{"id":805770,"date":"2020-03-27T13:30:23","date_gmt":"2020-03-27T19:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=974210"},"modified":"2020-03-27T13:30:23","modified_gmt":"2020-03-27T19:30:23","slug":"robbie-robertson-on-the-power-of-the-weight-during-the-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/music-news\/robbie-robertson-on-the-power-of-the-weight-during-the-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Robbie Robertson on the Power of \u2018The Weight\u2019 During the Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ph1GU1qQ1zQ?version=3&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com&amp;rel=1&amp;fs=1&amp;autohide=2&amp;showsearch=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>In 1968, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/the-band\/\" id=\"auto-tag_the-band\" data-tag=\"the-band\">the Band<\/a> recorded \u201cThe Weight,\u201d a song full of images and characters that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/robbie-robertson\/\" id=\"auto-tag_robbie-robertson\" data-tag=\"robbie-robertson\">Robbie Robertson<\/a> said he had been storing in his imagination for years. Robertson admits in his autobiography, <em>Testimony <\/em>that struggled to articulate to producer John Simon what the song was even about, but it\u2019s become the Band\u2019s most well-known classic, and it still echoes loudly today. <a href=\"https:\/\/playingforchange.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Playing for Change<\/a>, a group dedicated to \u201copening up how people see the world through the lens of music and art,\u201d recently spent two years filming artists around the world, from Japan to Bahrain to Los Angeles, performing the song. Robertson takes part, so does <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/ringo-starr\/\" id=\"auto-tag_ringo-starr\" data-tag=\"ringo-starr\">Ringo Starr<\/a>. Web traffic for the video has surged in recent days as the world confronts the coronavirus, and it has been a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/robbie-robertson-the-weight-ringo-starr-video-885980\/\">top story<\/a> on RollingStone.com.<\/p>\n<p>We spoke to Robertson, who called from his home in L.A., about the video, how he\u2019s been self-isolating, plus other projects, including his work on the next Martin Scorsese film, a <em>Stage Fright<\/em> box set, and his recent appearance at a <em>Last Waltz<\/em> tribute concert in Nashville late last year.<\/p>\n<p><em>Once Were Brothers<\/em>, a film about Robertson\u2019s life directed by Daniel Rohr, hit theaters just as they were shutting down. Now, the film will be available online earlier than planned, hitting Apple and Amazon in April.<\/p>\n<p><!-- .l-article-content__pull--left --> <\/p>\n<p><strong>How have you been spending your time hunkering down?<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-contextual-player\">\n<h3> Popular on Rolling Stone <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I\u2019m writing volume two of my autobiography. I\u2019m somewhat buried in that. I have some artwork as well that I have to sort out. And although everything\u2019s been delayed, I\u2019ve even started some early discovery and thinking of the music for Martin Scorsese\u2019s next movie, <em>Killers of the Flower Moon<\/em>. It\u2019s an American Indian story, so I\u2019ve got a lot to do on this. And the rest of it, I guess, is just really kind of adapting and dealing with being on house arrest.<\/p>\n<p><b>I wanted to ask about the Playing for Change cover of \u201cThe Weight\u201d that you played on. It has six million views, and it\u2019s been a top story on our site for the last few days, even though it\u2019s been out for for several months. Why do you think the song is resonating right now?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The number of people that I know that have responded to this, and some people that I barely know that have come out of the woodwork\u2026. it\u2019s almost like it\u2019s good medicine. And it\u2019s so suitable right now. I thought to my myself, \u201cThis is definitely the ultimate in global self-distancing.\u201d This is a way to protect yourself from anything: playing music with people around the world.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>My son Sebastian was behind this. When he mentioned this to me, I was kind of like, \u201cOh, okay, if you if you want to do it, of course I\u2019ll cooperate.\u201d But I didn\u2019t know what they were going to do. One day they said, \u201cWill you come and play a little bit?\u201d So I took an hour and went over, and, and then it slipped my mind. And then they sent me a rough cut of it, and I got chills. The unity that it conveys, not only here but around the world, that is such good medicine.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The people in it are just fantastic. Ringo is such a great sport to be part of this. And Ringo doesn\u2019t like to be a part of anything. He\u2019s like, \u201cPeace and love. Don\u2019t bother me.\u201d And he did this, and he did it with such charm.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>When it came out, there was a really nice response to it, but it\u2019s just grown and grown. In the last week or something, it got a million more views on it. And people are sending me messages from Cambodia. I\u2019m just delighted it\u2019s serving a purpose today. This was an idea that I had to write this song many years ago. And so it\u2019s such a blessing that something like this can make a contribution this many decades later. I couldn\u2019t be happier.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ringo\u2019s drumming sounds like an old friend, the same way <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/levon-helm\/\" id=\"auto-tag_levon-helm\" data-tag=\"levon-helm\">Levon Helm<\/a>\u2019s drumming felt.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;They\u2019re maybe the two greatest drummers in rock &amp; roll.