Power Pop Friday will be back next week. Thank you for tuning in this week as we talked about these great Canadian artists…I’ve had a blast with them. There is one band that I didn’t get to cover because I ran out of days…well actually more…but Blue Rodeo will be coming up soon on a Friday.
The Band is my favorite Canadian export. Well, I will say Canadian although one member…Levon Helm was from Arkansas but the rest are Canadians. CB mentioned this song not long ago so I used it after listening to it again. It is quite a complex song. I can’t believe I’ve never posted it but better late than never.
The Band was so rootsy… They had it all – rawness, competence, sublimity, experience, originality, and roots. The five different instruments were not five different instruments…they were one. In the liner notes to one of their greatest hits it states… the music is unusually complex, making use of odd verse patterns and tricky rhythmic suspensions and modifying the natural sounds of instruments for various calculated effects. But because of the way the record sounds, none of this calls attention to itself…it sounds effortless.
Robertson said he’d been immersed in the novels of John Steinbeck at this time. I’ve read where The Grapes of Wrath is a big influence on this song. Rock critic Greil Marcus has written that King Harvest might be the finest song that Robertson has ever written. The song is told from the point of view of a poverty-stricken farmer- detailing everything that has happened to his farm- then a union organizer appears and makes promises that things will soon improve.
Richard Manuel is the singer of King Harvest. King Harvest is a great finishing track to one of the greatest albums ever made. The album was their second album called The Band (The Brown Album). The album peaked at #2 in Canada, #9 on the Billboard 100 in 1970. This is their highest-charting album in their home country.
The song is credited solely to guitarist Robbie Robertson, although drummer-singer Levon Helm claimed that “King Harvest” was a group effort. It’s been covered by Blue Rodeo, Bruce Hornsby, and many more.
Robbie Robertson: “It’s just a kind of character study in a time period. At the beginning, when the unions came in, they were a saving grace, a way of fighting the big money people, and they affected everybody from the people that worked in the big cities all the way around to the farm people. It’s ironic now, because now so much of it is like gangsters, assassinations, power, greed, insanity. I just thought it was incredible how it started and how it ended up.”
Robbie Robertson: In the story to me, it’s another piece I remember from my youth, that people looking forward, people out there in the country somewhere, in a place … we all know it, may have been there, may have not … but there’s a lot of people that the idea of come Autumn, come Fall, that’s when life begins. It is not the Springtime where we kinda think it begins. It is the Fall, because the harvests come in.
Levon Helm: Some of the lyrics came out of a discussion we had one night about the times we’d seen and all had in common. It was an expression of feeling that came from five people. The group wanted to do one song that took in everything we could muster about life at that moment in time. It was the last thing we cut in California, and it was that magical feeling of ‘King Harvest’ that pulled us through. It was like, there, that’s The Band.
King Harvest (Has Surely Come)
Corn in the fields
Listen to the rice when the wind blows ‘cross the water
King Harvest has surely come
I work for the union ’cause she’s so good to me
And I’m bound to come out on top
That’s where she said I should be
I will hear every word the boss may say
For he’s the one who hands me down my pay
Looks like this time I’m gonna get to stay
I’m a union man, now, all the way
The smell of the leaves
From the magnolia trees in the meadow
King Harvest has surely come
Dry summer, then comes fall
Which I depend on most of all
Hey, rainmaker, can’t you hear the call?
Please let these crops grow tall
Long enough I’ve been up on Skid Row
And it’s plain to see, I’ve nothing to show
I’m glad to pay those union dues
Just don’t judge me by my shoes
Scarecrow and a yellow moon
And pretty soon a carnival on the edge of town
King Harvest has surely come
Last year, this time, wasn’t no joke
My whole barn went up in smoke
Our horse Jethro, well he went mad
And I can’t remember things bein’ that bad
Then there comes a man with a paper and a pen
Tellin’ us our hard times are about to end
And then, if they don’t give us what we like
He said, “men, that’s when you gotta go on strike”
Corn in the fields
Listen to the rice when the wind blows ‘cross the water
King Harvest has surely come
Happy New Year to all my readers. This is my first post of the year other than the New Years’ post this morning at 12:01 AM CST. My next post in one hour will be just for all of my readers…
My friend CB (Cincinnati Baby Head) reminded me of this song not too long ago…so thank you CB. Man…wasn’t The Band a truly great band? Not many bands could get away with a name like that…but it is no question they lived up to it. They made pure music for the people…
Standin’ by your window in pain A pistol in your hand And I beg you, dear Molly, girl, Try and understand your man the best you can.
Not a good way to start your day.
Canada has given us Neil Young, The Guess Who, BTO, and many more but…to me, this band was their best export.
The Band had 3 great singers and a good one in Robbie. Robertson wrote most of the songs and wrote for the other three voices. He was smart enough to step aside and let his bandmates sing his songs. Not many singer/songwriters would do that but it worked well.
This song was on their second album called The Band released in 1969. The album is one of the best albums ever. It contained these songs, Up On Crippled Creek, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Whispering Pines, Rag Mama Rag, and more.
They recorded this album not in a recording studio but at Sammy Davis’s house in California. They remodeled the adjacent pool house into a recording studio. The Band fashioned a makeshift workshop environment similar to the one at their former home, Big Pink.
The album peaked at #2 in Canada, #9 on the Billboard 100, and #25 in the UK. This song was not released as a single.
