Sunday, May 3, 2020

One or the other



This is a song I dearly love. Might actually be the best thing Robbie Robertson has ever written in fact. Just the way it makes a party out of the tensions and frustrations of daily urban life. Helped along, of course, by Garth Hudson's playful organ (a phrase that sounded better in my head.)

Save your neck
Or save your brother
Looks like it's
One or the other.

The terror, of course, is the possibility you might not succeed at either.

2 comments:

susan said...

After thinking about it for not very long I'd say I have to agree it might be his best. After The Band broke up we didn't listen to much of his music, but I do remember liking Somewhere Down That Crazy River too.

Long, long ago when I was about 16 I got to see Rompin' Ronnie Hawkins and The Hawks (later, The Band) at a nighclub in Toronto. They opened for Bo Diddley. The club let me in because a girl lent me her older sister's driving licence - no pictures then and all you had to do was remember your date of birth.

Ben said...

That is a good song, and I'm sure his solo work has other overlooked gems. A lot of the Band's music is more fun, though. I don't know, go back and forth on it.

That sounds like quite a night out, especially if you stayed late enough to see Bo Diddley himself. Also the future Band before they even latched onto Bob Dylan. A lot of kids now wouldn't believe that licenses used to not have pictures, I'm guessing because government offices lacked quick printing and lamination.