Up On Cripple Creek – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

In Turntable Talk Dave said: This time around, we’re going Sans Sophomore Slump. We all remember the triumphant debuts to the scene by The Knack, Meat Loaf, the Ramones…but how many recall, let alone listen to ‘But the Little Girls Understand’, ‘Dead Ringer’s or ‘Leave Home’… the follow-ups for them? In other words a great 2nd album by any artist. Many times, that 2nd album is rushed, or the artist used all of their songs for the first album. The example I use is The Knack. It was a great fun first album and a bad second.

Thank you, Dave, for including me in this so I can talk about this great album. There were a few that came to mind while doing this. The Who’s A Quick One, Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks, Carole King Tapestry, and many more but I decided on this great Americana band that was actually most Canadian. The album is called The Band, and its nickname is The Brown Album. Their first album was Music From Big Pin,k and it was released in 1968. This album was released in 1969.

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.

The album is said to be a concept album about a past America. It’s an album that every rock fan should own. While even novice fans of the group likely know classics like “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” and “Up on Cripple Creak,” the record is an amazing listening experience from beginning to end. Robbie Robertson’s lyrics weave fluidly from one song to the next, while the musical accompaniment never disappoints.

Robertson wasn’t just a songwriter. He was more of a director and screenwriter, tailoring roles that played to the strengths of his three leading men. He did have 3 lead singers to work with who could have fronted 3 other bands. They knew each other so well that he could pick who sang what and when. His songwriting process had more in common with films than rock songs. Robertson would go to flea markets and antique stores to purchase screenplays. That’s how he wrote songs…like it was a screenplay.

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? Those are not just songs; they are visual pictures sent through music that only Robertson could write. We continue to benefit from his hard work and gift…and always will.

Manuel was the most versatile singer in the Band. He was called the lead singer if someone asked. Manuel took the lead vocals on Across The Great Divide, Rockin’ Chair, and Jawbone, and shared it in King Harvest. Of all the singers, Manuel is overlooked more than the other two. It’s probably because he wasn’t singing lead on the huge “hits” such as The Weight, Up On Cripple Creek, and The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down. He does sing on one of my favorite Band songs ever…King Harvest (Has Surely Come). I didn’t realize how great a voice he had until I heard him sing Georgia On My Mind.

Levon had that great southern voice that was earthy and soulful. Robertson knew just when to use Levon, and he did strengthen Robertson’s songs. Rick Danko had the most vulnerable voice of all three. I never quite heard a voice like his before or since. The amount of talent they had was staggering. I’m talking about voices here, but I haven’t even mentioned the musical skills of these guys. Garth Hudson, who recently passed, played keyboards like NO other. I mean no other. He made a massive wall of sound in the background that identified them from other bands. His approach to his sound was so unique that it’s not copied much because it has to be in the right musical surroundings. Robertson has said that there was no one like him period.

This album contains some of their best-known and best tracks. Let’s look at some of the tracks. Now, is this as good as Music from Big Pink? I think so and in some ways, I like it more. I think it was their best album when all is said and done. I could yack and yack more…but just listen to the album!

Across The Great Divide, Rag Mama Rag, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Up On Cripple Creek, Whispering Pines, King Harvest (Has Surely Come), When You Are Awake, Jemima Surrender, Rockin’ Chair, Look Out Cleveland, Jawbone, and The Unfaithful Servant.

What a tracklist that is.

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What a great single this was… Up On Cripple Creek with the B side of The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down. Robbie Robertson wrote this song and it appeared on The Band’s sophomore self-titled album.

This song was their highest-charting Billboard song and it peaked at #25 in 1970.

The Band rented Sammy Davis’s house turning the pool house into a recording studio, nailing baffles all along the outside wall and getting a great sound inside. The album was recorded there except “Up On Cripple Creek”, “Jemima Surrender” and “Whispering Pines” which was recorded at the Hit Factory studio in New York City.

The unusual sound that sounds like a jaw harp was achieved by Hudson with a wah-wah pedal on his clavinet.

The song has a great Americana sound to it. Hard to believe this band was all Canadian except for the southern Levon Helm.

From Songfacts

Guitarist Robbie Robertson wrote this song, which tells a disjointed story about a mountain man and a girl named Bessie. We hear about a trip to the horse races, listening to Spike Jones, and how what really makes him happy is when she “dips her doughnut in my tea.”

Like many songs by The Band, it’s wide open for interpretation. Robertson claims he doesn’t even know what’s going on. “I don’t really write songs with anything other than just a storytelling sense,” he said when asked about the song in Goldmine (August, 1998). “You sit down and write the song, and usually when something happens, you just don’t even know where it came from, or why it came, or anything like that. That’s the best. You know, when something comes out of you that surprises you. And it was one of those. You know, I was just sitting down to see if I could think of anything, and that’s what came out. But it was a fun song to write.”

Drummer Levon Helm sang lead on this track, giving it a very folksy vibe.

The guy in this song is one of the many curious characters Robbie Robertson has conceived. “We’re not dealing with people at the top of the ladder,” he said. “We’re saying what about that house out there in the middle of that field? What does this guy think, with that one light on upstairs, and that truck parked out there? That’s who I’m curious about.”

Robertson is listed as the only songwriter on this track, which is something his bandmates disputed, as they claimed they helped write it. Songwriting credits going to Robertson was a great source of friction in The Band.

That funky sound on “Up On Cripple Creek” was created by keyboardist Garth Hudson, who played a Hohner Clavinet D6 through a Vox Wah Wah pedal.

In The Band’s 2000 Greatest Hits compilation, Levon Helm said, “It took a long time to seep into us. We cut it two or three times, but nobody really liked it. It wasn’t quite enough fun. Finally one night we just got hold of it, doubled up a couple of chorus and harmony parts, and that was it.”

There are Cripple Creeks throughout the United States and Canada, including one in an old mining town in Colorado and another near Hamilton, Ontario. The title may have come from one of these places, but the song doesn’t appear to be set in one specific Cripple Creek.

The B-side of the single was “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” which became a hit for Joan Baez in 1971.

The Band performed this on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1969. It was their only appearance on the show.

The rap duo Gang Starr sampled this on their 1990 track “Beyond Comprehension.”

Up On Cripple Creek

When I get off of this mountain
You know where I want to go
Straight down the Mississippi River
To the Gulf of Mexico

To Lake George, Louisiana
Little Bessie, girl that I once knew
And she told me just to come on by
If there’s anything she could do