Levon Helm:“Sometimes we would grow the songs from scratch, right there in the pool-house, sometimes we would just pull them out of thin air. We had story songs, we had picture songs and we had songs that emulated things we had heard. One thing that helped is that we had two different styles of rhythm section, with Richard and me swapping drum duties. That was done mainly to accommodate Garth’s ability to trade instruments around. Of course, Garth could play percussion, woodwind, bass—just about anything.”
Across The Great Divide
Standin’ by your window in pain A pistol in your hand And I beg you, dear Molly, girl, Try and understand your man the best you can.
Across the Great Divide Just grab your hat, and take that ride Get yourself a bride And bring your children down to the river side
I had a goal in my younger days I nearly wrote my will But I changed my mind for the better I’m at the still, had my fill and I’m fit to kill
Across the Great Divide Just grab your hat, and take that ride Get yourself a bride And bring your children down to the river side
Pinball machine and a queen I nearly took the bus Tried to keep my hands to myself They say it’s a must, but who can ya trust? Harvest moon shinin’ down from the sky A weary sign for all I’m gonna leave this one horse town Had to stall ’til the fall, now I’m gonna crawl Across the Great Divide
Now Molly dear, don’t ya shed a tear Your time will surely come You’ll feed your man chicken ev’ry Sunday Now tell me, hon, what ya done with the gun?
Across the Great Divide Just grab your hat, and take that ride Get yourself a bride And bring your children down to the river side
Robbie Robertson’s Christmas gift to his new son Sebastian during the sessions for Northern Lights-Southern Cross album… it never became a seasonal favorite but it should have been. It wasn’t released until the Islands album in 1977.
Rick Danko sings this song from a Shepherds point of view. It’s pure and down to earth like only the Band can be. No sleigh bells or other Christmas trappings…just pure music. Maybe that is the reason it never got picked up.
Robbie Robertson re-recorded this song after he left the group. And he did for the soundtrack of Bill Murray’s Scrooged. That version is very good but I still like The Bands version much more…it’s hard to beat Rick Danko.
Christmas Must Be Tonight
Come down to the manger, see the little stranger Wrapped in swaddling clothes, the prince of peace Wheels start turning, torches start burning And the old wise men journey from the East
How a little baby boy bring the people so much joy Son of a carpenter, Mary carried the light This must be Christmas, must be tonight
A shepherd on a hillside, where over my flock I bide Oh a cold winter night a band of angels sing In a dream I heard a voice saying “fear not, come rejoice It’s the end of the beginning, praise the new born king”
I saw it with my own eyes, written up in the skies But why a simple herdsmen such as I And then it came to pass, he was born at last Right below the star that shines on high
I again took all of your suggestions and now we have a post that we made together. Thank you for all of the suggestions. I usually don’t repeat artists on one post but we had 3 Neil Young requests…I used two and the other one will be on the next.
Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose, And nothin’ ain’t worth nothin’ but it’s free… Janis Joplin/Kris Kristofferson
Met myself a coming county welfare line,I was feeling strung out, Hung out on the line…Creedence Clearwater Revival
He’d end up blowing all his wages for the week / All for a cuddle and a peck on the cheek…Kinks
Living is easy with eyes closed,misunderstanding all you see…The Beatles
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes. And say, Do you want to make a deal?…Bob Dylan
Set my compass north, I got winter in my blood… The Band
And the sign said, The words of the prophets, are written on the subway walls, and tenement halls… Simon and Garfunkel
They say that Cain caught Abel rolling loaded dice, ace of spades behind his ear and him not thinking twice…Grateful Dead
When I said that I was lying, I might have been lying…Elvis Costello
Though nothing will keep us together/We can be heroes/Just for one day…David Bowie
It’s a town full of losers, I’m pulling out of here to win…Bruce Springsteen
The motor cooled down, the heat went down, and that’s when I heard that highway sound…Chuck Berry
We were the first band to vomit at the bar, and find the distance to the stage too far…The Who
Shule, shule, shule-a-roo, Shule-a-rak-shak, shule-a-ba-ba-coo When I saw my Sally Babby Beal, Come bibble in the boo shy Lorey… Peter, Paul, and Mary
But then one night at the lobby of the Commodore Hotel,I chanced to meet a bartender who said he knew her well, And as he handed me a drink he began to hum a song, And all the boys there, at the bar, began to sing along…Little Feat
But me I’m not stopping there got my own row left to hoe; just another line in the field of time… Neil Young
You are like a hurricane there’s calm in your eye and I’m getting’ blown away…Neil Young
When I was young the radio played just for me, it saved me… Roddy Frame
Everyone seemed to like the first one so I thought I would bring it back. I did list many of the lyrics that you suggested in the comments on the other post…SO… this post was written by all of us…and uh…the ones that actually wrote the songs!
