Posted on 09/24/2015 7:42:34 PM PDT by PROCON
My father-in-law’s lady friend has Alzheimer’s. It is a dreadful disease.
A true talent
My dad went through this a few weeks ago at age 85
Sorry you had to endure this...I was so fortunate with both my parents, in that their endgames were not sullied by this pernicious disease; they struggled with their infirmities, but their minds were clear to the end...
Glen said when he first heard Galveston (by Don Ho) it was in Glenn’s words, “God awful”. He called Jimmy Webb and told him he’d record it but he was going to speed up the tempo.
We all think of Viet Nam but Webb said he wrote it about a soldier in the Spanish American War.
From SongFacts:
Galveston is a city on the coast of Texas that attracts lots of hurricanes. Webb was on a beach in Galveston when he wrote this. He made up the story about a soldier in the Spanish-American war and the girl he left behind. Most songwriters never find themselves in places like Galveston or Wichita, but Webb found inspiration in the people he encountered in these places.
The Vietnam War was going on when Campbell released this. It was considered an antiwar song.
The Hawaiian singer Don Ho was the first to record this song, releasing it as the B-side of his single “Has Anybody Lost A Love?” in 1968. Ho recalled that when he appeared on Campbell’s show The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour in 1969, he gave Campbell a copy of the single and told him, “I didn’t have any luck with this, maybe you will.”
He did session music on more than three thousand recordings. Including some from Old Blue Eyes. He was the most sought after session guitarist in the business. And he couldn’t read music. It was a God given talent.
Everyone in the world has heard Glenn play guitar. It’s just that most didn’t know it was him on the record.
Sorry for your loss. Prayers to you and your family.
Thanks for that post! I wasn’t even born when the song was released, and I’ve never thought of it as being set during Vietnam. I always pictured a young man with a rifle in worn clothes or uniform who was away from home and fighting somewhere else in America, perhaps during the Civil War.
And Don Ho recorded it first?!? I would have never guessed that in a billion years. Campbell was right about the tempo. That and the accompaniment in the background make it flow.
This is so sad. He had such phenomenal talent.
Beautiful song, and his voice was perfect for it.
” Ask probing questions about their care. “
Correct.
Always check the condition of the sheets.,even if you have to pull a spread down and unmake the bed.
.
Possibly the best lyrics ever.
I hated watching my parents become children, in effect....right down to the diapers and loss of any semblance of dignity.
My brother graduated from high school in Southern Kalifornia in 1963....Glen was just getting started and was the hired entertainer for the grad dinner; he seems to recall the fee was just a few hundred bucks.
Sorry to hear. It is heartbreaking.
He turns 80 today. Possibly his last birthday.
Bump!
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