I'm always happy to see a new song from The Low Darts show up on my YouTube subscription page. These teenagers pick classic songs from the 60s and 70s and make beautiful covers.
The Low Darts' studio cover of The Weight by The Band, recorded in Colman's basement studio. We're based in Fairfield, CT and are all between ages 16-20. We're back from a hiatus, so subscribe for new videos every week!
"The Weight" was originally recorded by The Band in 1968. Member Robbie Robertson touched on the meaning of the lyrics in a 1991 article on the history of The Band, which appeared in Goldmine magazine:
Featured in the film Easy Rider (but not on the soundtrack for contractual reasons), [The Weight] was partially inspired by the work of Spanish filmmaker Luis Bunuel.
"He did so many films on the impossibility of sainthood," says Robertson about Bunuel, "people trying to be good in Viridiana and Nazarin, people trying to do this thing. In `The Weight' it's the same thing. People like Bunuel would make films that had these religious connotations to them but it wasn't necessarily a religous meaning. In Bunuel there were these people trying to be good and it's impossible to be good."
"In `The Weight', it was this very simple thing. Someone says, `Listen, will you do me this favour? When you get there will you say "hello" to somebody or will you pick up one of these for me? Oh, you're going to Nazareth [Pennsylvania], that's where the Martin guitar factory is. Do me a favour when you're there.' This is what it's all about. So the guy goes and one thing leads to another and it's like, `Holy shit, what has this turned into? I've only come here to say "Hello" for somebody and I've got myself in this incredible predicament.' It was very Bunuelish to me at the time."
