I know, I know, everybody knows this song and a million versions of it, but I had never seen this live version from the Americana Awards night in 2012, where everybody seems progressively to blow the previous singer out of the water, culminating in the sublime Bonnie Raitt. But perhaps I am getting ahead of myself.
‘The Weight’ is probably one of the most iconic songs in the americana genre, even though it was not considered as such at the time, as the genre had not yet been named. It came, courtesy of the main writer of Dylan’s former backup band (The Hawks, subsequently known as The Band), Canadian Robbie Robertson: it materialised in the summer of 1968 when heavy rock and especially psychedelic albums were very popular and it appeared on The Band’s album of that year “Music from Big Pink”, an album with claims to being the first true americana album (even though the band were mostly Canadian).
It’s interesting, isn’t it, that, while nearly all the most iconic or popular songs in popular music history (the last 60-70 years or so) tend to be lyrically quite simple, this song is mysterious and enigmatic. I don’t suppose many people (who just listen randomly to whatever version of the song is playing) realise that Robertson wrote the song in response to his interest in the film-writing narratives of that most enigmatic film-maker, Luis Buñuel. He has explained all this in various interviews, how a traveller is asked to deliver a simple salutation in a town (Nazareth) on behalf of a friend (Fanny) but he ends up being asked by others (Carmen, Miss Moses and Crazy Chester) to do favours for them and the whole scenario becomes very complicated, a typical Buñuel diegesis. All the characters are based on real people known to Band members, but they are all bound up in biblical imagery, totally unlike any popular song of the time. And Nazareth (a real town in Pennsylvania) happens to be the town where Martin Guitars were based, proving to be a useful name when the song has such biblical connotations.
So, the song’s popularity must be assumed to be due to its catchy chorus “Take a load off, Fanny / Take a load for free / Take a load off, Fanny / And (And, and) You put the load right on me (You put the load right on me)” – a simple sing-along in live performance. And surprisingly, the title is never once mentioned in the song.
And so to this version, which includes an array of americana superstars, delivered at the awards in 2012 in tribute to The Band drummer Levon Helm, who died that year and who was the lead singer on the original version of the song. Everybody will have their favourite performer, but it seems to be a universal truth that Bonnie Raitt stole the show on this live version with her take on the final verse and for being the outstanding instrumentalist with her slide guitar solo towards the end. Anyway, enjoy; it is a song that never fails to deliver, even after more than 60 years.
All of this is so wonderful, but Bonnie really does just shine