Robbie Robertson music thoughts

You take what you needAnd you leave the restBut they should neverHave taken the very best

I wasn’t sure if I would post anything on Robbie Robertson but I had to if just for my sake. This loss hits me really hard as it does a lot of people. Most of us never knew the man but we did know him through his songs. I’m not going to list chart positions or anything like that. On this day for me, it’s just about how his music hits me.

Most artists I treat very unfairly. In my mind, they are frozen in time during a certain period. When I think of John Lennon I think of him in 1966…with Robbie Robertson, it was always around 1969-70 after writing two of the most important albums in rock history. In my mind, he was not 80 but 26 years old. So it was shocking to hear he passed away today.

The man not only was a great storyteller but many of his songs were mini-movies you could visualize. Who couldn’t imagine the drunkard and his sweetheart defender Bessie betting on horses up on Cripple Creek? You see and hear a hungry Virgil Kane and his wife struggle during the Civil War. In King Harvest, you get a view from a poverty-stricken farmer getting promises that will never happen. How about pulling into Nazareth and then seeing Carmen and the Devil walking side by side? Can you then visualize Miss Fanny sending her regards to everyone? I can.

Those are not just songs…they are visual pictures sent through music that only Robertson could write. He studied screenplays and that is how he wrote many of his songs and we continue to benefit from his hard work and gift…and always will.

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

48 thoughts on “Robbie Robertson music thoughts”

      4. Yes they do. He handled all of the drama after the band by taking the high road. Even in his book he took the high road. I respected him for that so much…

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  2. I was six when an album of mixed songs came with the stereo system we bought. One of the songs was “Up on Cripple Creek” by The Band… my first introduction to Robbie Robertson. Have loved his music ever since. Watched THE LAST WALTZ movie numerous times. Sad day.

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    1. It sure is…I know he was Canadian but the south adopted The Band as well because of him using Levon as a conduit…. The Last Waltz is where I began.

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  4. So much he wrote, and so well. He DID write little vignettes that grabbed you by your ears, and he had such a well turned phrasing he had to his lyrics. ‘Twilight’ is a Band favourite, but only one of many. What a crappy day.

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    1. I like that one also obbverse. I never heard of anyone studying screenplays before and writing songs in that fashion….and he made it work…it makes so much sense when I thought about his songs.

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  9. Oh my goodness. What bad news to receive when checking your site today, Max.

    The Weight is one of my favourite songs ever. I know you have seen that Playing For Change video where people from all over the world sing it. That’s one of my favourite videos too.

    You can keep Anna Lee company now, Robbie. RIP.

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    1. Yea I was frankly shocked when I read about it yesterday. He was 80 but like I said…in my mind he wasn’t. My phone blew up yesterday with people I haven’t talked to in years telling me.
      I wore that Playing for Change video out when it was released. That did seem special.

      Wonderful line Paul.

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    1. Thanks Deke…I know he was Canadian…but the south adopted The Band…because of Levon singing his wordds about Cripple Creek and many of their songs…the man wrote some of the best songs out there.

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  11. I love the paragraph where you visualise the lyrics. I have been visualising Virgil Kane and his wife since I was a boy in 1972.

    “Virgil quick come see – here comes the Robert E. Lee”

    I’ve always had a cinematic picture in my head of that moment.

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    1. Yes…that cinematic picture was strong in his songs. I always could picture Cripple Creek and others and yea…The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down is very strong.
      When I read his book…I thought “studying screenplays???” but now I see why I do visualize many of his songs.

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      2. That would get you in trouble in some circles! lol….no but she did expose it to a lot of people. That was her biggest hit I would say. Taking a song about the civil war up in the charts was no easy task.

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      3. I think Baez gave the song some legitimacy. Folks might have feared being associated with a song that humanizes a Confederate, thinking they’d be seen as racist. When she accepted and embraced the song, I think a lot of others did as well.

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    1. Oh yes I’m sure he did. In his book when he played The Weight recording to Dylan for the first time…it was like playing it to his dad…Dylan loved it.

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  13. Isn’t ot strange that Robbie’s name never seems to pop up in discussions about the greatest songwriters? I also get what you are saying in that we never think of him as an 80-year old man. I love The Band and my fave music brag is that I saw th original line-up 5 times. Time to put on some live Band!

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    1. You are right…he should come up. Writing The Weight would be some peoples career.
      That is something to brag about. I would have been happy to see them post Robbie but yea….seeing the real thing would have been beyond my dreams Mike.

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  14. not much to add there but to restate, a great loss . You’re quite right about how he wrote songs that were little stories – videos for the mind before the age of videos.

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  15. I imagined you would comment on this terrible news. I was shocked to read he was 80 years old. When you watch the Last Waltz he looked so young. I still consider his guitar instrumental performance in that show the best I have seen by anyone of various genres of music.

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  17. Pingback: Robbie Robertson music thoughts – Joe Stilez Music

  18. Nice and heartfelt tribute, Max. It’s interesting how the deaths of certain artists can touch us. For some reason I can’t explain myself, I was very impacted when Gregg Allman passed away. The interesting thing is while I’ve certainly come to like the Allman Brothers and Gregg’s solo output , I’ve never been a diehard fan. Yet Gregg’s death really touched me.

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    1. Gregg Allman…that was hard because I had just become a real fan and read his book…but because I read his book I knew how bad of shape he was in…so it was more expected….it still sucked…but Robertson came out of nowhere.
      No one effected me like Lennon though…becaus he shouldn’t have died…he was murdered. That one still haunts me.

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