Sometimes my burden is more than I can bear,it’s not dark yet but it’s gettin’ there... Bob Dylan
The sunshine bores the daylights out of me…Rolling Stones
I asked Bobby Dylan, I asked The Beatles, I asked Timothy Leary, but he couldn’t help me either, they called me the Seeker…The Who
Cows are giving kerosene, the kid can’t read at seventeen, the words he knows are all obscene, but it’s alright… The Grateful Dead
You take what you need and you leave the rest, but they should never have taken the very best… The Band
Wild thing you make my heart sing you make everything groovy… The Troggs
There were ghosts in the eyes of all the boys you sent away… Bruce Springsteen
Rich man, poor man, beggar man thiefyou ain’t got a hope in hell, that’s my belief… ACDC
The farther one travels the less one knows the less one really knows …The Beatles
My friends are gone and my hair is grey I ache in places I used to play…Leonard Cohen
Whatever gets you through the night … John Lennon
God, what a mess, on the ladder of success Where you take one step and miss the whole first rung …The Replacements
Oh, let the sun beat down upon my faceand stars fill my dream I’m a traveler of both time and space… Led Zeppelin
Girls will be boys and boys will be girls, It’s a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world, except for Lola La-la-la-la Lola… The Kinks
She keeps her Moet et Chandon in her pretty cabinet “Let them eat cake”, she says just like Marie Antoinette… Queen
Shammy cleaning all the windows singing songs about Edith Piaf’s soul… Van
You can’t be twenty on Sugar Mountain though you’re thinking that you’re leaving there too soon… Neil Young
Hello darkness, my old friend I’ve come to talk with you again…Simon and Garfunkel
I did a post earlier on Infamous Rock and Roll Locations and I wanted to do a follow-up on it. If you don’t want to click on the link…I mentioned the Riot/Hyatt House, The Edgewater Inn, The Rainbow Bar and Grille, Villa Nellcôte, and Rodney Bingenheimer’s English Disco.
To be honest….a few are infamous but the other are just cool. I love reading rock music bios and there are some places I would love to visit one day. A warning though…a few are very morbid.
The Highland Gardens Hotel…Ok…this one is a little morbid…well a lot morbid. On October 4, 1970, Janis Joplin stayed here and it was called The Landmark Motor Hotel. She died in room #105 of a suspected heroin overdose. The same hotel stands but it’s called The Highland Gardens Hotel now. Yes, you can rent room #105. She lived there for months while working on her last album Pearl. The closet has handwriting by visitors but the rest of the room is normal. Yes, I would love to go.
Big Pink in Saugerties/Woodstock: This is the house where The Band and Bob Dylan recorded The Band’s debut album…Music From Big Pink…this house was pink then and is now. Now you can rent the house but you cannot go down to the basement where they recorded…what’s the fun in that?
Whisky a Go-Go on the Sunset Strip: The one on the Sunset Strip opened in 1964. So many bands played and visited there. The Doors, Van Morrison, Buffalo Springfield, Alice Cooper, The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Chicago, Germs, Elton John, Oasis, Buffalo Springfield, Steppenwolf, Van Halen, Johnny Rivers, X, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, KISS, Guns N’ Roses, Death, AC/DC, Linkin Park, Metallica, Mötley Crüe Stryper, and many many more.
The Whiskey is still open now.
The Joshua Tree Inn – Another morbid one but I would stay there. On September 18, 1973, Gram Parsons purchased liquid morphine on that night from an unknown girl and died of an overdose. This all happened in Room 8 of this Inn. Yes, you can rent room 8 today in fact..it’s decorated with posters of Gram.
Mayfair…Curzon Square – This apartment was owned by Harry Nilsson at the time. It was in this building, in the same apartment that both Cass Elliot (Mama Cass) and Keith Moon died 4 years apart. Nilsson liked the location because it was near Apple Records and nightclubs. It was decorated by ROR…Ringo and Robin (Ringo Starr and designer Robin Cruikshank).
On July 29, 1974 after a performance…Mama Cass died of a heart attack. In 1978 Keith Moon wanted to rent it from Nilsson but he was afraid to rent it again because Nilsson remembered what happened to Cass. He ended up talking to Pete Townshend and Townshend told him that ‘lightning does not strike in the same place twice’ so he let Keith rent it. On September 7, 1978, Keith Moon died because of an overdose of clomethiazole…a prescription drug for combating alcoholism in the same bedroom.
It doesn’t get much better than this. This wasn’t a huge hit but it doesn’t mean that much when it’s The Band.
The Band did this song by playing musical chairs with the instruments. Most of them grabbed something different than what they normally played. Levon (drummer) sang and played Mandolin, Richard Manuel (piano) played drums, Rick Danko (bass) played fiddle, Garth Hudson (keyboards) played uprigtht piano and producer John Simon played Tuba.
Robbie Robertson wrote the song and was the only one playing their normal instrument…guitar.
The song peaked at #57 in the Billboard 100, #46 in Canada, and #16 in the UK in 1970. The song was on their second album The Band.
Songfacts
One of the Band’s first big European hit singles, “Rag Mama Rag” has some unusual instrumentation. Lead pianist Richard Manuel played drums, drummer Levon Helm played mandolin and sang lead, and bassist Rick Danko played a fiddle. This left the bass spot open on this track, and it was filled by the album’s producer, John Simon. He improvised a bassline on tuba, although he had no idea how to play the instrument. >>
Robbie Robertson is the only songwriter credited on this track, although other members of the group claim they made contributions. The song finds Levon Helm trying to convince his girl to come back home so she can “rag all over” his house. What he has in mind in unclear: “rag” could mean playing ragtime music (a possibility, considering the line “rosin up the bow”), but he might have more prurient intentions.
Rag Mama Rag
Rag Mama rag, can’t believe its true. Rag Mama Rag, what did you do? Crawled up to the railroad track Let the four nine-teen scratch my back
Sag mama sag now What’s come over you Rag Mama Rag, I’m a pulling out your gag. Gonna turn you lose like an old caboose, Got a tail I need a drag.
I ask about your turtle, And you ask about the weather, Well, I can’t jump the hurdle And we can’t get together.
We could be relaxing in my sleeping bag, But all you want to do for me mama Is rag Mama rag there’s no-where to go, Rag Mama rag. Come on resin up the bow.
