SLS: Feelin’ About Half Past Dead

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For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday Jim is going with a suggestion by the estimable Max, of the Power Pop blog, that we play a song with a great opening line. He tells us about it in his post – Engaging. The song I have chosen may not have the greatest opening line of all time but I have always loved the image it creates in just a few words. How many of us can say that we have never felt like this:

I pulled into Nazareth, was feelin’ about half past dead

If my header image hadn’t already revealed my chosen song, those lyrics may have done it for you. Of course, it is this:

The Weight, from The Band’s debut album Music From Big Pink. And here are the full lyrics:

 

I pulled into Nazareth, was feelin’ about half past dead
I just need some place 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

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)

I picked up my bag, I went lookin’ for a place to hide
When I saw Carmen and the Devil walkin’ side by side
I said, “Hey, Carmen, come on let’s go downtown.”
She said, “I gotta go but my friend can stick around.”

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)

Go down, Miss Moses, there’s nothin’ you can say
It’s just old Luke and Luke’s waitin’ on the Judgment Day
“Well, Luke, my friend, what about young Anna Lee?”
He said, “Do me a favor, son, won’t you stay and keep Anna Lee company?”

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)

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?”

Yeah, 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)

Catch a cannon ball 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

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)

 

Lyrics: azlyrics.com

Songwriter: Jaime Robbie Robertson

Music From Big Pink was released in July 1968, and reached #18 in The Band’s Canadian homeland and #30 in the US. It didn’t make the UK charts, despite my buying it after I heard The Weight on the radio. This was one of those ‘take a punt’ moments, the ones in which you buy an album on the strength of the single, but I never regretted it: I loved the album from the very start, and still do. In my view, it is right up there as one of the all time best debut albums. The Weight was the only single taken from it, released in August 1968 with their fabulous version of Dylan’s I Shall Be Released on the B-side. As a single this peaked at #35 in Canada, #63 in the US, #21 in the UK, and did best in The Netherlands, where it reached #13.

One of the long-standing points of interest about the song is whether the lady in the chorus is ‘Fanny’ or ‘Annie.’ Robbie cleared this up in an interview when he confirmed it was definitely ‘Fanny,’ and pointed out that singing the word ‘off’ before ‘Fanny’ wasn’t easy!

Robbie 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 writing  the lyrics as he played. They tell the story of a traveller’s arrival, visit, and departure from this town called Nazareth, in which his friend, Fanny, has asked him to look up some of her friends and send them her regards. But as he meets them he comes away with more favours he must do, until the weight of doing so many unexpected tasks causes him to pick up his bag and leave town altogether, and return to Fanny. The characters in the song were based on real people that members of the Band knew. According to Robbie, Fanny is based on Frances “Fanny” Steloff, the founder of a New York City bookstore at which he was a regular customer, and others like Anna Lee and Crazy Chester can also be identified in real life.

The songwriting credit to Robbie Robertson for The Weight, like many of the songs by The Band, was disputed years later by Levon Helm. He insisted that the composition of the lyrics and the music was collaborative, declaring that each band member made a substantial contribution. In an interview, he credited Robbie with 60 percent of the lyrics, Rick Danko and Richard Manuel with 20 percent each, gave much of the music credit to Garth Hudson, and a small credit to himself for lyrics. 

The song has been a fertile field for those idiots who like to impose their interpretations onto a song’s meaning. I’ve seen references to the bible (understandable), Catholicism, the Confederates in the American Civil War, and even some who claim that it is about sharing drugs. Whatever! For me, it is simply a great song about a guy doing his friend a favour, and how that can rapidly become burdensome if you are too nice to say ‘no’ to people.

Its legacy is a good one, though. It has had a significant influence on American popular music, having been listed as No. 41 on Rolling Stone‘s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list, published in 2004. Pitchfork Media named it the 13th best song of the 1960s, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame named it one of the 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. 

I can really only do one more thing with it, which is to give you a bonus video of the song being played in 2019 under Playing For Change’s ‘Songs Around the World’ banner, led by Robbie and some drummer from Liverpool:

If you don’t know Playing For Change, then you should. They have a mission to make music around the world, and this is a typical example. There are loads more on YouTube for you to enjoy.

That’s me done for the day, and I’m looking forward to seeing what others are playing for Jim’s fantastic link party, without which we would all be less musically rich. See you again for Tuesday Tunes, I trust? 🎶

 

58 thoughts on “SLS: Feelin’ About Half Past Dead”

  1. Pingback: My August | Take It Easy

  4. I am not going to try to compete with your opening line, but a song by the Lovin’ Spoonful (another Canadian connection) has an opener that is quite complex and cheery. In truth, each verse has a catchy first line, but I will only emphasize the song opener:
    I was down in Savannah eating cream and bananas when the heat just made me faint…
    The song, of course, is Jug Band Music:

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  7. Clive…I’m mad at myself for not thinking of this one! Great opening, great playing, and great song…by a band great enough to be called The Band. This wins the opening lines today.

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    • They were the band behind Ronnie Hawkins. They were the band behind Bob Dylan. How could they call themselves anything else.
      The thought that Music From Big Pink was their debut album seems scandolous to me. Yes, this was their first album without a famous headline singer is not in dispute, but they cut so many albums previous to that they were already solid professional musicians. So no surprise they made it big.

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  10. Hi Clive – enjoyed this song today – the videos were good and I knew this song from childhood so that made it more fun too.

    And by the way, the second line in The Weight song – and the theme in general – quickly reminded me of a song from Sean McConnell.

    “And there ain’t no place that I can rest my head
    I been runnin’ forty days and forty nights”

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  14. Great choice, Clive and I love the story that this song tells. This traveler who told Miss Fanny that he was going to Nazareth is asked to give her regards to everyone in the town.  He is tired from his trip, and he encounters a man and asks him if there is a place where he can sleep, but the man simply says “No”.  The traveler sees Carmen walking with the Devil, and he asks her to go downtown with him.  She responds by telling the traveler that she has something else to do, but her friend the Devil can stick around with him.  Miss Moses doesn’t have anything to say, while Luke’s waiting on the judgment day.  The traveler asks Luke about young Annalee and Luke asks him to keep Annalee company.  The traveler meets Crazy Chester, who offers to provide him with a bed (fix your rag) if the traveler will take his dog, Jack and give him food when he can.  The traveler catches a Cannonball out of town as his bag is sinking low from the weight of his load that he carried doing all of these favors for Miss Fanny.  He knows that it is time to leave Nazareth and get back to see Miss Fanny.

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  20. Some of Rock’s seemingly deeper songs have shallower roots. Grounded in the songwriter’s experience with friends, travels. Like Stevie Nick’s Edge of 17. The Weight is a song that always puts me at ease. And it is important to learn how to say no, even to friends sometimes!

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  22. Fabulous song, fantastic story/ lyrics and of course your explanations.. Dare I say the second version is so much better ….I know it a heinous crime but you know me I love raw almost unknown talent mixed with old timers 💜💜💜🥂🥂 Amen

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