His rememberence of getting off the bus in Arkansas and experiencing American culture for the first time explains why and how Robbie wrote. "It hit me so hard that I just never shook it off." Americans can never be amazed by America like that. A similar perspective powers Neil's work.
This interview is really precious, so rare. Ive seen many of his interviews but this is the earliest one so far. I think he was just 30 here. Still so young.
Interesting! What he did, when he went south, are what antropologists do. With an "outsiders" view you can discover things that "the natives" take for granted.
It's amazing how a bunch of Canadians could convey the aesthetic sense of Americana and it's historical musical folkways better than so many Americans. The Band were so special.
I noticed Robbie while on a deep dive into watching Joni Mitchell. The Band was playing backup band for Joni in the mid 70’s and thought to myself…hey who is that hot guy on the guitar 💗🤩😎🎸🍁🦋
No, they did not back up joni, they just invited her to play 2 songs at their farewell concert " the last waltz " and played with her that night only .
They weren't all comfortable being interviewed. Garth was an introvert, there are interviews on Utube, with Levon, Rick and Richard, however Robbie was the most articulate and also a great storyteller.
Are you out there? Can you hear me? Can you see me in the dark? I don't believe it's all for nothing It's not just written in the sand Sometimes I thought you felt too much And you crossed into the shadow land And the river was overflown And the sky was fiery red You gotta play the hand that's dealt ya That's what the old man always said Fallen angel Casts a shadow up against the sun If my eyes could see The spirit of the chosen one In my dream the pipes were playing In my dream I lost a friend Come down, Gabriel, and blow your horn 'Cause some day we will meet again Rest in peace Robbie you were a true poet. In my heart forever😢🕊️💔
I saw him or Mick Jagger driving a Bentley convertible with an odd broken grill , while wearing a bowler hat once . Probably was Robbie since the local Rosendale theatre released We Once Were Brothers around the same time.
I don't buy into Robertson's lament about "The road". Take a look at BB King for example who played hundreds of shows a year up until his 90's. Robertson was wealthy and simply decided that he could afford to quit the road. The others were not wealthy.
@@kevindean1327 I don’t either. The Band really didn’t tour that much after 1969. Now I can understand him not wanting to play shows anymore when they were basically doing the same songs and running the risk of becoming a nostalgic act. That would be a drag. But the road itself is no more hazardous than any other occupation, especially the way the Band traveled in the 1970’s.
one more case where the interviewer gets the interviewee talking in a flow telling his story and then the interviewer needs to get one of his own cherished views into the picture and shuts off the interviewee, then when the interviewee waits out the interviewer's revelation and starts in talking again the interviewer takes to correcting what he says there he goes again @ 1:16 interrupting to ask the question Robbie is about to answer just following his flow of thought
yeah, i know what you mean - another situation circa 9 mins where RR is answering the question in terms of an outsider being able to pick up things that an insider is blind to, citing Bresson's photos of the south, and then interviewer cuts him off to quote Cohen (?) on whether it's a jewish perspective. ?!? or the nature of voyaging out. RR just says. "yeah. it's true" and that's the end of *that* topic.
Robbie is like the celebrity chef Rick Bayless. Rick has (as far as I know) no Mexican or Spanish ancestry, but he fell madly in love with traditional Mexican cuisine, and he made it his life's work. Simple as that.
I think their voices are different, though seeing they come from the same area in Canada, it stands to reason that they sound alike. As much as I love Robbie and his music, guitar playing and his story telling, he can't hold a candle to Rick when it comes to singing, and Robbie will be the first to admit that.
@@fgsp8909According to the others in the band, Robbie did ALL that the others did. He and Garth were married and fortunately had wives/ families that kept them from continuing. He was no saint...altho he always portrayed himself that way...and now his eulogies make him one...and also say he was the leader. Ummm...no.
@@maryperez1235 He was taking cocaine and drinking few but he was not a junky with a needle like manuel helm or danko during the early 70's. He was of course not a saint , nobody was during those years in the musical circuit . And about leading the band, well he was kind of the spokeman for the band and the main songwritter . That kinda a leader position but the other were also as important as him thats true.
