Had to listen to a lot of country music in the 70’s, so this song was sort of the background sound of my mornings. As such, I never really gave it much thought. But as an adult I actually listened to the lyrics and realized it’s about a soldier missing his girl. It’s theme as old as war so I don’t consider it a Vietnam War song. Just a generic war song.
Vietnam, yes. Protest, no.
I will always be grateful to Campbell for making John Hartford so rich off of “Gentle on my Mind” that John could afford to quit working and just be an old timey banjo-plucking hippie. And smoke lots of marijuana, and invent “Newgrass.”
The greatest album you never heard of:
I agree. The alternate verse koeeoaddi posted makes it clear the soldier has a sense of duty. He wants to go home, but will stick it out until his tour ends.
PS: “Gentle on my Mind” was also recorded by Aretha Franklin, and Dean Martin, so bless them too.
Gentle On My Mind with a killer guitar break.
Campbell, like the Smothers Brothers, exposed me to a lot of great folk music I wouldn’t have heard otherwise. Yes, including John Hartford (“skipping in the Mississippi dew…”).
Agreed to both.
Technically true, but come on. It was written and popularized when the Vietnam war was in full swing and lots of (probably most) American soldiers/sailors/marines/airmen were serving there. No one was thinking that this referred to WWI or Korea.
I always thought it was about war (“clean my gun”, “cannons flashing”, “afraid of dying”), but I never imagined it as a protest song until a right-wing friend told me how much he hated it.
I like how Glen hit a slightly higher note (first, the 6th; then the root above the 6th; then the 3rd above the root) each successive time he sang the words “Galveston, oh Galveston”. Very expressive.
I never gave the song a lot of thought and never really listened to the lyrics that closely, so I voted Other. I didn’t hate it, but I wouldn’t run to crank up the volume when it came on the radio. It was just pleasant-sounding background noise most of the time.
It’s a war somg, but the reference to ‘cannons flashing’ sounds more civil-warrish to me. Vietnam battles generally don’t evoke images of cannon fire. While technically anything that fires a large projectile with explosive gases is a ‘cannon’, you don’t really hear the term being used much in reference to the Vietnam war, unless it’s regarding 20mm or 30mm cannon fire from strafing aircraft.
So at best I would say it’s about any scared soldier who longs for home and his girl. If we have to be specific, I would say it was a civil war song.
Now, given that it was written in the Vietnam era, the writer might have been motivated by that war, but intentionally left the conflict vague for commercial reasons. Vietnam protest songs are not what you associated with the country scene at the time - even though there were a handful of them.
I clicked “Other,” which for me means, “I don’t think I’ve never even heard the song, as far as I’m aware.” “Wichita Lineman” and “Rhinestone Cowboy” are the only two GC songs I could name off the top of my head.
Well, any war song is automatically about the ongoing war. Even if it was written during and about a previous war. But there’s nothing in “Galveston” explicitly about Nam. It’s just as applicable to guys stationed in Afghanistan or Iraq today. So for me it’s a generic war song.
I voted “other”. I was too young to understand the Vietnam connection and just thought it was a song about being homesick. It definitely brings memories of a specific time in my life. Later, when I was a smartassed tween, my best friend and I would sing “Gaviscon, oh Gaviscon” (antacid that my mom used to take).
I’m pretty sure it’s about a photographer. He’s watching as the flash goes off on his Canon camera.
Huh. Vietnam connection new one on me.
How many people who think it’s about viet nam were alive during viet nam?
I was born a couple of years after the war was over, so I never made that association and I’m barely familiar with the song - and like WOOKINPANUB, I just vaguely associated it with being homesick.
It’s decidedly not like the Fish cheer, “Ohio”,“Give Peace a Chance”, “Fortunate Son” or even “One Tin Soldier” that those of us born post-war were frequently told by our elders were about Viet Nam.
Never knew the backstory, but it is one of his least familiar hits to me. I’ve hear it, of course, just never took it seriously. On the surface, it was no Wichita Lineman (one of the most beautiful songs ever written, in my opinion).
I think I should revisit it and see what I missed. Cool thread.