Was written by Levon Helm and done by the band yeas before Joan Baez did that song. Levon Helm owned the Woodstock property. Robbie Robertson is a piece of shit from Canada that would not have the knowledge of such a song nor Cripple Creek, a place close to Elaine Arkansas where Lavon, Levon’s given ame, grew up.
Thank you so much for your insightful contribution replying to a post made 12 years ago in a thread that has been dead for 5 years. That’s the sort of thing that makes this place the happening spot it is.
The Last Waltz has been playing on AXS channel lately. It’s a zombie I don’t mind hearing REAL LOUD! The ‘Love for Levon’ concert is just, meh, okay. I love Levon and The Band, but his Daughter is not my favorite singer.
Not to mention Levon Helm has been dead for almost six years. Strange how that wasn’t mentioned during the last zombiefication.
Robertson and Helm did make peace just a few days before Helm’s death.
Not to mention giving the writing credit for TNTDODD to Levon, who didn’t write it.
At least this reminds me to get and read Robertson’s book. It came out last year. Hearing some of the interviews he made recently it seems that alcohol played a big part in the breakup. Most of the band couldn’t keep it together and Robertson was sick of dealing with it. In the interviews in the movie you can see it. Robertson is trying to tell their story, Danko and Manuel seem to be plastered.
I love the concert and all of the members especially the monster talent Helm was. But it did make me sad to see him crybabying in an interview about Robertson (who by the way, wasn’t in charge of filming or editing regarding his close ups).
Robertson was the driving force and the musical genius behind The Band and deserves the credit for being so.
But the highlight of the show, IMO, was Danko. My god that man put his soul into his singing.
Not all the time, but at certain times, he was in band with 3 junkies. Garth wasn’t one, but it was tough to keep that together.
When the movie was made it was Robbie who wanted all that to happen. The others weren’t retiring, and weren’t hanging out with Marty Scorcese, and didn’t own copyrights to tide them over.
There are two sides I guess but Robbie will have the last word. You have to assert your ownership of songs when they get published.
From what I understand the others (or most of the others I’m not sure) sold off what rights they did have very early on.
Robertson’s book covers up to the Last Waltz and it seemed to be well received. Like I said I haven’t read it. In interviews he’s very articulate, practically lyrical. Of course he paints himself in a good light but I’ve not heard him bad mouth the others except for acknowledging their issues with sobriety.
As I stated earlier in this thread oh so many years ago, Robertson’s self titled first solo album is one of my favorite albums of all time. In my top 5. That makes me a little prejudiced on his side.
Since this thread is up and staggering about, I’ll just say that Helm was the best damn thing in the film Shooter. His three minutes onscreen positively crackled. The rest of the film involved the majority of the cast phoning it in. (Seriously - Michael Pena alone needs to be slapped repeatedly for his slouching, mumbling FBI agent. And God only knows what Danny Glover was on.)
I thought it was as simple as Levon seeing The Band as an ensemble act, with five fantastic multi-instrument musicians, three lead singers and a guitar player, while Martin Scorsese portrayed them on screen as “Robbie Robertson’s backing band” and Robertson did little to correct him.
I don’t know enough about the politics and dynamics of The Band to judge how right Levon was, and I suspect he had a point but that Robbie had his reasons, too. In fact, thanks for bumping this thread because I hadn’t seen it before and I learned a lot.
In a rock band that existed from 1962, say, to 1974 or so, the buying and selling of rights happens a lot. Neil Young bought and gave back Bruce Palmers rights a few times. In Steppenwolf there are some stories to be told.
When you are the writer you can buy and sell the other guys, but it makes for a weird vibe. The Band had 3 singers and were a collaborative effort by any measure. But some guys partying and some writing the tunes was not going to work out.
But the book was great. I’m sure you’ll like it a lot. I was glad to hear Robbies side and it seems reasonable enough to me.
In the movie credits, Robertson was a named producer. He did more work than the others. He has been producer on other movies and albums, he should have gotten more money. If he was smarter with his career and finances he can’t be faulted for that, imo.
He could write a lovely tune, but the boy can’t sing.
I have always thought of Levon as the leader, I need to read the books.
The deepest soul in the band was Richard Manuel. His songs are the most luminous, and there’s only very few of them before he stopped writing. In a Station and Whispering Pines are from another world.
And what about Garth Hudson. Is he crazy or just genius strange and weird?
This summer “It Make’s No Difference” popped out of my back brain and grew into a major ear worm. (It was a surprise, as I’d paid no attention to the song during a couple of viewings of Stage Fright.) The lyrics and vocals stop just short of caricature and rip your heart out. The guitar is brutal and Garth’s sax solo is sweet cream.
A few YouTube viewing got me to order Northern Lights Southern Cross. The version there is good, but the Stage Fright version tops it. (I think the film cuts a verse that is included on the soundtrack album… probably for the better.)
“It Makes No Difference” from Last Waltz soundtrack, with Robertson solo that isn’t in the film. (But is nice.)
Yes
A weird annecdote I thought I’d shared previously but I guess I never have.
About 25 years ago I had a job cleaning offices, and one of my clients was a movie production company, or something. In a slush pile that eventually ended up in a recycle bin I found Robbie Robertson’s acting resume/ c.v./whatever.
He had all his Last Waltz credits listed in three parts…as a musician actor and producer. Also listed that way for his videos… each listed individually on this ridiculous 12 page thing.
Of course, I don’t know anything about show biz resumes, but the layout and seemed really odd and resume padding to me.
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