The Band song Robbie Robertson called “heartbreaking”
For all intents and purposes, Robbie Robertson was the leader of roots rock icons The Band throughout their glory years. From the band’s debut, Songs From Big Pink, all the way up to their final concert together, The Last Waltz, Robertson was writing most of the songs, calling most of the shots, and dictating where The Band was going artistically, philosophically, and even physically.
That domination proved to be a difficult thing for the other members to deal with. Drummer and vocalist Levon Helm felt a particular disdain toward Robertson, especially once The Last Waltz was complete. Helm had provided significant contributions to songs like ‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down’ and ‘Ophelia’ but remained uncredited for his work.
When The Last Waltz was released as a documentary film in 1978, Helm took issue with what he saw as Martin Scorsese’s favouritism toward Robertson. In his 1993 autobiography This Wheel’s On Fire, Helm criticised Scorsese and Robertson for painting the rest of The Band as Robertson’s side men. Even toward the end of his life, Helm remained estranged from Robertson, only briefly reconciling before his death in 2012.
The Band eventually reformed in 1983 without Robertson, recording three studio albums and touring extensively without their former guitarist. Although keyboardist and singer Richard Manuel died in 1986, he managed to record the song ‘Country Boy’ before his death. The track later appeared on 1993’s Jericho, and despite his estrangement from his bandmates, Robertson recalled the song fondly.
“Ahhhh. Heartbreaking,” Robertson told the Los Angeles Times about the song in 2019. “That’s quite a feeling, in a musical group, when there’s one guy in the group that when he does what he does, it just brings you to tears, and you almost think like, ‘Don’t do that — don’t do that! We’re trying to be strong over here. We’re trying to not show that kind of stuff.’ But Richard had that ability to just reach in and just grab you by the heart, in the most beautiful way.”
Although he managed to make peace with Helm before his death, Robertson was still estranged from Manuel when the keyboardist took his own life in 1986. The same went for when bassist and singer Rick Danko died in 1999. For Robertson, his connection with his former bandmates was often bittersweet, extending only as far as the music that they made in his absence.
Check out ‘Country Boy’ down below.