Rag Mama rag, where do ya roam? Rag Mama rag, bring your skinny little body back home. Its dog eat dog and cat eat mouse, you can You can rag Mama rag all over my house.
Hail stones beating on the roof, The bourbon is a hundred proof, Its you and me and the telephone Our destiny is quite well known.
We don’t need to sit and brag. All we gotta do is Rag Mama rag Mama rag. Rag Mama rag Where do you roam? Rag Mama rag, bring your skinny little body back home
Robbie Robertson’s Christmas gift to his new son Sebastian during the sessions for Northern Lights-Southern Cross album… it never became a seasonal favorite but it should have been. It wasn’t released until the bands Islands album in 1977.
Rick Danko sings this song from a Shepherds point of view. It’s pure and down to earth like only the Band can be. No sleigh bells or other Christmas trappings…just pure music. Maybe that is the reason it never got picked up.
Robbie Robertson re-recorded this song after he left the group. And he did for the soundtrack of Bill Murray’s Scrooged. That version is very good but I still like The Bands version much more…it’s hard to beat Rick Danko.
Christmas Must Be Tonight
Come down to the manger, see the little stranger Wrapped in swaddling clothes, the prince of peace Wheels start turning, torches start burning And the old wise men journey from the East
How a little baby boy bring the people so much joy Son of a carpenter, Mary carried the light This must be Christmas, must be tonight
A shepherd on a hillside, where over my flock I bide Oh a cold winter night a band of angels sing In a dream I heard a voice saying “fear not, come rejoice It’s the end of the beginning, praise the new born king”
I saw it with my own eyes, written up in the skies But why a simple herdsmen such as I And then it came to pass, he was born at last Right below the star that shines on high
I believe I could listen to Levon sing anything. He makes a song feel like that old shirt with holes that fits perfectly that your wife wants to hide or throw away. You keep going back to it to wear it triumphally.
This was inspired by the Shakespeare play Hamlet.
The most famous Ophelia is a character in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. She is caught between her love for Hamlet and the wishes of her father, Polonius, who uses her to spy on Hamlet. She feels she has no control of her life and descends into madness, eventually drowning after falling out of a tree into a brook.
It was on the album Northern Lights – Southern Cross released in 1975. It peaked at #26 in the Billboard Album Charts and #27 in Canada in 1976.
It wasn’t a huge hit but the song peaked at #62 in the Billboard 100 in 1976…
Robbie Robertson:There was another tune I was anxious to spring on Levon because I thought it had his name written all over it. The song dealt with the mysterious disappearance of Ophelia, and I had an old-timey-type chord progression to go with a whole new spin on the story. I liked having a modern-day Shakespearean character that Hamlet couldn’t get, and neither could I. Ophelia—they don’t have names like that anymore, or maybe they do in Denmark. I loved the way the track felt after we cut it. The combination of horns and keyboards Garth overdubbed on this song was one of the very best things I’d ever heard him do. It was definitely the cherry on the cake, and completed this musical odyssey. “Ophelia” became my favorite track on the album, even if it didn’t have the depth of some of my other songs. The pure, jubilant pleasure of that tune swayed me.
Band biographer Barney Hoskyns claims the song isn’t named for Shakespeare’s heroine, but for Hee Haw comedienne Minnie Pearl, whose real name was Sarah Ophelia Colley. I don’t know why Robbie just wouldn’t say that to begin with…he doesn’t seem to be a person that puts on airs.
From Songfacts
In this song The Band drummer Levon Helm sings about a woman named Ophelia who has skipped town. We know she left in a hurry and he would love to have her come back (“The old neighborhood just ain’t the same”), but we really have no idea who she is what her relationship is with the singer.
The song was written by the group’s guitarist Robbie Robertson, and the ambiguity was intentional. “I was always fascinated by that girl’s name,” he told Melody Maker in 1976. “I always like the mystery factor. I may be writing a song and the music may imply a certain lyric, or vice versa. It’s not that deliberate, or an intellectual exercise. It just comes out naturally.”
The character in this song could certainly be an analog to Shakespeare’s Ophelia, possibly driven mad by a lover.
A modest hit for The Band, this is a number they played at many of their shows, including their famous final show in 1976 that provided footage for the concert film The Last Waltz. In the film, we see Levon Helm belting it out from behind his drum kit.
This Ophelia has three syllables: “Oh-Feel-Ya,” giving it a rootsy sound. The more mannered pronunciation is “Oh-Feel-Ee-Ah,” which is how Tori Amos sings it in her Ophelia. In 2016, The Lumineers had a hit with a five-syllable Ophelia: “Oh-Oh-Feel-Ee-Ah.”
Artists to cover this song include Animal Liberation Orchestra, Jim Byrnes and My Morning Jacket. The Dead Ships played the song at a benefit concert in 2012 after Levon Helm passed away, and the following year released it as a free download on the one-year anniversary of Helm’s death.
In our interview with their frontman Devlin McCluskey, he talked about recording the song. “It was right after I came back from the funeral. We had a show in Pomona and we played this song. It’s got this big high note in it, and I can just remember pushing that so hard and being hit with this thing of, no matter how hard I go at it, no matter how hard I push for it, absolutely nothing is going to change. Nothing is going to bring him back.”
Ophelia
Boards on the window Mail by the door What would anybody leave so quickly for? Ophelia Where have you gone?
