Post by Steve Gardner on Feb 9, 2008 22:10:56 GMT
As a teenager, I heard a lot of The Band, since they were my parent's favourite group. It's fair to say, I couldn't stand them. Firstly, well... simply because my parents liked them! And secondly, because I was heavily into the Mod revivial that was taking place around the early- to mid-80s.
For me, the idea of listening to - or worse, watching - a group of 'hippies' performing 60-influenced rock was about as exciting as a very unexciting thing.
Now for the u-turn.
The Band held a farewell concert in 1978. It was dubbed The Last Waltz. I don't know why, but one evening, whilst my parents were out, I started watching a video of the concert, which was produced by Martin Scorcese in a curious but very effective documentary style.
It was simply breathtaking. I can't say I was captivated by the music necessarily, just by the overall experience. Their songs were lyrically rich and meaningful, unlike most of the stuff I'd been in to (with the exception of The Jam - Paul Weller remains one of the finest songwriters in Britain as far as I'm concerned). And more than that, they were an extraordinarily talented group of musicians, again unlike the members of the groups I'd been listening to.
Here are three songs from the concert, selected because they are, first and foremost, remarkable songs, and secondly, because they demonstrate the musicianship, versatility (three differnt songs, three different vocalists) and passion that make them, as far as I'm concerned, one of the best performing artists there has even been.
Note: they've been uploaded by different people so the quality varies a little from video to video.
It Makes No Difference
The Shape I'm In
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
This last song is about the American Civil War. The meaning of 'Dixie' is explained by Jonathan Taplin, who is quoted by a web site dedicated to The Band. The lyrics follow.
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down - The Band
For me, the idea of listening to - or worse, watching - a group of 'hippies' performing 60-influenced rock was about as exciting as a very unexciting thing.
Now for the u-turn.
The Band held a farewell concert in 1978. It was dubbed The Last Waltz. I don't know why, but one evening, whilst my parents were out, I started watching a video of the concert, which was produced by Martin Scorcese in a curious but very effective documentary style.
It was simply breathtaking. I can't say I was captivated by the music necessarily, just by the overall experience. Their songs were lyrically rich and meaningful, unlike most of the stuff I'd been in to (with the exception of The Jam - Paul Weller remains one of the finest songwriters in Britain as far as I'm concerned). And more than that, they were an extraordinarily talented group of musicians, again unlike the members of the groups I'd been listening to.
Here are three songs from the concert, selected because they are, first and foremost, remarkable songs, and secondly, because they demonstrate the musicianship, versatility (three differnt songs, three different vocalists) and passion that make them, as far as I'm concerned, one of the best performing artists there has even been.
Note: they've been uploaded by different people so the quality varies a little from video to video.
It Makes No Difference
The Shape I'm In
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
This last song is about the American Civil War. The meaning of 'Dixie' is explained by Jonathan Taplin, who is quoted by a web site dedicated to The Band. The lyrics follow.
For non-American readers only, apologies to American readers![6] Dixie is a popular name for those southern states that formed the Confederate States of America in the Civil War of 1861-1865. According to two august dictionaries it's "origin unknown". According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the origin lies in banknotes issued by the Citizens Bank of New Orleans prior to 1860. The ten dollar bill had the French "dix" on the reverse, and became known as dixies. So New Orleans was "dixie-land" and eventually the name applied to Louisiana, then to the whole of the south. The song Dixie was written in 1859 by Daniel Decatur Emmett (who came from Ohio), and became the marching tune for the Confederate armies.[7] It was played at the inauguration of Jefferson Davis in 1861. I was taught that Dixie described the states south of the "Mason-Dixon line" between slaveholding and free states, but this might have been a fantasy of my teacher.
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down - The Band
Virgil Caine is my name, and I served on the Danville train
Til Stonewall's Calvery came and tore up the tracks again
In the winter of '65, we were hungry, just barely alive
By May the tenth, Richmond had fell,
it's a time I remember oh so well
The night they drove old Dixie down, and the bells were ringin'
The night they drove old Dixie down, and the people were singin'
They went na na na na na na, na na na na na na na na
Back with my wife in Tennessee, when one day she said to me
"Virgil, quick come see, there goes Robert E. Lee"
Well I don't mind choppin' wood,
and I don't care if the money's no good
Ya take what ya need and ya leave the rest
They never should have taken the very best
The night they drove old Dixie down, and the bells were ringin'
The night they drove old Dixie down, and the people were singin'
They went na na na na na na, na na na na na na na na
Like my father before me, I will work the land
Like my brother above me, I took a rebel stand
He was just eighteen, proud and brave,
til a Yankee laid him in his grave
I swear by the mud beneath my feet
You can't raise a Caine when he's in defeat
The night they drove old Dixie down, and the bells were ringin'
The night they drove old Dixie down, and the people were singin'
They went na na na na na na, na na na na na na na na
The night they drove old Dixie down, and the bells were ringin'
The night they drove old Dixie down, and the people were singin'
They went na na na na na na, na na na na na na na na
