The Weight

"The Weight" is a song from 1968 by the Canadian - American rock group The Band .

Content
[verbergen]
 * 1 The number
 * 2 Movies
 * 3 Cases
 * 4 Radio 2 Top 2000
 * 5 External link

Number [ edit ]
In the original studio recording of The Weight gold this lineup: Hudson (the organist of The Band) and Manuel (the pianist) had thus exchanged instrument. In later performances were organ and / or synthesizers played by Garth Hudson and piano by Richard Manuel, who often took part of the lead vocals of The Weight for his account.
 * Levon Helm - drums, 1st lead singer
 * Rick Danko - bass guitar, 2nd lead singer
 * Garth Hudson - piano
 * Richard Manuel - background vocals, Hammond organ
 * Robbie Robertson - background vocals, acoustic guitar and electric guitar

The house "Big Pink" where The Weight came about.

It is one of the songs from their debut album Music From Big Pink from 1968. The title of the album is taken from the house "Big Pink" in Woodstock (New York)where The Band lived and Bob Dylan, among others the legendary Basement Tapes was recorded. The credits of The Weight are owned by songwriter Robbie Robertson, but the song came about thanks to the close cooperation of all five members of The Band.

The Weight was also released as a single, with the B-side written by Dylan I Shall Be Released. The picture took only # 63 in the US and # 21 in the British charts.Although The Weight was not high on the poplijsten, it did get the # 41 spot on the list of assigned 500 best songs of all time according to the magazine Rolling Stone . The Band hit this number rarely at their concerts and also in the solo careers of the group remained a permanent part of their repertoire. It was recorded many times by other artists and is considered a classic in the rock.

The Weight is a slightly surreal (or, as Robertson said, "Buñuelish ") story about a person who arrives in the town of Nazareth in Pennsylvania . Once the traveler meets different people. About these encounters narrates the song: successively a man who not him point the way to a hotel, " Carmen "and "the Devil" that reach together, "Crazy Chester" who offers him a bed in exchange for his dog, and " Luke "that is going to wait for the apocalypse without worrying about his young bride.

This popular song by The Band made ​​famous by the movie Easy Rider with Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda in 1969, which it was for contractual reasons executed by the group Smith . In the concert film The Last Waltz by Martin Scorsese in 1978 is a studio for uptake of The Weight by The Band and the American gospel group The Staple Singers, with solos by Levon Helm, Roebuck Staples, Mavis Staples and Rick Danko.

Movies [ Edit ]
The Weight is for the vast majority of (whether official or not) concert DVDs of The Band (and also of the individual ex-band members) and further in the following films:
 * Easy Rider (1969)
 * The Last Waltz (1978)
 * Berkeley in the Sixties (1990)
 * Woodstock : The Lost Performances (1990) (video)
 * Patch Adams (1998)
 * Sports Night (1998) (TV episode The Quality of Mercy at 29K)
 * The '60s (1999) (TV)
 * Girl, Interrupted (1999)
 * The Boys of 2nd Street Park (2003) (TV)
 * Breakfast with Hunter (2003)
 * Festival Express (2003)
 * Starsky & Hutch (2004)
 * Wanderlust (2006) (TV)
 * 1408 (2007)

[Covers edit ]
The Weight by numerous artists cover versions made. The best known are those of
 * Jackie DeShannon
 * Van Morrison
 * Little Feat
 * The Staple Singers
 * Grateful Dead
 * The New Riders of the Purple Sage
 * Rooney
 * The Black Crowes
 * Spooky Tooth
 * Hanson
 * Panic at the Disco
 * Aretha Franklin
 * Joan Osborne
 * John Denver
 * Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield
 * Dionne Warwick
 * Lee Ann Womack
 * The Supremes & The Temptations
 * The Allman Brothers Band
 * Joe Cocker
 * Jeff Healey
 * Michelle Shocked
 * Weezer
 * Cassandra Wilson