The old neighborhood just ain’t the same Nobody knows just what became of Ophelia Tell me, what went wrong
Was it something that somebody said? Mama, I know we broke the rules Was somebody up against the law? Honey, you know I’d die for you
Ashes of laughter The ghost is clear Why do the best things always disappear Like Ophelia Please darken my door
Was it something that somebody said? Mama, I know we broke the rules Was somebody up against the law? Honey, you know I’d die for you
They got your number Scared and running But I’m still waiting for the second coming Of Ophelia Come back home
Good Morning! I hope your Sunday is going well. This is such a groove song…a great way to start your day.
This song I like the Band’s cover version the best and that is saying a lot because Marvin Gaye did the original version. The song was written by Lamont Dozier and brothers Brian and Eddie Holland. The Holland–Dozier–Holland team wrote a number of hits through the sixties and seventies and continued on without Dozier for years.
The Band covered this on their Rock of Ages live album released in 1972. I first heard this on the Last Waltz and it stuck with me. I usually like studio cuts over live but this one sounds really good.
The song peaked at #34 in the Billboard 100 but was much more popular in Canada where it peaked at #11 in 1972. It also is included as a bonus track on the Cahoots album…a studio version.
Don’t Do It
Baby don’t you do it, don’t do it Don’t you break my heart Pleeeeease don’t do it, don’t you break my heart
A sacrifice would make you happy if nothing for myself Now you wanna leave me for the love of someone else My pride is all gone whether I’m right or wrong I need you baby to keep on keepin’ on
You know I’m trying to my best Oh I’m trying to do my best Don’t do it, don’t you break my heart Pleeeeease don’t do it, don’t you break my heart
My biggest mistake was loving you too much and letting you know Now you got me where you want me and you won’t let me go If my heart was made of glass well then you’d surely see How much heartache and misery, girl, you’ve been causing me
While I’ve been trying to do my best Well I’ve tried to do my best Don’t do it, don’t you break my heart
Pleeeeease don’t do it, don’t you break my heart
Go down to the river and there I be I’m gonna jump in girl, but you don’t care bout me Open up your eyes Can’t ya see I love ya? Open up you heart, girl Can’t ya see I need ya?
Oh baby don’t do it, do it, do it Don’t you break my heart Pleeeeease don’t do it don’t you break my heart
My biggest mistake was loving you too much and letting you know Now you got me where you want me and you won’t let me go If my heart was made of glass well then you’d surely see How much heartache and misery, girl, you’ve been causing me
While I’ve been trying to do my best You know I’ve tried to do my best Don’t do it, don’t you break my heart Pleeeeease don’t do it, don’t you break my heart
There is a very solemn song with a religious hymnal feel to it. Richard Manuel sings this one with a slight mournful falsetto voice that is just pure as you can get. I Shall Be Released is not commercial, not meant to be a hit, sell a million copies, but just pure music at it’s best…there are no pretensions or gimmicks…this is the Band at one of it’s many peaks.
Bob Dylan wrote this in 1967 but it was not until 1971 on his Greatest Hits Vol. II album that his version was officially released. The Band, who backed up Dylan on his first electric tour, recorded it for Music From Big Pink, which was their first album. Their version is the most well-known.
Everyone under the sun has covered this song but the Band’s own rendition was released first and is probably the best known version.
The song was the B side to The Weight released in 1968. Music From The Big Ping peaked at #30 in the Billboard 100 and #18 in Canada. That wasn’t the biggest thing though…the album helped change the landscape of popular music from the psychedelic harder rock to more earthy roots music.
From Songfacts
This song could be either an anti-death penalty composition or a metaphoric attempt by Dylan at looking forward to being released from Hell on Earth – possibly awaiting the “release” from the hell of being an innocent man wrongly imprisoned.
In Robert Shelton’s biography No Direction Home, he gives the song a different meaning. After Dylan’s motorcycle accident in 1966, when he was 25, he retreated from the spotlight. This was after he had suffered great disappointment at the reception his European and American tour dates brought. He’d been booed offstage, called a traitor, and attendance dropped at some of his concert dates. Dylan was seriously injured in the accident, and Shelton states that Dylan withdrew not only to recuperate, but to spend the time in self reflection, and with his family. He goes further, saying that the song represents Dylan’s search for personal salvation.
This was featured in the 1987 Emmy-winning documentary Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam.
Other artists to record this song include Bette Midler, Nina Simone, and Joan Baez, who performed the song at Woodstock while pregnant with her son, Gabriel. The Band also performed it during their set at the festival.
I Shall Be Released
They say everything can be replaced They say every distance is not near So I remember every face Of every man who put me here
I see my light come shining From the west down to the east Any day now, any day now I shall be released
They say every man needs protection They say that every man must fall Yet I swear I see my reflection Somewhere so high above this wall
I see my light come shining From the west down to the east Any day now, any day now I shall be released
Now, yonder stands a man in this lonely crowd A man who swears he’s not to blame All day long I hear him shouting so loud Just crying out that he was framed
I see my light come shining From the west down to the east Any day now, any day now I shall be released
Rick Danko conveys so much hurt, loneliness and heartache in this song. You can feel his pain with every word he sings. It’s one of the best vocals of pure suffering I’ve ever heard. He sounds like a man at the end of his tether because of a hopeless love affair.
The Band’s later material sometimes gets neglected since their first two albums were so good. This song was on the Northern Lights – Southern Cross album released in 1975.
The album peaked at #26 in the Billboard 100 and #27 in Canada.
Robbie Robertson: “I thought about the song in terms of saying that time heals all wounds,” he said. “Except in some cases, and this was one of those cases.”
