The song that Bob Dylan described as the "greatest ever written"

Far Out Magazine ^ | 6-18-22 | Tom Taylor

[jpsb]

Nice

[Fresh Wind]

Magnificent!

Hear that lonesome whippoorwill
He sounds too blue to fly
The midnight train is whining low
I’m so lonesome I could cry

I’ve never seen a night so long
When time goes crawling by
The moon just went behind the clouds
To hide its face and cry

Did you ever see a robin weep
When leaves begin to die?
That means he’s lost the will to live
I’m so lonesome I could cry

The silence of a falling star
Lights up a purple sky
And as I wonder where you are
I’m so lonesome I could cry

[Fresh Wind]

Re: XERF

XERF History

On that same topic, this is a great book:

Border Radio Quacks, Yodelers, Pitchmen, Psychics, and Other Amazing Broadcasters of the American Airwaves

[Fresh Wind]

Wichita Lineman is exactly the kind of saccharine-y 70’s pap that I have always found absolutely intolerable.

Amen to that!

[Sparticus]

Wichita Lineman is Lawrence Welk with bell bottoms.

[Jamestown1630]

There’s not much real poetry anymore in the popular songs we hear on mainstream radio.

[TexasGator]

“I assume you are right.”

Why do you assume he is right?

[TexasGator]

” I researched it at the time and they were right, Galveston was about the Spanish American War ...”

Doesn’t pass the smell test ...

[Jamestown1630]

Webb himself seems to have been ambiguous about the song and it's meaning. From Wiki:

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 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".

There are quotes in various places where Webb is purported to have said that the song IS about Viet Nam, but was not intended to be 'anti-war'. (And I think both Don Ho and Campbell changed the lyrics slightly in their recorded versions.)

[Jamestown1630]

Webb himself seems to have been ambiguous about the song and it's meaning. From Wiki:

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 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".

There are quotes in various places where Webb is purported to have said that the song IS about Viet Nam, but was not intended to be 'anti-war'. (And I think both Don Ho and Campbell changed the lyrics slightly in their recorded versions.)

[Jamestown1630]

This one includes a little commentary on the song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T_oT8Vp9hU