"The Weight" by The Band

By Richard K. Barry

This is just a cheap excuse to post a tune by The Band, one of my favourite all-time groups. Yes, Rick Danko was a member of this mostly Canadian group. He played bass, Garth Hudson was on keys, Richard Manuel was on piano and drums, and Robbie Robertson was on guitar. Levon Helm, the only non-Canadian, played drums, mandolin, and guitar. And with the exception of Hudson, they all sang. Many of them also played different instruments, which I'm neglecting to list.

The group was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked them #50 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, and in 200, they received the Grammys' Lifetime Achievement Award.

I guess you would call them a roots music-influenced rock group. Close enough.

artwork, Music from Big Pink

Their 1968 debut album, Music from Big Pink, contained the single "The Weight," which was ranked in 2004 as the 41st best song of all time in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.

I have no idea what the Rolling Stone lists are worth, but it's a great song, with a chorus that makes it incredible to sing with other people. 

The clip below of "The Weight" is taken from the film The Last Waltz. Just because it's getting late, I'll rip the Wiki entry the on movie, which states: 

The Last Waltz was a concert by the The Band, held on American Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. The Last Waltz was advertised as the end of The Band's illustrious touring career, and the concert saw The Band joined by more than a dozen special guests, including Paul Butterfield, Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Ronnie Hawkins, Dr. John, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Ringo Starr, Muddy Waters, Ronnie Wood, Bobby Charles, and Neil Young.

Yes, that's all true. Here's "The Weight":

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)