Galveston - chords, tab and comments


In 1972, Jimmy Webb released his 4th solo album "Letters", and it failed to the charts like everything else he had recorded. The lead song of this album was "Galveston", the way Webb meant it to be : "about a guy who's caught up in something he doesn't understand and rather would be somewhere else" in his own words. Three years in advance, Glen Campbell had soaked it with heavy arrangement and made it an "Anti Vietnam War Song", flashing all charts.
Well Jimmy, I'm sorry ... for the rest, I rate all your songs better performed by yourself than any cover artist. But this time Campbell beat you. Still I use to slow it down a bit, and fluctuate the rhythm to avoid it sounding like a march.
G             C  D7 G                      G7         C    C/B...Am7
Galveston oh Galveston  I still hear your sea winds blowing
D7       G       Bm        C     C/B...Am7 
I still see her dark eyes glowing
          D7   Em       Cmaj7   C     G
she was twenty-one when I left Galveston
G             C   D7 G                      G7        C     C/B...Am7
Galveston oh Galveston  I still hear your sea waves clashing
D7       G                  C     C/B...Am7
while I watch the cannons flashing
    D7      Em       Cmaj7   C     G
I clean my gun and dream of Galveston

Bb                       C       Bb  ...C
I still see her standing by the water
Dm                             Bb
standing there looking out to sea
            Gm       C7       F
and is she waiting there for me
        Am     Dm              Gm ... Dsus4...C...D7
on the beach where we used to run

G             C  D7  G             G7      C   C/B...Am7
Galveston oh Galveston  I am so afraid of dying
   D7     G                    C   C/B...Am7
before I dry the tears she's crying
         Em                    C     Bm     Am7
before I watch your sea birds flying in the sun
          E
at Galveston
G major
G
C major
C
C major seventh
Cmaj7
D seventh
D7
D suspended fourth
Dsus4
D minor
Dm
B flat major
Bb
F major
F
A minor
Am
A minor seventh
Am7
B minor
Bm
E minor
Em
E major
E
Jimmy Webb