• Writer: Robbie Robertson
• Producer: John Simon
• Recorded: January 12th, 1968, at Big Pink near Saugerties, New York
• Released: July 1st, 1968
• Players:
  Levon Helm — vocals, percussion
  Robbie Robertson — guitar, vocals
  Rick Danko — bass, vocals
  Richard Manuel — piano, vocals
  Garth Hudson — keyboards
• Album: Music From Big Pink (Capitol, 1968)
• Also On:
  Rock Of Ages (Capitol, 1972)
  The Best Of The Band (Capitol, 1976)
  The Last Waltz (Capitol, 1978)
  Anthology (Capitol, 1978)
  To Kingdom Come (Capitol, 1989)
  Across The Great Divide (Capitol, 1994)
  Greatest Hits (Capitol, 2000)
• The Band came together in the late ’50s and early ’60s as the Hawks, who were the backing band for Canadian singer Ronnie Hawkins.
• Guitarist Robbie Robertson and drummer Levon Helm were tapped by Bob Dylan to be part of his controversial first electric band in 1965. Helm quit for a time, writing in his memoir, “I wasn’t made to be booed.”
• The Hawks came back together in 1966 to do some recording with Dylan, who was recovering in the Woodstock, New York area after being injured in a motorcycle accident. The group rented a house at 2188 Stoll Road near Saugerties, New York. Because of its color, the house was called Big Pink — which subsequently became immortalized in the title of the Band’s first album.
• Robertson said that the time spent at Big Pink gave the group its distinctive, rootsy sound: “In that house, without a PA, it was just our instruments and us. While all the other bands were getting louder, we were discovering our balance between ourselves. It was our rebellion against the rebellion, although we never discussed it.”
• Considering its regard as a rock-and-roll classic, it’s surprising that “The Weight” was something of an afterthought in the Big Pink sessions, according to Robertson — “‘The Weight’ was like, ‘Okay, this doesn’t have a very complicated chord progression, it’s just kind of traditional, so we’ll cut that when we get stuck for a song.’ And then when we cut it, we thought, ‘Gee, it’s kind of effective when you hear it back at you like that.””
• Robertson says the song, with its characters and visions of the small-town Nazareth, is “about the impossibility of sainthood.”
• Thanks in part to being featured in the film Easy Rider, “The Weight” reached Number 63 on the Billboard Hot 100.
• Music From Big Pink hit Number 30 on the Billboard 200.

FAST FORWARD:

• There have been many remakes of “The Weight,” including several — by Aretha Franklin, the Temptations, Jackie DeShannon, and the Supremes — which charted higher than the Band’s original.
• The Band broke up on November 25th, 1976 — which was Thanksgiving day — with a concert named The Last Waltz. The all-star show, which featured performances by Dylan, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Emmylou Harris, Ringo Starr, Ron Wood, and others, was immortalized in the album and film of the same name.
• The Band regrouped without Robertson in 1983.
• Suffering from depression, Richard Manuel hanged himself on March 6th, 1986, after a show in Winter Park, Florida. Robertson wrote the song “Fallen Angel” in his honor.
• Helm and keyboardist-saxophonist Garth Hudson continue to tour and record, while Robertson pursues a solo career that includes his own albums as well as scoring films.
• Eric Clapton, who wanted to join the Band after hearing their music, inducted the group into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. Clapton also played with the band that night on a rendition of “The Weight.”
• Rick Danko died in his sleep on December 10, 1999.