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p>In their own way, you\u2019re absolutely right. There was something that Levon did in a stripped-down, simple, but complex kind of manner, that other drummers couldn\u2019t do. There was a thing about his playing that was so straight between the eyes, that you thought, \u201cOh, it\u2019s just that.\u201d And then when you go to do that, it doesn\u2019t have that quality. One of the people that understood that better than anybody else was Ringo. And Ringo has that quality as well. When he plays with that group,<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>there is no acrobatics. He\u2019s not trying to do anything. He\u2019s playing the song. He is really there in service of the song. And they both had that to such a beautiful extreme, and they never, ever sounded like session drummers.<\/p>\n<p><b>It\u2019s amazing this song can translate to places around the world, onto instruments that a lot of people here have never seen before.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>I felt the same way. There\u2019s a guy on a sitar! There\u2019s a guy playing an oud, one of my favorite instruments. Those girls Larkin Poe did a song of mine, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=LopWl5GxRCs\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Ophelia<\/a>.\u201d They\u2019re in the video. Somebody sent me their version of my song \u201cOphelia\u201d a while back. And they did a hell of a version of it. They\u2019re from Tennessee or somewhere, I don\u2019t know. Then I heard another track of theirs, and I thought \u201cThey\u2019re really good.\u201d And then they end up playing on this track. That made me feel good. And Lukas Nelson is terrific, an amazing musician. So anyway, I don\u2019t know, it\u2019s just pretty magical.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-974340\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/the-band-1970.jpg\" alt=\"UNSPECIFIED - JANUARY 01: Photo of Robbie ROBERTSON and Rick DANKO and Levon HELM and BAND and Richard MANUEL and Garth HUDSON; L-R: Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson (back) - performing live onstage in stadium c.1974 (Photo by RB\/Redferns)\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\"><\/p>\n<p><b>What does it feel like, to have written that song? Do you feel like the person who wrote \u201cThe Weight,\u201d or does it feel like it was around before you?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>After I wrote it and we recorded it, it did have a sense to me of a timeless quality. Because it wasn\u2019t obvious in the storytelling. It\u2019s kind of lost in time in the most wonderful way. And when I heard this version of it, I thought, \u201cThis still sounds like that.\u201d It doesn\u2019t sound old. It just sounds like it\u2019s got this quality to it, that it could be new, or from 100 years ago. And that was one of the signature things of the Band \u2014 that this music did live in its own time zone, and I was always proud of that. Consciously or subconsciously, I always reached for that in writing when I could.<\/p>\n<p><b>What kind of music are you listening to right now? When something like this is happening in the world, what music do you turn to?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s all for me about discovery and research. So I was listening to some of Tchaikovsky\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=uZmLx4w2VHo\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">sixth symphony<\/a> earlier today, because of something that I\u2019m writing. I was listening to some American Indian Western music from the 1920s a couple of days ago, thinking about <em>Killers of the Flower Moon<\/em>. I have a very curious ear, so I\u2019m always interested in new stuff that\u2019s going on. It\u2019s scattered all over the place. I don\u2019t have a playlist. I don\u2019t have anything that I\u2019m devoted to.<\/p>\n<p><b>What impact do you think [coronavirus] will have on musicians? They\u2019ve lost a couple months of dates already. David Crosby said he might lose his house if this goes on any longer. It must be very difficult on anyone who makes a&nbsp;living as a performer.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Yeah, that\u2019s very true. When this industry kind of went into a tailspin, everything led to live performance being a business that people could make a living at. And when it hits a wall like this, it\u2019s going to be a realization, just like so many other millions of businesses. I\u2019m hoping that it\u2019s just like, \u201cWait a minute, we\u2019re just on pause. We\u2019re going to push play here, again as soon as we possibly can.\u201d But right now, everybody has to take a deep breath and say, \u201cWe\u2019re on pause. And don\u2019t take my house right now, please.\u201d You\u2019re absolutely right. I don\u2019t live in that zone of live performance. I\u2019m in a different line of work. But I can certainly relate to that. I spent a great part of my life there, as a road dog. But right know we\u2019re just holding our breath.<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"7\">\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything like this. This is a throwback, and a poison has risen to the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Does our current moment remind you of any other time that you have lived through?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>No. I\u2019ve never seen anything like this. That\u2019s why for a while I was thinking, \u201cWell, somebody\u2019s just going to have to wake me up in the morning and say, \u2018Oh my God, you were having a bad dream.\u2019\u201d And then after a few days, I realized that wasn\u2019t gonna happen. So this is the unknown. And right now it\u2019s just darkness. And at some point, we just want to see a light come shining through, and get brighter and brighter.