And now we know who Anna Lee really is...

http://cfc.katv.com/videoondemand.cfm?id=6786

Some of my favorite music right there.. It's nice to know the back story.

Great song and Band!...and I'd never heard the story before..

VERY COOL! Thanks for posting the link. :beerchug:

Cool! Now, if you don't mind, could you find us links that explain the rest of the song? :)

BTW, this thread forced me to get out Music from Big Pink :music:

LOL. Well if it's any consolation, Levon did discuss "The Weight" in his autobiography, 'This Wheel's On Fire'. According to Helm, the song is about the impossibility of sainthood. Luckily, Wikipedia has a page devoted to the song: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weight

A great, great song.

I wonder if setting the song in Nazareth (PA, ironically echoing that other Nazareth) is in fact some homage to Martin Guitars.

Cool

Neat!

Bizarre, kind of off-the-wall song.... As if 1968 wasn't a bizarre, off-the-wall time ? Still, it is one of the most fondly remembered songs of that era.

Bizarre, kind of off-the-wall song.... As if 1968 wasn't a bizarre, off-the-wall time ? Still, it is one of the most fondly remembered songs of that era.

You're telling me. What happened to Graham Parsons?

My only problem with the story is that Robbie Robertson wrote the song, not Levon Helm.

I started a thread about the meaning of the song a few years back.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=37457&highlight=weight

John

It's always been my understanding that Robertson manipulated the contracts to give him credit for songs whether he wrote them or not. More than likely, it was a group effort. But you're right, it says "J.R. Robertson" on the label.

He also may have given whomever sang the song some leeway with the lyrics as well. It was always my understanding that the characters of each verse were loosely based on people the guys in The Band knew... so that part makes sense to me.

It is one of my favorite songs especially when joined by the Staples Singers in the Last Waltz.

Cool! Now, if you don't mind, could you find us links that explain the rest of the song? :)

Here you go :)

John

Love the drum sound on that song

And now we know who Anna Lee really is...

Well, I'll be... I always thought that the lyric said "What about young Emily"

Learn sompin' new ever' day! Thanks for the link.

Gram Parsons ODed on heroin. He was buried and promptly dug up by his manager and buried at Joshua Tree.

Of all the waste of life in the music industry,here was a man who was at the start of something big in his life

Alan

There's a song about him out on the public station here. I don't know who does it, but it's called "Listening To Levon". Evidently the song's narrator was ignoring some girl because he was preoccupied with The Band's music.
"I was lost, I was gone
Listening to Levon
In another time, some other place." etc
The last verse speaks to the song's subject hoping she's already changed the station and is "listening right now to that ol' boy on the radio." What a great tribute.
Levon 's live reading of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" on 'The Last Waltz' makes my fur stand straight up.
Oh, and I always thought it was "Emily" too.
By the way, the way I heard it Gram's body was actually BURNED at Joshua Tree.

and bought the new re-release on heavyweight Vinyl. And it still sends shivers down my spine too. Interesting backstory. Thanks-I enjoyed the link.

I hear Helm's new "Dirt Farmer" is quite good as well.

Knowing the song's meaning makes all the difference when you go to play and sing it. No good deed goes unpunished. Thanks, guys!:thmbsp:

I liked Levon in "The Right Stuff"-He played Jack Ridley, the assistant to Chuck Yeager. The REAL Chuck Yeager was in the movie, too.

There's a song about him out on the public station here. I don't know who does it, but it's called "Listening To Levon". Evidently the song's narrator was ignoring some girl because he was preoccupied with The Band's music.
"I was lost, I was gone
Listening to Levon
In another time, some other place." etc
The last verse speaks to the song's subject hoping she's already changed the station and is "listening right now to that ol' boy on the radio." What a great tribute.
Levon 's live reading of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" on 'The Last Waltz' makes my fur stand straight up.
Oh, and I always thought it was "Emily" too.
By the way, the way I heard it Gram's body was actually BURNED at Joshua Tree.

The singer is Marc Cohn
And you right,he was burned

Thanks. Maybe now that I see the name in print I'll remember it.

WOW! What interesting information! I love learning about the meaning of favorite songs.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=AKl9ZmS0NmQ


such a great song :)

I liked Levon in "The Right Stuff"-He played Jack Ridley, the assistant to Chuck Yeager. The REAL Chuck Yeager was in the movie, too.

I love when Levon cuts the broom handle for Yeager to use as a leaver, then says, " That oughta work," and twirls it in his fingers like a drum stick.

Great Stuff!

On another note: I just picked up "Endless Highway-The Music of the Band"
http://www.amazon.com/Endless-Highway-Music-Various-Artists/dp/B000JMJVPY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1207153027&sr=1-1

Lee Ann Womack covers "The Weight". Really beautiful.

Dan