Robbie Robertson: “I wrote this song specifically for Rick to sing, and when we first started discovering the possibilities, it kept expanding to more levels of emotion. What Garth and I could add to finalize the statement of this song was purely instinctual.”
From Songfacts
This was included on the soundtrack to The Last Waltz, a 1978 documentary about The Band directed by Martin Scorsese, named after the group’s 1976 concert at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. The group also performed the song during the concert, which was a basis for the film.
This was included on the sound Solomon Burke covered this on the 2005 album Make Do With What You Got. Other covers include My Morning Jacket on the 2007 album Endless Highway: The Music of The Band and the 2012 album Love for Levon, and Over the Rhine on the 2013 album Meet Me at the Edge of the World.
It Makes No Difference
It makes no difference where I turn I can’t get over you and the flame still burns It makes no difference, night or day The shadow never seems to fade away
And the sun don’t shine anymore And the rains fall down on my door
Now there’s no love As true as the love That dies untold But the clouds never hung so low before
It makes no difference how far I go Like a scar the hurt will always show It makes no difference who I meet They’re just a face in the crowd On a dead-end street And the sun don’t shine anymore And the rains fall down on my door
These old love letters Well, I just can’t keep Cause like the gambler says Read ’em and weep And the dawn don’t rescue me no more
Without your love I’m nothing at all Like an empty hall it’s a lonely fall Since you’ve gone it’s a losing battle Stampeding cattle They rattle the walls
And the sun don’t shine anymore And the rains fall down on my door
Well, I love you so much It’s all I can do Just to keep myself from telling you That I never felt so alone before
I’ve heard many versions of this song but when I heard Rick Danko sing it with the Band…that was it.
Long Black Veil was written in 1959 by Danny Dill with Marijohn Wilkin. Dill called it an “instant folk song.” One of Dill’s inspirations was a newspaper story about a mysterious woman who, wearing a black veil, repeatedly visited the grave of film star Rudolph Valentino.
Long Black Veil tells a compelling story from an unusual perspective. It is told from the grave by a man who was hanged for a murder he did not commit. He could have saved himself but chose not to because his alibi carried a terrible price: “I’d been in the arms of my best friend’s wife.”
It was originally recorded in Nashville by Lefty Frizzell, produced by Don Law. The peaked #6 on the Country Music Charts.
The Band’s version was on Music from Big Pink. The album peaked at #30 in the Billboard Album Charts and #18 in Canada in 1968.
Now considered a standard, it has been covered by many artists including Johnny Cash, Joan Baez, Dave Matthews, Emmylou Harris, Bruce Springsteen, Bruce Hornsby, and many other artists.
Long Black Veil
Ten years ago on a cool dark night There was someone killed ‘neath the town hall light There were few at the scene and they all did agree That the man who ran looked a lot like me
The judge said “Son, what is your alibi? If you were somewhere else then you won’t have to die” I spoke not a word although it meant my life I had been in the arms of my best friend’s wife
She walks these hills in a long black veil She visits my grave where the night winds wail Nobody knows, no, and nobody sees Nobody knows but me
The scaffold was high and eternity neared She stood in the crowd and shed not a tear But sometimes at night when the cold wind moans In a long black veil she cries over my bones
It doesn’t get much more classic than this song by The Band. I’ve covered the “Playing for a Change” version with Robbie Robertson, Ringo Starr, and many musicians across the world. It’s been covered by many artists but The Bands version will always be the goto version for me.
Robbie Robertson said he wrote this song one day while noodling with his guitar and trying to come up with songs for Music From Big Pink. When he looked inside his Martin guitar he saw the standard Martin imprint saying that the instrument was crafted in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. The name of the town spurred memories of a journey he made from his native Canada down to the Mississippi Delta when he was 16 years old. He thought of all the characters he met on that trip, and in his mind heard voices singing what would become the song’s chorus.
Robbie Robertson also claims this was influenced by the work of Luis Buñuel, a Spanish director who made some of the first movies dealing with surrealism. Robertson was intrigued by the characters in his films, who were often good people who did bad things.
The song peaked at #63 in the Billboard 100, #31 in Canada, and #21 in the UK in 1968.
The song is a standard now…it’s been covered by (from wiki) Little Feat, the Chambers Brothers, Eric Church, Chris Stapleton, Stoney LaRue, The Staple Singers, Waylon Jennings, Joe Cocker, Travis, Grateful Dead, Blues Traveler, New Riders of the Purple Sage, O.A.R., Edwin McCain, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, the Black Crowes, Spooky Tooth, Hanson, Old Crow Medicine Show, Panic! at the Disco, Shannon Curfman, Aretha Franklin, Joan Osborne, John Denver, Trampled by Turtles, Cassandra Wilson, Miranda Lambert, Al Kooper, and Mike Bloomfield, Deana Carter, New Madrid, Dionne Warwick, and Gillian Welch. Mumford & Sons, RatDog, and Bob Weir are also known to cover this song from time to time. Additional notable versions are by Zac Brown Band, Hoyt Axton, Lee Ann Womack, Smith, Weezer, the Allman Brothers Band, the Marshall Tucker Band, Free Wild, Brian Fallon, Aaron Pritchett, and others.
From Songfacts
This tells the story of a guy who visits Nazareth, and is asked by his friend Fanny to visit several of her friends. “The Weight” that is his load are all these strange people he promised he would check on. The song was never a big hit, but it endures as a classic rock staple.
Robbie Robertson got the only writing credit for this song, although other members of the group claimed that they contributed to this as well as many of their other songs and were not credited. Since only the writer receives royalties for a song, this created a great deal of tension in The Band.