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>That that\u2019s what I was getting at before: Right now, we can only see what this is preventing life from being, and trying our best to adapt to that. But out of these things, there\u2019s always been something spiritual, magical, unsuspecting, that could possibly come from this. And I think that\u2019s what we\u2019re all secretly hoping for: that this could bring some people closer together. This country, I\u2019ve never felt this kind of division. I\u2019m from Canada, too, I look at it through just a little bit of a different eye. And I\u2019ve never seen this kind of ugliness. I haven\u2019t seen anything like this since George Wallace. This is a throwback, and a poison has risen to the surface, in these times, that we can\u2019t can imagine, and it is everywhere. And it\u2019s like, \u201cOh, no, this was there. It was just sleeping. And it ain\u2019t sleeping anymore.\u201d And it\u2019s really, really sad to see this kind of regression, and this kind of fallback into such anger. It\u2019s all built on anger and, that just leads us to the most ugly place. And so, maybe out of this thing, there can be some kind of feeling of unity. And that\u2019s why the song, the Playing for Change [version of] \u201cThe Weight\u201d \u2014<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span>if anything screams of unity, that does. And I hope it spreads.<\/p>\n<p><b>Are you are you thinking of doing a 50th anniversary edition of <em>Stage Fright&nbsp;<\/em>in line with the <em>Music From Big Pink<\/em> and <em>The Band<\/em> box sets?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Yes, I am. I started on this, but there\u2019s some things too that I\u2019m trying to, some artwork and some pieces of that period that I\u2019m trying to put my hands on, and some stuff that I would like to do musically for this. And there\u2019s some some things that have been buried in the archive for a long time that that fit with this really well. So yeah, I\u2019ve got ideas. Doing these these celebrations, doing the <em>Music from Big Pink<\/em> box set and doing <em>The Band<\/em> box set, and now doing this, it really feels good. I like the celebrating of the music, and doing something fresh, and doing things that we couldn\u2019t do back then. I\u2019m really enjoying that process.<\/p>\n<p><b>Were you were you planning to play more Last Waltz shows before all the live music got shut down?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Well, they were talking about doing Jazz Fest. And they were asking me if I if I would participate in it. I went to the one in Nashville, which was the end of their last tour that they had at the big arena in Nashville. And it was incredible. It was just an amazing array of talent. The guys putting together the show told me, \u201cYou\u2019re not gonna believe the audiences that come to this.\u201d So I thought, \u201cWell that sounds good. It sounds like people are enjoying it and everything.\u201d No, no no. It was like a religious experience, and so much fun. And so anyway, at the end, I got up and sat in with them. The people were just so, so appreciative, and consequently so was I. So they asked me if I would do Jazz Fest, and I was like, \u201cI don\u2019t know. I\u2019m not really looking to make this a part of my everyday life.\u201d So I was thinking about it, and then the [coronavirus] came up. They were just about to announce whether I was going to participate in it, and then it had to get bumped. So we\u2019ll have to see what happens in the fall.<\/p>\n<p><b>It must be interesting for you, for people to be recreating a concert you played 40 years ago.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>And there\u2019s people that do this around the world, in Scandinavia, Australia, and Japan, and all places. And I didn\u2019t know, that\u2019s pretty special. I don\u2019t remember many concerts&nbsp;that people do that for.<\/p>\n<p><b>I just was reminded of Bill Graham\u2019s book.&nbsp;There\u2019s an anecdote that said you did not want them serving Thanksgiving dinner at the <em>Last Waltz<\/em>. Is that true or false?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Well, you know, I was so busy thinking about playing music with all these different artists and not screwing up, and the filming of it with Marty. Marty was depending on me for so much in this. And so there was so much going on in an impossible period of time to pull this off. There was 100 things that could go wrong, and a few things that could go right. And Bill Graham comes to me and says, \u201cI\u2019ve ordered 5,000 pounds of mashed potatoes and turkey,\u201d and I\u2019m like, \u201cYou\u2019re what? There\u2019s gonna be gravy everywhere?\u201d So in the beginning, I just thought, \u201cThis is just in the way of what I\u2019m trying to do here.\u201d And Bill said, \u201cDon\u2019t worry about it, I\u2019ll handle it. I\u2019m going to serve Thanksgiving dinner to 5,000 people. You don\u2019t have to do a thing.\u201d And I was like, \u201cOkay, let\u2019s not talk about it anymore. But if you can do it \u2026\u201d And he says, \u201cI know how to do this.\u201d And I just had confidence in Bill. But you can imagine when he told me about how many gallons of gravy they were going to need, this was the last thing that I needed to hear.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/robbie-robertson-the-weight-coronavirus-974210\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[embedded content] In 1968, the Band recorded \u201cThe Weight,\u201d a song full of images and characters that Robbie Robertson said he had been storing in his imagination for years. Robertson admits in his autobiography, Testimony that struggled to articulate to producer John Simon what the song was even about, but it\u2019s become the Band\u2019s most [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-805770","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-18 01:56:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=805770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805770\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=805770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=805770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=805770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}