Structurally, the song is just about perfect in its simplicity. And when he talks about catching a cannonball to take him down the line, we understand that he is talking about a train, something like the Wabash Cannonball, as described in an American folk song first published in 1882. We get extra meaning from this verse when we learn that Robbie Robertson was also thinking of Nazareth, Pennsylvania as the home of Martin Guitar, a natural destination for a very different sort of pilgrimage for a guitar player born and raised in Canada.Īnd then there are also references to the Devil, to Luke, to Moses and to the Judgment Day, all contributing to the overall sense that our singer is working his way through a very Christian landscape. There is, to start with, the opening verse that talks about pulling into Nazareth and being unable to find a place to sleep, with its obvious similarity to the story of the birth of Christ. One of the remarkable things about this song is that, even though there is nothing about it that obviously brands it as country music, or as gospel, or as religious music, it still manages to summon up ghosts of The Carter Family, and that rich vein of traditional American music that sings of sacrifice, suffering, family and redemption. Won’t you stay and keep Anna Lee company?"
Let’s just read the lyrics through first (and listen to the music), and then talk about it.Īnd (and) (and) you put the load right on me. I recently came across the Playing for Change Song Around the World video of Robbie Robertson’s composition “ The Weight,” and it made me want to think – and write! – more deeply about how this song works, and what it means, and the timeless nature of its appeal.
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