ADDED (prompted by Leslie Graves):Safe travels, Garth Hudson. The last man standing from a, genuine, band of all-stars.
— 𝙱𝚘𝚋𝚋𝚢’𝚜 𝙷𝚎𝚎𝚕 (@SalvadorDafti) January 21, 2025
RIP
pic.twitter.com/ad6f6fd6tk
When I get off of this mountain
You know where I wanna go?
Straight down the Mississippi River
To the Gulf of America
AND: I like this description of Hudson's part in that song: "The bullfrog-like syncopations that tease and cackle as Levon Helm sings the verses are from Hudson’s clavinet. He unfurls organ lines like bunting atop the choruses, but the cackling cheerfully persists." That's Jon Pareles, writing in the NYT, in "Garth Hudson: 11 Essential Songs?The last surviving original member of the Band died on Tuesday. He was a master on keys and saxophones who could conjure a panoply of scenes and eras."
Here's that 11-song playlist:
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29 comments:
That’s my favorite song by the Band. So loose and yet tight.
"So loose and yet tight."
Yes, that reminds me of the one time I saw The Band — in Ann Arbor in 1970. I was surprised that everything sounded exactly like the records. The looseness in the sound wasn't a process that was unfolding on stage. It was practiced and completely nailed down. The only thing that was different from the record was the very long solo by Garth Hudson leading into "Chest Fever."
“Youngsters”?
The camerawork was weird. They never had a shot that showed the whole band. It's as though they hated the name The Band and so resisted ever showing these guys as a band.
When I read that Garth had passed, among my first thoughts was that you'd catch it and post something about it. I know I've probably said this about many bands in their passing, but The Band was (and still is) literally one of my favorite bands through all the years. Still the most unique sound. And so many great classic songs. All of them brought their own talents to the table (and man...they were a talented bunch of musicians and songwriters). I'm glad the band is finally back together again. The House party is now rolling. RIP Garth Hudson.
"“Youngsters”?"
Ed was one of a kind. Such a big presence in our lives back then. Taking our rock gods and cutting them down to size.
"When I read that Garth had passed, among my first thoughts was that you'd catch it and post something about it."
There's a post yesterday. This one is just because of the crazy juxtaposition with Ed Sullivan.
Wikipedia offers a plot summary of "Up on Cripple Creek": "Drawing upon the Band's musical roots—the American South, American rock and roll, and bluegrass/country—the song is sung from the point of view of a truck driver who goes to Lake Charles, Louisiana, to stay with a local girl, Bessie, with whom he has a history. In the song, he gambles, drinks, listens to music, and spends time with "little Bessie," who takes an active role in the goings-on, while expressing her opinions, further endearing herself to the narrator. At the end of the song, after exhausting himself on the road, he talks about going home to his woman, "big mama," but is tempted to return to Bessie again. He may or may not be cheating. Truckers also use the term "Big Mama" to refer to their dispatcher over CB radio. Concerns about the weather in other parts of the country and the line "this life of living on the road" suggest over-the-road trucking. At the start of the song he's hauling logs off a mountain and at the end he may be weighing options: "rolling in" to home base for a new cargo or seeing his Bessie again."
Good to see Bessie taking an active role.
Born in 1901, Ed Sullivan was 68 at the time.
On November 2nd 1969, The Band appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first and only time. Ed Sullivan introduced them by saying “Here are the new recording sensation for youngsters, The Band!” That night they opened the show and performed their hit “Up on Cripple Creek.”
I guess the Canadian accent was very different back then.
That's the sign of a well rehearsed band. Loose, but tight. They know the material and the other guys in the band so well that they can relax and enjoy themselves. Little Feat was another band that sounded like that.
Todd Rundgren has some funny stories about producing one of their albums. He said many a morning was spent dislodging a member and said member’s car from the ditch he’d driven into the night before.
I just watched the movie on the making of SNL, and the idea that the network would futz around with the camera work to sabotage The Band does not seem far-fetched if the movie was accurate —Or, it just could have been a failed experiment in the "Greetings fellow kids!" vein.
What a cutie-pie he was. I noted that the Gulf of Mexico has a place in the lyrics.
Wasnt everyone under 30 a "Youngster" to Ed? BTW, the camera shot makes him look a little crazy.
What's with all the close ups?
party on wayne, party on garth.
youngsters indeed. The Band was part, a major part, of the sound track that we kids had coming up in the 60s and 70s. They werent flashy or outrageous. A group that took music seriously, and were a joy to listen to on the new 'FM' radio.
RIP
Just what I needed today.
When I get off of this mountain
You know where I wanna go?
Straight down the Mississippi River
To the Gulf of . . . .
Every member of The Band is gone? Ho Lee Katz*, I'm old.
*My Jewish/Korean uncle
A shout-out to the terrific camera work and direction: as good or better than the Last Waltz. So nice to see those timely, tight shots. The guys were having fun.
Charlie asked, "What's with all the close ups?"
My question, what 's with not showing the instruments?
It's easy to lip sync but hard to convincingly sync the instruments.
" I noted that the Gulf of Mexico has a place in the lyrics."
Good catch! Lyrics need amending.
"Let's welcome these five youngsters and their classic tale of male rage and refusal to accept defeat." (Love this. So young, the youngsters!)
When I get off of this mountain
You know where I wanna go?
Straight down the Mississippi River
To the Gulf ne' Mexico
I was lucky as a youngster at the ripe age of 10 that my older siblings played all the great music of the 60"s, including The Band. Other good songs they played -
'Wake up Jake" 'King Harvest' 'When you awake'.
I had always liked The Band in earlier years but had somehow forgotten about adding their tunes to various play lists until about 5 years ago. I agree that it was a weirdly filmed performance on Ed Sullivan.
In Robbie Robertson's autobiography he says Garth's parents were mortified that Garth was going to join a touring rock n roll band and prohibited it. To get around that, the entire band showed up at Garth's house and they claimed that Garth was not just a band member but also their musical theory teacher and that Garth would be teaching them on the road. Since Garth was classically trained this wasn't an entire lie and the 'rents bought it.
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