Expert: Geoff Wickens - 2/27/2005

Question
Who wrote the song "The Weight?"  I've heard it sung by The Band and Aretha Franklin.

Thanks.

Answer
This song was recorded by The Band and was written by Robbie Robertson and his version hit #63 on the Billboard charts.  Other artists had more sucess with covering The Weight. Versions by Jackie DeShannon (US #55, 1968), Aretha Franklin (US #19, April 1969, featuring Duane Allman on guitar), The Supremes with The Temptations (US #46, September 1969) all charted. Significantly for both royalties and for general public awareness, the Diana Ross and The Supremes With The Temptations album from which the single was taken reached US #2 and the Aretha Franklin album, Soul 69, reached US #15. The Weight was also heard on the soundtrack of the Peter Fonda/Dennis Hopper film Easy Rider in 1969, which in turn spawned a successful soundtrack album (US #6 in October 1969 and 41 weeks on the chart). The Band agreed to their version being used on the film soundtrack, then refused permission for it to appear on the subsequent album. Smith did a close cover version which can be heard on the Dunhill soundtrack album. Versions also appeared on albums by Bloomfield and Kooper (Live Adventures of Bloomfield & Kooper), Spooky Tooth (a very direct cover, with the interesting addition of harmonica), The Staple Singers and King Curtis. Virtually every cover cuts out a verse or two. Four hit singles as well as its presence on even more albums within a year means a high profile, in spite of the modest sales of the original single. In the UK the single was more successful, just failing to get into the top twenty (#21 on September 28 1968). In other words, the Band were not solely responsible for making the song a rock classic, but it is the number they are most associated with, and it turns up on every anthology and nearly every recorded live concert.

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Geoff