I stood next to Robbie when he was working or watching the Dylan’s film in Redwood City. Renaldo and Clara. I brushed by him on purpose. LOL. I didn’t understand why he wasn’t being mobbed.
here is an interesting tid-bit that not everyone knows.Robbie Robertson was related to a Jewish gangster by the name of Nate Klegerman from Toronto. Nate, in turn was a lieutenant in big time mobster Paul Volpe's crew who were active in Toronto's underworld in the 60's and 70's. eventually, Volpe was murdered and left in his BMW at Pearson international airport in about the early side of 1980. Crazy connection and crazy story EH??????
@shallnot6043 he seemed like 4 different Robbies. 1.Early on with Dylan, his protege, similar sunglasses, reserved. 2. Breaking out yet wire rim glasses and his Woodstook Yarmulke cap. Showing his heritage. 3. Bigger hair, 71-80 "Marty" ego'd him up phase, plays for the camera. & 4. The latter years, the wise mensch, the storyteller. Always told great stories from the day. Will miss you Robbie. Thanks for your time & music.
@@KikeGarcia66 Totally false, bro. He's never said that, they ALL partook of various substances at different times. He talks about living with Scorcese here; those two were consuming ridiculous amts of cocaine. But lastly, to whoever here, I don't assume any intoxication in this video. Consider that maybe his particular set of genetics produced his particular features & this is the way the man looked. ☮
OOPS Enrique --- I was watching something else on RU-vid, different interview much later. (Very good) I got a phone call, came back and saw the comment you replied to so read it and yours...I haven't even seen this! Was making my remarks having just watched the other one. So sorry! BUT historically (again I haven't watched this) this would probably line up with his time of living with Scorcese 😅
its funny that i'm seeing this interview today and answering your question. i saw Carny .i didn't like it. today in N.J, Gary Busey was charged for fondling
The movie Carny is avaiable on UTube, the movie was not great not bad either, in any case Robbie was so gorgeous in it, that was enough for me to watch it, even more than once.@@mikegalante6909
The movie Carny is available on Utube, it is an okay movie. However, Robbie have never looked better. So if you are female and like good looking men I recommend the movie.@@mikegalante6909
Yes, I saw it, it is available for free here on Utub, movie mediocre. However, if you are female and like good looking men, Robbie have never looked better. I watched it twice just because of Robbie.@@mikegalante6909
@@mikegalante6909 I have seen it it is available for free here on Utube. It is okay, not great, but if you are female and like good looking men, Robbie have never looked better, couldn't take my eyes off him.
Read Barney Hoskins book "Across the great divide" a biograhpy of The Band. He is plenty critical of Robbie, but his view aligns more with Robbie's own version. According to Hoskins they all made a lot of money. Seems like drugs consumed some of it.
I’ve read everything about The Band that I can get my hands on. The latest read was “Levon’s Man” by former Band Manager (1986 to 1994) Joe Forno Jr. Great read for inside info. According to Forno, Levon told a Helena, Arkansas newspaper that “his” book was 50% bullshit; I use “his” in Quotations because I’m convinced that it was mostly written by Stephen Davis…the hack rock and roll journalist who wrote a horrible biography of Led Zeppelin. I bought into the “Robbie as exploiter” bullshit until I started doing actual research on the subject. As for Levon, who I love as an artist, I was hugely disappointed by his assertion in the second edition of “his” book that Robbie effectively killed Rick by “stealing” his royalty money. Nobody killed Rick Danko but Rick Danko. I love the guy…but he was his own worst enemy (he was quoted as saying that he estimated spending $100,000 to $200,000 a year on drugs). Unless Robbie was injecting Rick with the heroin that effectively killed him, the allegation was absolute slander.
@@robertbruce6865 I read Joe Forno Jr's book. It is obvious that Levon had a problem handling money. His motto was "don't let your income dictate your lifestyle". Then when he had spend recklessly and wasted his money, he blamed Robbie. By the way other than Robbie Rick is my favorite Band member, none of them were perfect.
