The one cover of The Band Robbie Robertson called “a dream come true”
For many musicians, there is no higher praise than a peer deeming your work worthy enough for them to cover. That praise is elevated to the nth degree when it comes from a star widely considered one of, if not the greatest singers of the modern age: Aretha Franklin. Having such a lauded name attached to his track was the ultimate honour for the late Robbie Robertson.
Keith Richards famously said that she could “make anything sound good”. Thankfully, that task is made far easier when you’re dealing with The Band’s classic ‘The Weight’. The soul star lent her pipes to the 1968 classic with such aplomb that it unearths power hitherto unknown from the epic, biblical track. Franklin had a voice that could stir honey into tea from a thousand paces, and she does that with lilting fashion when it comes to this interpretation.
“When the legendary Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler told me that he had recorded ‘The Weight’ with Aretha Franklin, I thought, how does it get better than that?” the late Robertson wrote on Facebook in 2018 when news of Franklin’s death broke, and the world mourned the Queen of Soul.
He continued: “When I heard their version, I was thrilled that she sang the hell out of it and had Duane Allman on slide guitar. A dream come true. Aretha doesn’t scream, squall, or yell, she SINGS — from the heavens with grace and style.” The song featured on Franklin’s 1970 record, This Girl’s in Love With You, and managed to break the top 20 on the singles chart. And it became one of Robertson’s favourites.
What Franklin achieved with ‘The Weight’ was not reinvention so much as revelation. By shifting the song’s centre of gravity, she exposed its gospel core, turning Robertson’s parable of burden and grace into something that felt closer to a sermon than a folk-rock narrative. The melody remained intact, but the meaning seemed to deepen, as though the song had finally reached the spiritual destination it had been circling all along.
That ability to draw out the soul of a song is what separates a great cover from a definitive one. Franklin did not treat ‘The Weight’ as a tribute or a novelty, but as material worthy of full emotional investment. In doing so, she affirmed Robertson’s songwriting at the highest possible level, proving that the track could live comfortably alongside the great spirituals and soul standards that formed the backbone of her own catalogue.
Perhaps it fits so well because there was always a solid dose of soul in the output of The Band. In fact, owing to their unique journey, there was a solid dose of just about every American genre. The Band consisted of Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, Garth Hudson, Levon Helm and Robertson. And they could aptly be described as a pariah group of musicians, equivalent to boxing journeymen.
Their bouts, however, were about coming together rather than settling differences. Covering all corners of North America, this band of brothers happened upon each other in a cultural march that could be fresh for the pages of On The Road itself. Levon Helm was from Arkansas, but he picked up Robertson in Ontario, Canada, where musicians could ask for a higher price.
Thereafter, many other members and names would come and go, and all the while, The Band was steadily forming. By 1961, two years on from the pairing of Robertson and Helm, Rick Danko would come into the chopping-and-changing outfit on bass, and Richard Manuel soon followed on piano. The cohesion between the players was instantly evident, but they lacked one important factor: someone who could read music. Enter Garth Hudson, the last piece in the jigsaw.
Each brought a fresh influence to the band, and they gathered up a few notes from everything else as they relentlessly toured and performed as backing bands for the greats. Thus, they have often been covered by an array of artists, but rarely has it gone as well as Franklin’s luscious handling of ‘The Weight’ with Allman adding amazing southern texture.