The vocals are shared by Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, and Levon Helm, who harmonize on the choruses. Helm takes lead on the first three verses; Danko takes the fourth (“Crazy Chester followed me…); Helm and Danko share the last verse (“Catch the cannonball…).
One of the distinctive characteristics of The Band was their three lead vocalists. Helm had the added challenge of singing from behind his drum kit when they played live.
Nazareth, where the story takes place, refers to the town in Pennsylvania about 70 miles north of Philadelphia. The rock group Nazareth got their name from this line (“Went down to Nazareth, I was feeling about half past dead…”).
In the liner notes for the Across the Great Divide box set, Robbie Robertson is quoted as saying he chose that place because they make legendary Martin guitars there, so he was aware of the town and been there once or twice. Citizens of Nazareth, Pennsylvania, were thrilled when Robertson acknowledged it as the setting in this famous song. >>
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The characters in the song – Crazy Chester, Luke, Anna Lee, are based on friends of the band. In Levon Helm’s autobiography This Wheel’s On Fire: Levon Helm And The Story Of The Band, he explained:
“We had two or three tunes, or pieces of tunes, and ‘The Weight’ was one I would work on. Robbie had that bit about going down to Nazareth – Pennsylvania, where the Martin guitar factory is at. The song was full of our favorite characters. ‘Luke’ was Jimmy Ray Paulman. ‘Young Anna Lee’ was Anna Lee Williams from Turkey Scratch. ‘Crazy Chester’ was a guy we all knew from Fayetteville who came into town on Saturdays wearing a full set of cap guns on his hips and kinda walked around town to help keep the peace,if you follow me. He was like Hopalong Cassidy, and he was a friend of the Hawks. Ronnie would always check with Crazy Chester to make sure there wasn’t any trouble around town. And Chester would reassure him that everything was peaceable and not to worry, because he was on the case. Two big cap guns, he wore, plus a toupee! There were also ‘Carmen and the Devil’, ‘Miss Moses’ and ‘Fanny,’ a name that just seemed to fit the picture. (I believe she looked a lot like Caladonia.) We recorded the song maybe four times. We weren’t really sure it was going to be on the album, but people really liked it. Rick, Richard, and I would switch the verses around among us, and we all sang the chorus: Put the load right on me!”
There has been more than a little debate among classic rock DJs and enthusiasts over the real meaning of this song. Yes, Robertson has insisted time and again there is no biblical subtext, but many people think he may be deflecting. Consider the following:
– The narrator can’t find a bed in Nazareth, and the guy to whom he makes an inquiry just smiles and says “no.”
– Carmen and the devil were walking side by side, Carmen can go but her friend the devil has to stick around – an allusion to ever-present temptations.
– “Crazy Chester followed me and he caught me in the fall” – possible allusion to Paul on the road to Damascus.
– The most glaring one: “I do believe it’s time to get back to Miss Fanny, you know she’s the only one who sent me here with her regards for everyone” – Miss Fanny is the one who sent him to Nazareth, but now it’s time for him to go back to her; Miss Fanny is God, the “time” in question is the crucifixion, and “regards for everyone” is Jesus dying for all of man’s sins.
This was used in the movie Easy Rider. The Band performed the version heard in the movie, but on the soundtrack, a different group was used because of legal issues.
On September 28, 1968, this song reached its peak US chart position of #63. That same day, Jackie DeShannon’s cover reached its peak of #55 US. DeShannon’s release wasn’t what she had in mind. She explained in her Songfacts interview: “I absolutely said, ‘No way I’m going to do it, it’s The Band’s record, goodbye.’ But the label kept calling me, so I finally said, ‘Well, if you can get confirmation from The Band that they’re not putting it out as a single and I can do it with their permission, then okay.’ So, I recorded it. The record’s going up the chart and all of a sudden, here comes The Band’s single. Then Aretha Franklin’s version comes out. So I was at a radio station talking to the program director, and there were two other people promoting the same record outside the door.”
Aretha Franklin’s version was the biggest hit, reaching #19 in March 1969. Many other acts have since covered the song. A version by Diana Ross and the Supremes with The Temptations reached #46 in October 1969, which was the last time it charted in America. The song was also recorded by: A Group Called Smith, The Black Crowes, Bob Dylan, Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers, Joan Osborne, Keller Williams, King Curtis & Duane Allman, Otis & Travis, Rotary Connection, Spooky Tooth, and The Ventures.
The album title came from the big pink house in upstate New York they rented and used as a recording studio. The Band was Bob Dylan’s backup band, and they moved there to be near Dylan while he was recovering from a motorcycle accident. Dylan offered to help with this album, but The Band refused because they wanted to make a mark on their own.
Robbie Robertson described this song as being about “the impossibility of sainthood.”
The Staple Singers sing on this in The Band’s 1978 concert film The Last Waltz. “Being in The Last Waltz was the most beautiful thing that ever happened to the Staple Singers,” Mavis Staples told Rolling Stone in 2015. “I still can’t get offstage without doing ‘The Weight.'”
While most of The Last Waltz was taken from The Band’s farewell concert in San Francisco, this performance was shot on a sound stage.
The line, “Catch a Cannonball now, to take me down the line,” refers to a train. There was no real Cannonball except in legend: It was popularized in the song from the 1800s called “The Wabash Cannonball,” and mentioned in some blues songs of the early 1900s, including the original version of “C.C. Rider.”
