We Didn't Know The Shape He Was In.
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Artist:Ricard Manuel
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Album:Whispering Pines
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Track:The Shape I'm In
One of the great sad stories in RocknRoll has to be the short haunted life of Richard Manuel. As a member of The Band, Manuel, along with Robbie Robertson, Garth Hudson, Levon Helm & Rick Danko turned the world upside down with their music. And that's not over-stating a damn thing. Forget about their teenage years in bars & brothels, roadhouses & dives in the American South and Canada. Forget about tour with Bob Dylan & creating some of the most intelligent articulate RocknRoll the world had ever heard in 1966.
Just picture our R&R culture in 1968...the "Blues Rivival" was already morphing into a psychedelic noodle of endless gormless jams for blitzed-out hipsters. Pop Music was awash with Sgt Pepper inspired tape loops & hidden messages & dayglow harmonies. ....and into the middle of all this The Band dropped Music From Big Pink on us. (If you don't own this cd stop reading now...go to itunes or your nearest store and get it...or your collection will be forever incomplete.) No long jams, hell no real solos. Just songs that were springing from a collective conciousness that was far older than genrational consideration. Roots music in a very real sense yet also the full flower of a heritage that reached back to the revolutionary war. UnSELFconciously real as Cream was selfconcious & unreal.
If you trace the History of Country Rock, Alt Country, Rock N Roll, Or American Folk Music The Band's name will feature prominately. And let us not forget, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko & Levon Helm were great if unheralded voices, each with his own unique style. Richard's ethereal falsetto could break your heart & send chills down your spine.
But Richard Manuel was a man haunted by the demons of addiction. Liquor & Cocaine had him by the balls. So many reached out & tried to help but like so many who get caught in that quicksand, his downward spiral was...?
I can think of few lonelier images than hanging yourself in a Motel room in a strange town.
Comments (16)
When music expressed the yearnings of the soul.
On the sad note, I can't imagine anything lonelier than suicide. A friend of mine found his 16 year old son hanging in the garage. My brother's best friend hanged himself. They're never found in company.
But there IS hope, which makes such scenes even sadder.
that's so heart-wrenching! :(
I found my 18 year old brother in similar circumstance - life sometimes sucks
I am sorry to hear that inrumford, life does indeed suck sometimes but its still better than the alternative.
What a loss his untimely death was. This is a very different and rawer version. Who played keyboard? I notice there is no drum here, maybe Rick did it himself. A great talent. Levon Helm's Dirt Farmer is worth giving a listen to...
that's strictly supposition on your part, DM :-)
...."Its been too hard livin', But I'm afraid to die
'cause I don't know what's up there beyond the sky".
Suicide is not painless- for those left behind. Sorry to hear of your experiences with that guys. We narrowly avoided a suicide of my daughters friend. Luckily, we got her help in time. Even the close calls and nights at the hospital stay with you.
Nice post.
BerkeleyBob-
It's Richard on electric piano and vocal, recorded live in Woodstock, New York in 1985. Whispering Pines is a pretty loose affair with Rick Danko (on guitar and vocal), Jim Weider (on lead guitar) and Sredni Vollmer (on harmonica) each joining in from time to time.
With the lack of a proper solo album from Richard, Dreamsville Japan issued Whispering Pines back in 2002. Canada's Other Peoples Music reissued the album three years later, taking away one track from the Japanese version and adding a handful of tracks from the Garth Hudson archives, including one with Richard's dog Mitzi on "vocals". That track alone was worth my own repurchasing of the album.
he was a sad, beautiful gem
This post made me realize, much more clearly than the Band's albums had, what a great singer and pianist he was. I probably won't commit suicide, because then I wouldn't be able to make horrible jokes.
Nothing sadder. And while FZ might have degraded the Suicide Chumps (those who try and fail) ... It's nothing but a cry for help. To hear those cries is our job I believe. If we don't fix the broken people ... We will never live in the world of our dreams. Unless you're hitler
Levon is going out a little this year ... Catch him if you can!
I finally saw 'The Last Waltz' for the first time ever just a few months ago. I didn't watch it because I was a fan of The Band or Robertson but because I'd heard so much about it being a quintessential concert film done by Scorcese & I'm a film buff as well as being a music addict. What I didn't realize was how many of the songs I ended up recognizing of theirs and didn't know they were by The Band. I wouldn't say I'm a fan per se now, but I at least have an appreciation for their music & their influence in the music world.
So I'm saddened to hear of Richard's lonely demise. Such a waste of true talent & that he didn't believe in his talent enough to keep going. Unfortunately, it's a reality of life. Thanks for posting about him DMDM.
" I can think of few lonelier images than hanging yourself in a Motel room in a strange town."
D man, little did i known how poignant this would be ....
I 'saw' an' heard 'the Band' in Norfolk Virginia
( sans Robbie) on this final 'tour' ... to Florida ),
It really 'ain't about drugs' re >"Liquor & Cocaine had him by the balls"
IT never is ...Manuel had a serious 'problem' > and like a lot of folks,
tried to self 'medicate' .... there's no sense 'blaming the drugs' for anything.
'Lone-sum Suzy' from Big Pink might be one of the 'saddest' songs ever recorded.
> from someone who really KNEW what 'saddness' is ....some of the greatest Poets
in English suffered from this 'malady' ...seems it's almost a 'pre-requistent' ....
"Bob" tried to shake him out of his '......' -- n' if you've ever dealt with someone
suffering from 'THIS' - you'll know it 'ain't jus liquor n' drugs' .....
Now this video's been 'taken down' ...who really "owns" it ??
If i 'film/experience' what God's Created ... seems to me >
it's OWNED by God ...