Robbie Robertson is Greedy

thebirthofart:

Two of my favorite folk-rock musicians were born on April 3. Both are named Richard.

“Katie’s Been Gone,” an outtake from Music From Big Pink (1968) by The Band. Sung and co-written by Richard Manuel.

asteakandmilkshake:

The Band - “Jawbone”

He didn’t know it at the time, but when Richard Manuel’s voice breaks as he sings “I’m a thi-eeef and I dig it,” he’s really talking about the Internet decades in the future.*

Steal it, digg it, and then understand everyone else has already seen it, and implicitly acquiesces that you’re not perpetuating anything but the fact you’re a lemming. We all are. 

I can(‘t) dig that. 

*Robbie is a greedy, thieving prick, so he wasn’t talking about anybody but himself when he wrote the lyrics. Richard’s Grand Marnier-infused soul, sang it from a very different place. Whether it was clairvoyance or just an epiphanic moment while trying to get rid of some nasty tremors before hitting the studio, Richard will always sound like, and be, an artist, but without the debilitating self-aggrandizment that comes with that designation while alive; since, typically, he dropped off this mortal coil the only way he could: hanging from a shower curtin with a little blow near the sink. Robbie was just a shitty poet that knew some guitar licks and didn’t mind stealing Levon’s South and Richard’s (M)elancholy. There’s a difference between the writer and the singer of the song, but only a corporeal Levon ever had the balls to say it in print. 

Any time you read a Buzzfeed post that just feels like déjà vu, remember this song.

Levon Helm

“Co-founder”

Garth better outlast Robbie.  

(Source: kelseyparamore)

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faceyourbrain:

long live danko!

tearsofrage:

Robbie Robertson, Bobby Charles, Paul Butterfield and Rick Danko at Bearsville Records.

(via Bobby Charles.com)

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themostperfectrice:

Dylan and The Band, “Yazoo Street Scandal”, from The Basement Tapes.

This is 1967. As someone points out in the comments on the youtube video, for 67, these were almost unprecedented approaches for rock musicians to take on each of their instruments. Danko’s bass is incredibly elastic, for one thing. Garth Hudson was always insane, so that works.

But god, Levon. His voice, still fresh, still pristine, so fucking STRONG—this is a vocal performance par excellence, even by his lofty standards.

Levon FTW

Look at Rick!

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