cleaning a gun or maybe like when you're singing doing dishes... 'Scrubbing forks, scrubbing forks, i love scrubbinf forrrrrks... bum, bum, bum.' etc. Love Jimmy Webb, brilliant songwriter. Another good version is on the pbs documentary of r.e.m.'s monster tour... would love a full mp3 of that for sure but don't think it's avail.
ReplyDeleteDamn file deletions. I hope you'll not have your whole blog zapped.
ReplyDeleteHow did you manage to keep the comments though? They usually go with the deletion.
BTW, have you heard Jimmy Webb's version of Galveston? It's quite different.
I don't think I have Major, no. I have seen him do a few of his own things - not very well, I don't think.
ReplyDeleteThe post was returned to draft rather than deleted. Thankfully, because the comments are brilliant.
Oh and salut vie en. I never scrub forks moi meme, just shove 'em in the dishwash. But, you know, your point is well made.
ReplyDeleteVoila, mon ami:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mediafire.com/?yyumg3zygeo
Feel free to care & share the link, if you like.
(36 responses. Damn, you're good)
Oo-er, that is a re-invention - thanks dear boy.
ReplyDelete