As one of the favorite songs by several of the Elders, we will explore “The Weight”, the 1968 song by The Band.
Elder JJZ => Elder JA I think you two [Mountain Sapphire] could do a fabulous version of ‘The Weight,’ written by fellow Canadian Robbie Robertson of The Band. Have you tried to do this?
Elder JA => Elder JJZ Yes, The Weight is one of our favourites. I often start with “Rolled into Edmonton…” I don’t recall ever recording it so I’ll add it to the studio schedule. But my next priority is to try to get the green screen set up properly.
Elder JJZ => Elder JA Can’t wait to see the recording. I’ve always thought The Weight as a US Civil War song but it’s a lot more than that. For some reason, I find this particular lyric great, even though I’m more of a cat person. And not to stretch analogies, if you think about war and immigration, people reach out to others to care for their loved ones in trying times.
“Crazy Chester followed me and he caught me in the fog He said, “I will fix your rack if you take Jack, my dog.” I said, “Wait a minute, Chester, you know I’m a peaceful man.” He said, “That’s OK, boy, won’t you feed him when you can?”
Elder JA => Elder JJZ Are you thinking of “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”?
I never thought about “The Weight” as being a song about war. To me it is more like a scene from “Alice’s Restaurant”, with some guy stopping by to visit some old friends and finding that they have a lot of troubles of their own.
“The Weight” was written by Robbie Robertson, who found the tune by strumming idly on his guitar, a 1951 Martin D-28, when he noticed that the interior included a stamp noting that it was manufactured in Nazareth, Pennsylvania (C. F. Martin & Company is situated there), and he started crafting the lyrics as he played.
The lyrics, written in the first person, are about a traveler’s arrival, visit, and departure from a town called Nazareth, in which the traveler’s friend, Fanny, has asked him to look up some of her friends and send them her regards, though with each encounter, he comes away with more favors he must do, and those favors become more favors, until the weight of doing so many unexpected tasks causes him to pick up his bag and leave town altogether and return to Fanny.
[Verse 1] I pulled in to Nazareth Was feeling ’bout half past dead I just need someplace Where I can lay my head “Hey, mister, can you tell me Where a man might find a bed?” He just grinned and shook my hand “No” was all he said
[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)
[Verse 2] I picked up my bag I went looking for a place to hide When I saw Carmen and the Devil Walking side-by-side I said, “Hey Carmen Come on, let’s go downtown” She said, “I gotta go But my friend can stick around”
[Chorus]
[Verse 3] Go down, Miss Moses There’s nothin’ you can say It’s just ol’ Luke, and Luke’s waitin’ on the Judgement Day “Well, Luke, my friend What about young Anna Lee?” He said, “Do me a favor, son Won’t ya stay and keep Anna Lee company?”
[Chorus]
[Verse 4] Crazy Chester followed me And he caught me in the fog He said, “I will fix your rack If you’ll take Jack, my dog” I said, “Wait a minute, Chester You know I’m a peaceful man” He said, “That’s okay, boy Won’t you feed him when you can?”
[Chorus]
[Verse 5] Catch a cannonball, now To take me down the line My bag is sinkin’ low And I do believe it’s time To get back to Miss Fanny
You know she’s the only one Who sent me here with her Regards for everyone
[Chorus]
Playing For Change Version
Ringo claims the song is performed in the key of “F Demented.”
Playing For Change is a multimedia music project, featuring musicians and singers from across the globe, co-founded in 2002 by Mark Johnson and Whitney Kroenke. Playing For Change also created in 2007 a separate non-profit organization called the Playing For Change Foundation, which builds music and art schools for children around the world.
The inspiration for and influences affecting the composition of “The Weight” came from the music of the American South, the life experiences of band members, particularly Levon Helm, and movies of filmmakers Ingmar Bergman and Luis Buñuel.
Luis Buñuel Portolés (22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish and Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians and directors to be one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time. Buñuel’s works were known for their avant-garde surrealism which were also infused with political commentary.
