A fitting tribute, straight from Sammy Davis Jr’s pool house 43 years ago. Funny, even color movies of the Band at this time look sepia toned. You could prove me wrong pretty easily, but it sure seems like Levon sang fewer songs after the first two Band albums; that might explain why the later ones have less of a hold on me (and the rest of the world). Of course, everyone in the Band had fewer great songs to sing after those two masterworks, so this may just be an illusion. Still, as an animating agent in the Band, Levon’s soul, if not his voice, seems to slip away bit by bit after the brown album, which is so infused in it. Maybe Robbie lost the knack for channeling Levon’s soul after that; maybe Levon didn’t want his soul channeled. One senses in Levon a spine, a will, and an integrity that may not have sat well with the transformation of Jaime Robbie Robertson of this clip (he looks like an assistant professor) into the scarf festooned impresario of The Last Waltz. (In fact, Levon set a new standard for integrity, baby boom class, by declining to tour with Mr. Bob Dylan in 1965.) Subsequent events reveal a split, a power struggle: all too common, all too human, all to be expected. Nothing lasts forever. And isn’t two albums worth of paradise enough for anyone? Miracles like that can’t be taken for granted.
– Tom Fredrickson is the proprietor of the unparalleled music blog, Lost Wax Method.
