The Weight

SPOILER ALERT!

And by that I mean, reading this may spoil your enjoyment of this song. So you may not want to read it.

I'm about to leap onto stage with a few dozen people at an awards show this weekend and join in on a big ol' super-jam of this tune, so I came here to get an idea of what people think this song is about.

I noticed a severe lack of the "sick and twisted" perspective in the comments, so I'm here to fill the void. I get an entirely different meaning out of it than what I've seen posted.

First, it's common for songwriters to mix sex and religion. It can be satisfying to take something sacred and twist it into something vulgar. I did it in one of my songs - specifically, making a biblical reference in my song about girl who suffers (using the term loosely) from sex addiction ("I'm filling a need as you're spilling your seed in the belly of angels" is the lyric).

Now, I'm no follower of The Band. I barely know of this group. I don't have a history of hearing the nuances they've made in lyrical changes at different live performances. I haven't been exposed to their interviews. So this is an outsider's point of view.

Okay, so let's imagine the writing session with a bunch of 20-something guys writing songs in the heat of the "peace, pot and microdot"-era of rock and roll. But, they were still unable to come right out and write nasty lyrics like Lil Wayne or Two Live Crew. So think: metaphors, metaphors, metaphors.

Also, if you wrote a song in the 60s about dirty stuff, you didn't go on The Tonight Show and tell Carson "Well, I'm glad you asked. It's about banging chicks." So instead you made stuff up. "It's about the significance of friendship in hard times" or some crap like that, without revealing what your metaphors truly meant. And that's if you could even remember what you originally intended the lyrics to mean, depending on how totally bent out of your brain you were when you wrote it. So don't rely on interviews for the true meaning.

Next, some definitions:

Fanny (slang for female genitals) Load (slang for the product of ejaculation) Bag (slang for scrotum and testicles) Carmen (associated with 'femme fatale'/seductress) Go down (slang for oral sex) Rag (slang for menstruation - "on the rag") Jack (slang for masturbate - "jack off") Dog (slang for penis. see urban dictionary "doggy" def #6) Keep company (idiom for carry on a courtship, have sex with) Big Pink (slang for penis, something's telling me the album is loaded with dirty metaphors. "Music From Big Pink" is like saying "Writing songs by thinking with our penises")

Furthermore, take into account that not only did these guys almost not even bother recording this song, viewing as a potential B-side and throwaway track. And they were also known for changing up the lyrics here and there when playing it live. (I read this info from chasing a link posted in one of the comments on here) My point: the lyrics aren't "set in stone". They were "winging it". Take some creative liberty. For example, "Fix your rag" could be "Fix the problem of someone being on the rag".

Lastly, since the sex is being mashed into religion, ignore the names for a moment. Some names don't even have to signify "a person".

So here's the sick and twisted interpretation.

Verse 1: Man goes to whorehouse. There are no available prostitutes. Or maybe he didn't have enough money. That would certainly earn a grin, a farewell handshake, and a resounding "No" from the business owner.

Verse 2: Man finds a place to hide to scope out a victim. He sees an attractive woman walk by. Now remember that religious folks would claim women who dress provocatively are "the devil", out to tempt poor defenseless men, right? In fact, it's still that way in the middle east - and some parts of the bible belt. So he says something like "Hey baby come get some of this." She says "No/I gotta go/I'm gonna get the hell outta here". For the last part of verse 2, first a bit of history. I just read the following: "While the lyrics (of "The Weight") in all transcriptions have 'My friend can stick around', later live versions appear to drift into 'my friend just stick around.'" So that becomes this: "She said, 'I gotta go'. My friend, just stick around." The "stick around" line becomes HIS, not HERS. Now, let's take that "creative liberty" I spoke about earlier and interpret the last part as "okay, so your personality (Carmen) doesn't want to be with me, but your body (Devil) is going to stick around because I'm gonna force you to be with me."

Verse 3: "Ain't nothin' you can say" because your mouth is full (hence "Go down"). I'll explain why "Miss Moses" is in there in a second.

Verse 4: He wants to switch from oral to regular intercourse, but she tells him she's "on the rag". "Miss Moses" is a flippant reference to 'girl of the red sea' or 'girl on her period'". Remember, probably a lot of drugs involved in the writing process here, so it's not too big of a stretch. The way to "fix" it? Make her "jack the dog" (see "dog" above).

Verse 5: "My bag is sinking low" aka he finished. The testicles (bag) drop after completion. Now he's gotta get back home to his wife (the other "Fanny", a derogatory term for any female, not just one woman in this song). His wife had sent him downtown to run errands, say hello to the store owner, anyone he sees along the way, etc, but he made "an extra stop" along the way.

Now to soil the chorus. It is of course sung over and over throughout the song, but its meaning only becomes clear after hearing all of the verses. When I was in school, I had a teacher who would use the expression "Take a load off" when he wanted some student to sit down. It wasn't used nicely. It was "Hey Fred. Take a load off. Find your seat now or you can find it after school in detention". I see this same attitude in "The Weight". I interpret the chorus like this: "Stop walking by, seductive-looking (and therefore evil) female. I'm gonna make you lay down here next to me. Take my 'load' for free (I'm not paying you). But since you're menstruating, use your hand. And my load ends up on me instead of inside you." Maybe she told him she's menstruating to avoid being impregnated. "Put the load right on me" could also have two meanings. He has the guilt of what he's done, but of course it's her fault for being such an evil temptress. So she, in fact, has put the burden of guilt and remorse on him.

And what better way to get a good satisfying chuckle as a songwriter than to mix religion into this mess, using biblical names as metaphors. Nazareth = a city. Crazy Chester = Alfred Chester Beatty acquired a papyrus containing a portion of the gospel of Luke. References to Moses, Luke, etc.

Sorry if I'm ruining your vision of this beautiful song. And it really is a beautiful song. You can ignore all of this if you'd like.

Finally, the only part I can't make heads or tails of is the Annalee part (third verse, second half). Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?