The Weight

 

The 1960’s were a time of good music in America. Early on, Bob Dylan started the movement, and was quickly followed by the Beatles, Peter, Paul, and Mary, the Rolling Stones, Simon and Garfunkel, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Jefferson  Airplane, Janis Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix, Carlos Santana ,the Doors, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, and many others.

The culmination of the decade, of course, was Woodstock, which occurred in August of 1969. Most of the people that I mentioned above performed there, and the music from at least one of the groups eventually became part of a sound track for a movie.

One of those groups was named The Band, and its lead performer was a guy named Levon Helm, who died on April 19. 2012, exactly 9 years ago today. In addition to his musical talents, Helm was also an accomplished actor, appearing in Coal Miner’s Daughter, The Right Stuff, Shooter, and The Electric Mist. Ultimately, he won 3 Grammy awards for his music, in 2008, 2009, and 2011.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levon_Helm

The movie, “Easy Rider”, was released on July 14, 1969. Produced for a budget of $360,000, it was a box office hit, and made Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper very rich men. Box office receipts for the movie exceeded $60,000,000.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easy_Rider

A large part of the appeal of the movie was the music. Although you can easily listen to the soundtrack for the entire movie, the song that really stands out is “The Weight”, which featured the drumming of Levon Helm.

Levon continued to play this song long after the movie was released, and he always seemed to have a lot of fun while performing it.

 Levon Helm The Weight - YouTube

 The magic of the 1960’s can never be replicated. Although Woodstock was a seminal event, the 40^th anniversary version was much tamer, and the 50^th anniversary event never happened, although anniversary albums were released on the 10^th, 20^th, 25^th, thirtieth, fortieth, and fiftieth anniversaries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodstock

Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison both passed 8 years after the end of Woodstock, at the age of 27. In addition, both Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper managed to survive their wild lifestyles, and lived to be 79 and 74, respectively.

Take a moment to reflect on the passing of a great musician – and take o load off your mind.