"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down".
I am very fortunate in having heard this amazing song performed live by The Band on their tour in support of the s/t "brown" album. The only other live music experience I’ve had that equals it was hearing Little Village perform John Hiatt’s "Lipstick Traces" on a soundstage in Burbank in ’92. The Little Village album was not so hot, but they sure were!
The Beatles? Saw them in ’65. Hendrix? Saw him in ’68 and ’69. Cream? Saw them in ’67 and ’68. The Who? Saw them in ’68 and ’69. Who else ya wanna name? Sorry, hearing The Band live spoiled me for just about EVERYONE else. Not Iris DeMent, whom I just saw this past Thursday. Stunningly great!
Here’s J.R. Robertson, Eric Levon Helm, and some other guy talking about the song and its’ creation:
https://youtu.be/nVYBW_zCvOg?t=1
@vonhelmholtz: I respect the Hell out of Joan Baez. But she became the object of derision amongst myself and my peers when she sang "till so much calvary came" instead of the correct "till Stoneman’s calvary came" in "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down". Come on Joan, if we could hear it surely you should be able to!
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The Band…..self titled. I’m hard pressed to recall another album capable of transporting me so deeply into another mind space. ”Last night, ain’t no joke…my whole barn went up in smoke..” King Harvest. Richard Manuel’s vocals on Whispering Pines. One of the most heartfelt performances on record. On a Sunday afternoon it will take you away. |
Just listened to the Brown Album and Stage Fright yesterday in memory of Robbie. I can still remember listening to Big Pink for the first time when it was initially released and thinking that I had never heard anything like it in my life. The Weight, Chest Fever, Crippled Creek and on and on are all timeless. laid the groundwork for some of my favorite bands many years later like Uncle Tupelo and the Jayhawks. As far as John Hiatt’s Slow Turning love the album. Waiting and hoping someone would release a proper remaster on an LP. |
@rettrussell: A beautiful post, thank you. Eric Clapton also holds Richard Manuel in very high regard. His death (okay, suicide) is the only one of a musician that brought me to tears. @relayer101: I myself found Music From Big Pink to be unfathomable for a year after its' release in 1968. It wasn't until the next year that I heard my first really good ensemble-style band (New Buffalo, a quarter lead by Buffalo Springfield drummer Dewey Martin, with Bobby's brother Randy Fuller on bass and harmony vocals) that I "got" that style of music. It changed everything. I view the history of Rock 'n' Roll in terms of BTB (before The Band) and ATB (after). Not to be sacrilegious, but like B.C. and A.D. |
