I recall Jimmy Webb complaining that Glen Campbell had made "Galveston" too upbeat, when it was a song about being in Vietnam wondering if the boy/man would ever come back. I thought that was wrong, that the pathos was well-placed, creeping into the song gradually.
But I never saw this one coming. "Last Train to Clarksville" was quietly, almost invisibly a protest song. The man is going off, likely drafted, to Vietnam. He seems mostly unwilling. I recall vaguely thinking at the time "Dude, if you love her so much, why do you not know if you're ever coming home? Just come back from whatever. Stop whining about it." But going to Vietnam...it's the only way the lyric makes sense.
Because this has a just-so quality, I looked it up to see if this was an overread. No, the composers intended it. The only just-so portion is when people claim it's about Fort Campbell in Tennessee, which is near Clarksville. That was merely an accident.
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Notice: I will be on hold for posts until I decide what Post 10,000 is, then write it. It's coming up soon.
3 comments:
Do deleted posts count towards the 10,000?
It didn't strike me as exactly a protest song; more a song (like Danny Boy) about the possibility of war separating lovers--without evaluating the war.
One of the best meaning inversions is Barbara Streisand's version of "Happy Days are Here Again."
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