The song list was the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.

Hmm. Given that list, what song would you have chosen?

I am mightily tempted by "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down"...

I meant to mention that, over the weekend, I borrowed my brother's DVD of Classic Albums--The Band. Which I gave to him in the first place after Adam from Gloryhound told me it was very good.

And. It was very good.

I've mentioned before this that watching The Last Waltz is sort of a mixed experience: the performances are great and overall it's a really good movie, but the mixed emotions and anger are close enough to the surface to sense in some places. And I'll admit, because I read Levon's book and liked it, that I was prejudiced in favour of Levon's point of view so I may not have been totally fair to Robbie while watching The Last Waltz. You will not be surprised to learn I sometimes think bitter, snarky thoughts as I watch movies.

You may be considerably more surprised to learn that I did not think bitter, snarky thoughts--not even once!--while watching this DVD.

A big factor is, it was filmed in 1997. We're talking twenty years after The Last Waltz. So everyone has had a chance to calm down and get some perspective on the remarkable work they did.

Levon and Robbie do the majority of the talking. Rick, who doesn't look great but can still sing like crazy, offers some comments and manages to still sound like the gently loopy guy who was such fun on Festival Express. And Garth... well, I don't think Garth ever had a whole lot to say, but there are a few wonderful present-day shots of him playing keys, all bent over, with his hands like deranged giant spiders with minds of their own--he looks like he has no control whatsoever over them, like he might have an extra brain concealed in the back of each wrist and he's as surprised as anyone at what they come up with.

Levon and Robbie are both excellent company as they offer insights on Music from Big Pink and The Band. Along with their producer they bring out the old tracks and highlight what everyone was doing at any given time--"This one is Richard playing drums, and ever'one else sort of fittin' in where they could"--"I could never get over how Levon could play and sing at the same time... It just didn't mix him up"--"That's Garth playing that great piano on the way out... ain't it easy when you know how?"

Despite the never-resolved feud between the two most famous members of the group, it's obvious that both Robbie and Levon are now able to look back with pride and affection on the wonderful music they made together, and it's beyond delightful to listen to them, as a couple of cool old coots, talk about how it all came together.

Rick died a couple of years later, so it's a good thing this film was made before it was too late.

Definitely worthwhile on its own, and also a nice companion piece to The Last Waltz.

A couple of weeks ago the question was posed at a Gloryhound show, "Who wrote 'Long Black Veil," anyway?" At the time, I was convinced it was a traditional song. My only reason for thinking so was the fact that a line from the song was used as the title of the Sharyn McCrumb novel She Walks These Hills. It's one of her Ballad Novels and I assumed the titles were all taken from traditional ballads.

Incorrect! Long Black Veil was written in 1959, by Danny Dill and Marijohn Wilkin, the latter being credited with, among other things, discovering Kris Kristofferson.

Wow.

So: always check your facts, even if you think you know the answer. Especially if you answer questions for a living!

And to make up for my initial incautious response--here's a video that ends up with a performance of "The Long Black Veil":

(Okay, yes, you have to sit through "King Harvest" first. Such hardship.)

Incidentally, one of the Ballad Novels whose title was taken from a genuine folksong: If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O is named for a line in the song Pretty Peggy-O.

There's a video for that one, too:

Oh, don't pretend to be surprised!

I mentioned over Thanksgiving that I'd gotten a copy of The Last Waltz for five bucks. It came out in theatres in 1978, when I was about eleven and it was rated R (for what???**) so of course I didn't see it at the time.

( This is a long one. )