In 2007, this was used in a commercial for Cingular Wireless. Levon Helm took issue with it and sued BBDO, the advertising agency that came up with the campaign. Said Helm: “It was just a complete, damn sellout of The Band – its reputation, its music; just as much disrespect as you could pour on Richard and Rick’s tombstones.”
The Band played this at Woodstock in 1969. The festival fit in well with their schedule, as they were touring to promote their first album, Music From Big Pink. Their performance stands out as a highlight from the festival, and earned The Band a great deal of exposure. >>
Scottish rock band Nazareth, who are best known for their transatlantic hit “Love Hurts,” took their name from a lyric in this song – “I pulled into Nazareth, Was feelin’ about half past dead.”
This song was featured in the 1978 documentary of The Band, The Last Waltz, directed by Martin Scorsese. Most of the film was shot at their Thanksgiving Day, 1976 concert at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, but their performance of “The Weight” was done in a studio with The Band joined by The Staple Singers, a gospel group who wrung out the spirituality of the song.
In celebration of Band drummer Levon Helm, who died in 2012, “The Weight” was performed at the Grammy Awards the next year with Mavis Staples joining Elton John, Mumford & Sons, the Zac Brown Band and Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes. Unlike many star-packed performances that get messy fast, this one worked. The song is a great showcase for multiple performers and served as a fitting tribute to Helm.
Aretha Franklin’s version featured Duane Allman playing slide guitar using an empty bottle of decongestant pills.
Joe Cocker also covered this song. It was included on the 2005 deluxe edition of his 1970 live album, Mad Dogs & Englishmen.
Weezer covered this in 2008 and released it as a bonus track on The Red Album.
The Weight
I pulled into Nazareth, was feeling ’bout half past dead I just need some place where I can lay my head Hey, mister, can you tell me, where a man might find a bed? He just grinned and shook my hand, “No” was all he said
Take a load off Fanny, take a load for free Take a load off Fanny, and you put the load right on me
I picked up my bags, I went looking for a place to hide When I saw old Carmen and the Devil, walking side by side I said, “Hey, Carmen, c’mon, let’s go downtown” She said, “I gotta go, but my friend can stick around”
Take a load off Fanny, take a load for free Take a load off Fanny, and you put the load right on me
Go down, Miss Moses, ain’t nothin’ you can say It’s just old Luke, and Luke’s waiting on the judgment day Well, Luke, my friend, what about young Annalee He said, “Do me a favor, son, won’t you stay and keep Annalee company”
Take a load off Fanny, take a load for free Take a load off Fanny, and you put the load right on me
[Rick Danko] Crazy Chester followed me, and he caught me in the fog Said, “I will fix your rag, if you’ll take Jack, my dog” I said, “Wait a minute Chester, you know, I’m a peaceful man” He said, “That’s okay, boy, won’t you feed him when you can”
Take a load off Fanny, take a load for free Take a load off Fanny, and you put the load right on me
[Helm and Danko] Catch the cannonball, now to take me down the line My bag is sinking low, and I do believe it’s time To get back to Miss Fanny, you know she’s the only one Who sent me here, with her regards for everyone
Take a load off Fanny, take a load for free Take a load off Fanny, and you put the load right on me
One quick story before the song. When I was 6 years old my dad, mom, sister. and I piled into the car and we all traveled to the carnival. I was so excited…too excited. I was in the backseat and stuck my head out the driver’s side window. My dad was not paying attention…can you see this coming? My dad started to roll the window up and could not understand why it was stuck. My neck was in it and Dad was trying to roll up harder. By this time I could not breathe, my face was turning red, and I was flopping around like a mouse in a trap…my mom yelled at my dad…MAX IS IN THE WINDOW… what? my dad asked…then my mom and sister screamed…MAX IS IN THE WINDOW…in unison no less. I can still hear him….Son…why the hell did you have your head handing out the window? Uh Dad…I wanted out to go to the carnival.
I loved carnivals growing up. At night they were magical with the lights, sounds, and smells.
This song was on The Band’s fourth studio album Cahoots. The song was written by Rick Danko, Levon Helm, and Robbie Robertson. The song peaked at #72 in the Billboard 100 in 1972. The album Cahoots peaked at #21 in the Billboard Album Charts in the same year.
The Band had a new studio in Bearsville NY to experiment in during the early ’70s. It was opened by their manager Albert Grossman but Robbie Robertson commented that it left them a bit cold. They are also going through drug problems with three members at the time of recording.
Rick Danko in 1993: “I think we shipped a million copies of that second album,” “And that changed a lot of people’s lives — in particular, the Band’s. After that, we were only getting together once a year, for a couple of months, to record. It was like we were too decadent to play.”
Life Is A Carnival
You can walk on the water Drown in the sand You can fly off a mountaintop If anybody can
Run away, run away (run away, run away) It’s the restless age Look away, look away (look away, look away) You can turn the page
Hey, buddy, would you like to buy a watch real cheap? Here on the street I got six on each arm And two more ’round my feet
Life is a carnival Believe it or not Life is a carnival Two bits a shot
Saw a man with a jinx In the third degree From trying to deal with people People, you can’t see
Take away, take away (take away, take away) This house of mirrors Give away, give away (give away, give away) All the souvenirs
We’re all in the same boat ready to float Off the edge of the world The flat old world The street is a sideshow From the peddler to the corner girl
Life is a carnival It’s in the book Life is a carnival Take another look
Hey, buddy, would you like to buy a watch real cheap? Here on the street I got six on each arm And two more ’round my feet
Life is a carnival Believe it or not Life is a carnival Two bits a shot
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