SEE THE MAN WITH THE STAGE FRIGHT.
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Artist:
".......they gave this poor boy his fortune and fame....Since that day he ain't been the same"
Robbie Robertson's broad stroke sketch of the performing artist in general, (long rumored to be "about" Bob Dylan in particular) resonates a bit more today. The Death of Michael Jackson slams home the cold reality, the maddening certainty that the world has gone mad. Celebrities who once merely lived in a fishbowl now squirm beneath the microscope, the 24/7 news & entertainment (there's a difference?) cycle demands martyrs. If it bleeds...it leads...if its healthy....make it bleed. We becoming unwitting but willing voyeurs...searching for the sordid & sad. The shadow thin shimmer of "normalcy" has been rent & torn by the voracious appetites of gossips & slugs. we're bombarded by a corosive stream of bile, adulation, advertisements, inducements, titillation, soft-core celebrations of the banal & trite.
...Rest In Peace, Michael.....no one can take away the music you left behind.
The Band's Rick Danko was the perfect choice to sing this song. His vulnarable quivering voice adds just the right bathos to the lyric....And of Course...Garth Hudon's amazing keyboard work is a marvel & a wonder.
Enjoy
Locating MOG account...
Comments (13)
well said. and the embodiment of this twisted mentality is Perez Hilton. if we aren't careful, we will all slide down the mudpath with him.
amen
The button isn't working, but i know the song, so I can sing it in my head.
Outside of all the other bad choices in his life, he made some great music- that's the one thing no one will ever be able to take away from his legacy.
While I would not disagree that fame destroyed Jackson (and Elvis, and Lennon), I really don't want to take away the music he left behind. The last song of his I enjoyed? I Want You Back. The rest he can keep.
Guess I'm just not impressed by the legacy.
Good dancer, though...
Awesome song -- wish the button worked. Rick Danko is another rock n roll tragedy.
Quite so, dmdm. Robertson's words were a prescient insight into Jackson's conundrum. And though I appreciate inrumford's clips, it's not really The Band for me without Robertson. He was key.
picky, picky.picky
I saw the Band at a free concert in DC in 96 and they still put on a great show. I was surprised at how heavy (weight-wise) Danko had become, but they sounded good. Wish I could have seen the Robbie Roberston version, but I was too young and I will always remember this show.
Date: 10/13/96
Location: Washington, DC -- Taste of DC Festival
Partial Song list:
Okay. Okay. I'm a purist.