This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
It makes no difference where I turn
I can't get over you and the flame still burns
It makes no difference, night or day
The shadow never seems to fade away
And the sun don't shine anymore
And the rains fall down on my door
Now there's no love
As true as the love
That dies untold
But the clouds never hung so low before
It makes no difference how far I go
Like a scar the hurt will always show
It makes no difference who I meet
They're just a face in the crowd
On a dead-end street
And the sun don't shine anymore
And the rains fall down on my door
These old love letters
Well, I just can't keep
Cause like the gambler says
Read 'em and weep
And the dawn don't rescue me no more
Without your love I'm nothing at all
Like an empty hall it's a lonely fall
Since you've gone it's a losing battle
Stampeding cattle
They rattle the walls
And the sun don't shine anymore
And the rains fall down on my door
Well, I love you so much
It's all I can do
Just to keep myself from telling you
That I never felt so alone before
I can't get over you and the flame still burns
It makes no difference, night or day
The shadow never seems to fade away
And the sun don't shine anymore
And the rains fall down on my door
Now there's no love
As true as the love
That dies untold
But the clouds never hung so low before
It makes no difference how far I go
Like a scar the hurt will always show
It makes no difference who I meet
They're just a face in the crowd
On a dead-end street
And the sun don't shine anymore
And the rains fall down on my door
These old love letters
Well, I just can't keep
Cause like the gambler says
Read 'em and weep
And the dawn don't rescue me no more
Without your love I'm nothing at all
Like an empty hall it's a lonely fall
Since you've gone it's a losing battle
Stampeding cattle
They rattle the walls
And the sun don't shine anymore
And the rains fall down on my door
Well, I love you so much
It's all I can do
Just to keep myself from telling you
That I never felt so alone before
Lyrics submitted by airforbes1
It Makes No Difference Lyrics as written by Robbie Robertson
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Look up Ricks solo performance on youtube in japan Circa 1997. It kills me for so many reasons but its its own version.
My brain is very fuzzy and thinking wierd right now from the benzos, so pardon me if this doesn't sound fluent.<br /> Yeah it sucked. Poor old man was coming to an end. It's sad to see that kind of deterioration. It almost makes me want to cry because you can still hear that enduring emotion in his voice; the song still had meaning. As it was said the shadow never seems to fade away.<br /> The sun didn't shine anymore, the rain still falling. It just added up to be a very depressing while heartfelt performance.<br /> Not sure if you looked into it that deeply, but it meant a lot to me.<br /> RIP Rick Danko, one of the greatest musicians to have ever contributed his talents to the world.
this is one of the greatist songs written and rick danko's vocal breaks your heart. this song really means alot to me about a relationship along time ago in my life that still affects me
The most beautiful songs I've ever heard from The Band and one of my favorite songs ever. I don't have to interpret it too much, because it's pretty straight-forward, but man, is it powerful. Do you guys know who wrote this song? i always read and heard that Robbie wrote most of (if not all of) their songs, but it's hard to believe Rick didn't write it. There are some songs that, when the singer puts this much heart and soul into it, you think to yourself "man, this guy had to have been the one who wrote this, because there's no other way he could have put this much emotion into it".
@Muck Man Definitely Robbie Robertson
I absolutely love this song. It has such as somber and melancholy feeling to it. Rick Danko sings it and his voice is one of the greatest ever. Watch The Last Waltz. You will undertsand what I'm talking about when you here this.
do you believe this?
"Now there's no love As true as the love That dies untold"
@orphan_yachts I agree, doesn’t ring true to me. A love that dies because the guy for whatever reason didn’t ‘tell’ it isn’t the truest love, it’s a squandered love. <br /> Don’t know what Robbie was thinking! And for those of you believing Levon’s trash talk about Robbie not sharing lyric credit, read Robbie’s memoir Testimony. Levon’s book turned me off to Robbie. Testimony is much more believable, written by a decent man who was the lynchpin of The Band when the others were off the deepend. In The Last Waltz Ronnie Hawkins agreed, saying Levon helped arrangements but didn’t write the lyrics or melody except on the few he was credited with. <br />
such a beautiful love song about not being able to get over someone who you can't have. beautiful live on the last waltz.
Oh yeah, and as much as I love The Last Waltz, I think that version of this song pales in comparison witht he studio version. Rick doesn't sound nearly as good (but as we all know, Rick and Richard didn't sound nearly as well by this time because of all of their years of boozing, drugging, and performing...although Levon still sounded great). Rick put the same heart and soul into it, but it just didn't sound as good. Maybe that's just me.
@Muck Man Are you joking? The "Last Waltz" version has TWO stunning sax solos by Garth Hudson.<br /> TWO.
I agree that neither Rick nor Richard sound their best on The Last Waltz, but Rick sounds incredible on the studio version. I have heard that Robbie often took credit for writing songs that he didn't actually write. Either way, this is a beautiful song about losing someone and knowing that you'll never see them again, but you still can't get over them and move on with your life.
Also I should note that the end of this song is one of the few times where Robbie's playing sounds really really good. Most of the time his playing doesn't really stand out, but it sure does here.
@TheDuellist He overdubbed his solos on the "Last Waltz" soundtrack.
amazing tune about a real depressed guy who wants his girl back so bad and is singing about how bad he does god bless rick for writing and singing this classic
@joe walsh rules It was written by Robbie Robertson