Watch more interviews with Robbie. This is typical Robbie: slow talking…smart…thoughtful. I know that he and Scorsese got into Coke, but he sounds like “normal” Robbie here.
He seems like a different guy than in The Last Waltz just a short time later. Looser and less theatrical in his way of speaking. Not trying so hard to seem important or cool.
Robbie is definitely one of my favorite musicians of all times. The only thing is that all the members of the band made the band. I know he wrote the music but it took all of them to make that happen. Now I don’t know the details but from what I do know for lack of a better term I feel he kinda took the money and ran. Look at poor Garth. Robbie couldn’t kick him a few dollars. He could not pay off Levon’s home? I love all those band members. And Robbie should get more but the other ones did deserve something. Agreed??
Robbie did not take the money and run. He wrote the songs, and according to Barney Hopkyns biography of The Band they all made a lot of money. Sometime in the early seventies they all made $400.000, which was a lot of money back then. When Dylan first connected with Robbie he offered him the position of guitar player, Robbie said he was part of a group, and he didn't want to abandend them, so it seem like he looked out for his band members. As someone said he could have said "Goodbye and good luck" and moved on. By the time they did The Last Waltz, 3 of them were doing heroin and other drugs, Richard for the most part were a mess, Levon and Rick usually rose to the occation. Read Hopkyns book and also Robbie's Testimony and you will get a more complete picture of what happened.
Levon was very careless when it came to money. His motto was "Don't let your bank account dictate your lifestyle. I just read Joe Forno's book "Levon's Man", Levon just spend money weather he had it or not. His house burned down, he got insurance money and rebuild, but very elaborate, wanted a man made lake, not cheap, and other stuff. Stayed in expensive hotels and ordered room service even if he couldn't finish it all himself. One hotel bill was $43,000 for a few days. Owed many to the IRS. His managed forward him $100,000 and never got paid back, said he thought he, the manager, deserved to be paid back, but couldn't afford it. Then he writes a book and blames Robbie for his money problems.
@@hannejeppesen1809. Perfect. As someone who has read every scrap of info that I could get my hands on, who has practically worshipped this group since I accidentally listened to the Brown Album as a teen and assumed that it was a Greatest Hits album until my dad set me straight, I couldn’t have articulated my thoughts better than yourself. Robbie didn’t screw the others. They screwed themselves horribly and with deadly results in Richard’s and Rick’s cases. I love ALL the guys, including the later additions in the Reformed Band…but facts are facts. It’s fashionable these days to argue with facts, but people look like idiots when they do so. Forno’s book is an underrated read, critical for those who are interested in the sad flailing without Robbie to lead them. I mean, I saw them play in Chicago in April of 1996, and loved it (I sat about 10 yards from Garth, my music idol)…but they were more or less the “traveling jukebox” that critics labeled them. The only thing about Forno’s book that came in just under the line was commentary about Billy Preston’s involvement in 1991. I would’ve loved hearing more about this. Other than that small disappointment, I loved that book!
@@hannejeppesen1809. As much as I love Levon Helm (a cousin of his used to live in my Southwest Lower Michigan community and was my parent’s favorite server), I will always be disgusted with his assertion in the updated version of “his” autobiography that Robbie effectively killed Rick Danko. A slanderous and heartless allegation that doesn’t contain a kernel of truth. Rick Danko killed Rick Danko. He admitted in an interview to spending between 100K to 200K ANNUALLY on drugs. I think of this when I watch a RU-vid video of his second to last show on December 4, 1999. He and his wife had just been evicted from their home and were living in a motel; I presume that he went on that brief tour as a way of earning some desperately needed money…which was the figurative final nail in his coffin. I had given some serious consideration to driving across lower Michigan to see his Ann Arbor show on Dec 6. Having watched the video of the Dec 4 show in Illinois, I’m glad that I didn’t. The change in him from the Band show that I saw in Chicago in April of 96 to the video of the Dec 4, 1999 show was shocking. According to Sandra Tooze’s excellent bio of Levon, Jim Weider tried to get Rick to see Weider’s doctor, but Rick wasn’t having it. Self destructive to the bitter end.