The film, entitled L’Age d’Or, was begun as a second collaboration with Dalí, but, while working on the scenario, the two had a falling out; Buñuel, who at the time had strong leftist sympathies, desired a deliberate undermining of all bourgeois institutions, while Dalí, who eventually supported the Spanish fascist Francisco Franco and various figures of the European aristocracy, wanted merely to cause a scandal through the use of various scatological and anti-Catholic images.
The friction between them was exacerbated when, at a dinner party in Cadaqués, Buñuel tried to throttle Dalí’s girlfriend, Gala, the wife of Surrealist poet Paul Éluard.
Wikipedia / Image By Emmanuel Radnitzky – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
Demi-Semi-Sequitur: Gala – Wife, Girlfriend, Muse, Spider Woman
“To know her was to loathe her”
Art historian John Richardson writes witheringly of la Gala in his book Sacred Monsters, Sacred Masters. “To know her was to loathe her” he claims, labeling her variously a “virago”, “Spider Woman”, “ancient harridan” and “one of the nastiest wives a major modern artist ever saddled himself with”. Others were less kind. (But would Gala have been so defamed for the scope of her conquests had she been male? It seems unlikely.)
Gala Dalí (born Elena Ivanovna Diakonova, Елена Ивановна Дьяконова; 7 September [O.S. 26 August] 1894 – 10 June 1982), usually known simply as Gala, was the wife of poet Paul Éluard and later of artist Salvador Dalí, who were both prominent in surrealism. She also inspired many other writers and artists.
[ed. note: we are definitely rethinking this whole “muse” thing…]
Ah, the years will not been kind to the fascist supporter and his spider woman….
Elder G’s Insightful Analysis
Ah, The Weight by The Band—a song that feels like an old, dusty road trip through the soul. It’s part folk tale, part spiritual quest, and part cryptic joke among friends. The lyrics are steeped in Americana, Biblical allusions, and a kind of mythical small-town weirdness. Let’s take a quick walk through it:
“I pulled into Nazareth, was feelin’ ’bout half past dead…”
Right away, you’re in this mythic-sounding place—Nazareth. It’s a real town in Pennsylvania, but of course, it’s also the Biblical hometown of Jesus. That duality sets the tone: the song plays in a spiritual key, but the chords are played on a barroom piano.
He’s tired, looking for a place to rest—already a theme of burden and weariness.
“Take a load off Fanny / Take a load for free…”
The chorus is an invitation, a plea, maybe even a command. “Take a load off” implies rest, kindness, release. But also, it’s repeated like a mantra—and you wonder, whose load is being carried? Fanny’s? Or the narrator’s?
Each verse introduces a new character:
Carmen and the Devil (“walkin’ side by side”) suggests temptation and sin, but also familiarity—like the devil’s just another guy in town.
Crazy Chester, who gives the narrator his dog.
Miss Moses, Luke, and others—Biblical names again, but in ordinary settings.
It’s like a series of surreal errands in a town where everyone has their own struggles, but they’re all interconnected in quiet, strange ways. There’s no clear resolution, just movement from one odd encounter to the next.
Thematically?
The song’s about carrying burdens—not just your own, but other people’s too. It’s about kindness, responsibility, guilt, fatigue, and maybe redemption.
But it’s also funny, cryptic, and casual. There’s humor tucked into the sadness. A very human mix.
It’s no wonder it’s become a sort of modern spiritual anthem.
More of Carmen and the Devil
One reply on “The Weight: WLBOTT Hall of Bands, Ballads and Burdens”
That’s a beautiful internet collaboration. The song has inspired others, here’s a couple that I like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkX8dV0ffCk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqL3sVT-fuY
It’s kind of mind boggling that there are so many excellent musicians and singers in the world and that they are all so willing to work together, even when separated by thousands of kilometres. Thanks for the blott. UC#1
One reply on “The Weight: WLBOTT Hall of Bands, Ballads and Burdens”
That’s a beautiful internet collaboration. The song has inspired others, here’s a couple that I like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkX8dV0ffCk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqL3sVT-fuY
It’s kind of mind boggling that there are so many excellent musicians and singers in the world and that they are all so willing to work together, even when separated by thousands of kilometres. Thanks for the blott. UC#1