The Last Waltz Page #3

and neighbours called us The Band.

And we started out with The Crackers.

We tried to call ourselves The Honkies.

Everybody kind of backed off

from that, you know?

It was too straight.

So we decided just

to call ourselves The Band.

' I pulled into Nazareth

just feeling 'bout half-past dead

' Just need to find a place

where I can lay my head

' "Mister, can you tell me where

a man might find a bed?"

' He just grinned and shook my hand

' "No!" was all he said

' Take a load off Fanny

' Take a load for free

' Take a load off Fanny

' And...

' You put the load right on me

' I picked up my bag

and went looking for a place to hide

' When I saw old Carmen and the Devil

walking side by side

' I said "Hey, Carmen,

come on, let's go downtown"

' She said "I gotta go

but my friend can stick around"

' Take a load off Fanny

' Take a load for free

' Take a load off Fanny

' And...

' You put the load right on me

' Go down, Moses,

there's nothin' that you can say

' It's just old Luke

and Luke is waiting on the Judgment Day

' "Hey, Luke, my friend,

what about young Anna Lee?"

' He said "Do me a favour, son"

"Won't you stay

and keep Anna Lee company?"

' Take a load off Fanny

' Take a load for free

' Take a load off Fanny

' And...

' You put the load right on me

' Crazy Chester followed me

and he caught me in the fog

' He said "I will fix your rack

if you take old Jack, my dog"

' I said "Wait a minute, Chester,

you know I'm a peaceful man"

' He said "That's OK, boy,

won't you feed him whenever you can"

' Take a load off Fanny

' Take a load for free

' Take a load off Fanny

' And...

' You put the load right on me

' Catch a cannonball now

to take me on down the line

' My bag is sinking low

and I do believe that it's time

' To get back to Miss Fanny,

you know she's the only one

' She sent me here

with regards for everyone

' Take a load off Fanny

' Take a load for free

' Take a load off Fanny

' And you put the load right on me

' Oh, Fanny, take a load off Fanny

' Ohhh

Beautiful!

- Doesn't that need dusting?

- This looks interesting.

We'll play "Old-Time Religion"

for the folks.

' Old-time religion,

give me that old-time religion

' And it's good enough

' Well, it's good enough

' It was good for Grandpa,

good for my grandma

' It's good enough

' Good enough, good enough now

Oh, it's not like it used to be!

' Virgil Caine is the name

and I served on the Danville train

' Till Stoneman's cavalry came

and they tore up the tracks again

' In the winter of '65

we were hungry, just barely alive

' By May the tenth Richmond had fell

' It's a time I remember oh so well

' The night they drove old Dixie down

' When all the bells were ringing

' The night they drove old Dixie down

' And all the people were singing

' They went la la-la la la-la laaa

' La la-la la la-la la-la laaa

' Back with my wife in Tennessee

' When one day she called to me

' Said "Virgil, quick, come and see

there goes Robert E Lee!"

' Now I don't mind chopping wood

' And I don't care if the money's no good

' You take what you need

and you leave the rest

' But they should never

have taken the very best

' The night they drove old Dixie down

' When all the bells were ringing

' The night they drove old Dixie down

' And all the people were singing

' They went la la-la la la-la laaa

' La la-la la la-la la-la laaa

' Like my father before me

' I will work the land

' And like my brother above me

' Who took a rebel stand

' He was just 18, proud and brave

' But a Yankee laid him in his grave

' And I swear by the mud below my feet

' You can't raise a Caine back up

when he's in defeat

' The night they drove old Dixie down

' When all the bells were ringing

' The night they drove old Dixie down

' And all the people were singing

' They went la la-la la la-la laaa

' La la-la la la-la la-la laaa

' The night they drove

old Dixie down, down

' The bells were ringing

' The night they drove old Dixie down

' And all the people were singing

' They went la la-la la la-la laaa

' La la-la la la-la la-la laaa

A dream come true.

Fascinating. Scary.

Kind of hard to take the first time.

You have to go there about two or three

times before you can fall in love with it.

But that happens eventually.

We stayed at the Times Square Hotel

on 42nd Street.

The title of the hotel,

it sounded like it was conveniently

located in midtown Manhattan.

What did we know? We came out

of the hotel after checking in,

and you think "It's great

to be back in New York. "

Movie theatres for ever.

All these friendly women

walking up and down the street.

It was... It was great.

Yeah, New York, it was an adult portion.

It was an adult dose.

So it took a couple of trips to get into it.

You just go in the first time and you get

your ass kicked and you take off.

As soon as it heals up,

you come back and you try it again.

Eventually, you fall right in love with it.

Roulette Records was in the middle

of this mythical place, Tin Pan Alley.

The songwriting capital of the world.

And we met some of

the greatest songwriters ever.

Rock-and-roll songwriters. Doc Pomus.

Mort Shuman. Lieber and Stoller.

They were all then.

Carole King. Neil Diamond.

At the time it wasn't fair that a songwriter

was the low man on the totem pole.

But then, these people...

And here come the '60s,

with change and revolution

and war and assassinations,

and a whole other frame of mind

coming along.

And these songwriters were expressing

the feelings of people in the street.

In a way, it was kind of the beginning

of the end of Tin Pan Alley.

' Dry your eyes

' Take your song out

' It's a newborn afternoon

' And if you can't recall the singer

' Can you still recall the tune?

' Dry your eyes

' And play it slowly

' Just like you're marching off to war

' Sing it like you always wanted

' Like you sung it once before

' And from the centre of the circle

' To the midst of the waiting crowd

' If it ever is forgotten

' Sing it long and sing it loud

' And come dry your eyes

' And he taught us more about living

' Than we ever cared to know

' And we came to learn the secret

' And we never let it go

' And it was more than being holy

' Though it was less than being free

' And if you can't recall the reason

' Can you hear the people sing?

' Right through the lightning

and the thunder

' To the dark side of the moon

' To that distant falling angel

' That descended much too soon

' Come dry your eyes

' Dry your eyes

' Take your song out

' It's a newborn afternoon

' And if you can't recall the singer

' You can still recall the tune

' Come dry your eyes

' Come dry your eyes

' Dry your eyes

Neil Diamond!

Thanks very much.

When you started playing as The Band,

you shied away from publicity a lot.

Talk about that a little.

That was just part of a lifestyle

that we got to love in Woodstock.

We got to like it, you know,

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