Apparently some of the enmity that exists among surviving members of The Band revolves around songwriting credits. Levon told Robbie about this thing he’d seen years ago — W.S. Walcott’s Medicine Show — and Robbie wrote it down. Wouldn’t it be the proper gentlemanly thing to do to record this as a collaboration and give Levon a songwriting credit? But no, Robbie hogged it all. When some of The Band members wanted to reunite, Robbie said, What? Are you kidding? So The Last Waltz was just a joke? It wasn’t really the last one? Time slips away. This is one of the greatest bands North America ever produced. It still has a huge fan base after all these years. Now some members are dead and at least one suffers from health issues. Instead of The Band as an institution that keeps on giving, like The Rolling Stones, Robbie apparently wants to keep this thing frozen in time and history. It was what it was. Robbie no doubt enjoys the royalties now, while his estranged band mate, Levon, struggles to pay the bills. It’s a shame. There could’ve been more to The Band.
This is one of the perhaps lesser known but finely crafted Band songs performed without Robbie.
