The Weight

quoting from wiki...

Robertson on "The Weight"

According to Robertson, "The Weight" was inspired by the films of Luis Buñuel, about which Robertson once said: (Buñuel) did so many films on the impossibility of sainthood. People trying to be good in Viridiana and Nazarin, people trying to do their thing. In ‘The Weight’ it’s the same thing. People like Buñuel would make films that had these religious connotations to them but it wasn’t necessarily a religious meaning. In Buñuel 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, would you do me this favour? When you get there will you say 'hello' to somebody or will you give somebody this or will you pick up one of these for me? Oh? You’re going to Nazareth, 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’s 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 Buñuelish to me at the time.

Only in this case, the traveler encounters the favor-asking people in Nazareth itself.

I just found the meaning of this song at this address: http://theband.hiof.no/articles/the_weight_viney.html

Basically, there is no "meaning". It's not like "Hey Jude" where there is a "meaning" or a clear narrative or inspiration. Instead, Robbie Robertson (the man who wrote the lyrics) said "I just wrote it. It’s just one of those things. I thought of a couple of words that led to a couple more, and the next thing I knew I wrote the song," and he's also said "When I wrote ‘The Weight’, the first song for ‘Music From Big Pink’, it had a kind of American mythology I was reinventing using my connection to the universal language. The Nazareth in ‘The Weight’ was Nazareth, Pennsylvania."

He was using very evocative language, which ends up sounding Biblical, i.e. great and mythical -- because there's not much language that digs deeper in the human soul to bring up images than the Bible. And "The Weight" manages to do the same as the Bible, in that respect. And it's also not dissimilar with regard to the difficulty in interpreting it! But, similarly or dissimilarly, that's because The Weight lacks a real story being told. Instead, he he uses the "Universal Language", really evocative and poetic language, to tell a story of travel and desperation and attachment with all the narrative "blanks" left unfilled, which actually leaves us to fill the blanks in with something that's not even put into words -- the imagery of a North American mythology. For me, I imagine him pulling into a Nazareth of whiskey stills and Appalachian old-timers, rural ghettos, rusty train cars rattling by, and guys with dogs that have only been fed whenever their owners got the chance.

A beautiful song, the kind of song that conjures meanings up for each listener. This is one song where the comments on songmeanings that claim that the song has no "meaning" are well placed, although that is an asset in the case of this piece.

To me, "the weight" described in the song is the responsibility of the people in the living world. The singer has recently "left his body" but is in a place between life and death, soon to face judgement.

"Ms. Fanny, who the narrator offers to take the 'load' for, is someone close to him, perhaps a lover or possibly some other family member. Fanny had died previously and left her responsibilities to the author.

I pulled in to Nazareth, was feeling 'bout half past dead I just need some place where I can lay my head Hey mister, can you tell me where a man might find a bed?'' He just grinned and shook my hand,No'' was all he said

The narrator is very tired from the weights of the world, and wants to rest. Currently he's in Nazareth. which I think means he's between earth and heaven. There's no rest for this man yet, he must first face judgement.

I picked up my bag, I went looking for a place to hide When I saw Carmen and the Devil walking side by side I said Hey Carmen, come on, let's go downtown'' She saidI gotta go but my friend can stick around''

Carmen hanging with the Devil might mean she's destined for hell. As for the author wanting to hide, it might mean that he doesn't want to face judgement yet, indeed he says he's looking for a place to hide. The devil might be sticking around to usher in his new captives who are judged unworthy of heaven.

Go down Miss Moses, there's nothing you can say It's just old Luke, and Luke's waiting on the judgement day Well, Luke my friend, what about young Anna-Lee?'' He saidDo me a favour son, won't you stay and keep Anna-Lee company?''

Miss Moses might be Anna-Lee's mother, who is trying to convince Luke to return to life. Clearly Luke is in line for judgement and in the same situation as the narrator. He's decided to stay to face judgement, but asks the narrator to stay and keep anna-lee company. Perhaps Anna-Lee is Luke's daughter in the living world, and he wants the narrator to look after her when he's gone. Also, Miss Moses might be in line for judgement but less willing to accept it. I'm not sure what "go down" means between Miss Moses and Luke, and the relationship between them.

Crazy Chester followed me and he caught me in the fog He said I will fix your rat if you'll take Jack my dog'' I saidWait a minute Chester, you know I'm a peaceful man'' He said ``That's okay boy, won't you feed him when you can?''

This is the easiest of the segments to understand. Chester is dead, and he asks the narrator to stay alive to look after his dog. The narrator says hes a peaceful man, which might mean that he doesn't want to fight against death. But, Chester says feed him WHEN you can, which confuses me. If it were IF, it fit better with my interpretation. Still, though, i think that Chester asks the narrator to return to life to look after his dog.

Catch a cannonball now to take me down the line My bag is sinking low and I do believe it's time To get back to Miss Fanny, you know she's the only one Who sent me here with her regards for everyone

The line might be a mass transit system in Nazareth, or it might actually be a waiting line to judgement. Either way, the cannonball, whatever it is, it might be a train, has taken him to judgement. The last line, about Fanny sending the narrator to Nazareth, makes me think that he was killed by Fanny, but more possibly, he committed suicide because of her death and because of the weight she left behind. Or, he may have died of depression, without killing himself. Either way, it's clear Fanny is involved in his death, but it's also pretty certain that Fanny herself is dead, because he's going to "get back to" her.

A pretty deep and awesome song, I'm not even the religious type, but its just awesome.

I really think everyone is turning this song inside out looking for the meaning. I think it's simply talking about one man carrying a burden from many different people throughout the song. In every verse someone else lays more problems on him. Even the last verse about Fanny. She is the whole reason why he is even there (wherever that may be) to start with. But he realises while riding a train back to her that she's all he cares about. And he'll be damn glad to get back home. Whatever it's about...it's awesome!

I like Smuggler's ideas. The singer keeps talking about his bag, the weight. This weight is life, his body. He's in purgatory. Fanny has already died, leaving the narrator with the weight.

He keeps asking for rest which is death.

Crazy Chester says he'll fix his rack( not rat) - slang for giving him a place to sleep. In the song, letting him die.

Chester wants the narrator to take his dog along to the afterlife.

Robbie Robertson said that when he wrote this song, it was just one of those things, where as he's writing, one word just led to another. He is talking about Nazareth Pennsylvania though. Overall, I don't think he even knows what it means.

The more you know, the less knowing the meaning of things means.

First time I heard this song was in "Easy Rider" movie. I was quite impressed with the mixture of the images and the song. Afterwards in "Rolling Stone" magazine I read that the song was inspired by the film "the impossibility of sainthood" of the Spanish director Luis Bunuel. A great song!

the weight i can rember the first time i heard this great song, i was stoned as f**k, and this song caught on the radio, i never ever had a feelin like the feelin i got from this song, i mean it was almost like the music it self was getting me high, like it was a drug, so ever day i listenin to the weight one or twice and from then on i dont listen to nothing but the band,,, my opion the band was the best groups in history and i think they should of be geiving sumthing more then what they got for makin sum of the greastest music in history......but that my opion,,,,, only thing i now is i would pay a million dollar to find out what happenin to me the day i heard this song,,, i no more ppl then just me felt thing way and i wish i could talk to one of them bout it......

I think that this song is very bibilical. He pulls into Nazareth, and there is a man there who shakes his hand and says no politely. You can put the load (sins) on Jesus. What does everyone else think?