"I picked up my bag, I went looking for a place to hide
Then I saw Carmen and the devil walking side by side
I said - Hey Carmen come on, let's go downtown
She said I gotta go but my friend can stick around..."
...e poi, appunto, quel ritornello indimenticabile, leggendario, come se non bastasse consegnato alla storia - solo pochi mesi dopo, se mai ce ne fosse stato bisogno - da una pellicola altrettanto leggendaria.
Ma per quanti anni ci siamo fatti le stesse domande, e ancora torneremo a farcele...? Per quanto tempo ci siamo chiesti cosa fosse quel PESO, quel fardello che la voce (non dico l'uomo, dico la VOCE parlante) è disposta a sobbarcarsi...? E quante volte ci siamo domandati, senza mai trovare risposta, chi fosse quella Carmen a spasso col diavolo per le vie di Nazareth, quel fantomatico Luke che aspetta nel Giorno del Giudizio, e a cui la VOCE domanda: "che ne è stato della giovane Anna Lee...?"; o ancora, Miss Moses o quella Miss Fanny ("you know, she's the only one"), quella che porta il carico che la VOCE prenderà su di sé...? - quante volte. E quante volte, ascoltando quel "walking SIDE BY SIDE, corre un brivido nel ricordo di QUEL blues e dell'uomo che DAVVERO fianco a fianco al diavolo lo cantava - associazione inevitabile, un po' come quando ascolti "Jokerman" e non puoi fare a meno di chiederti se quel giullare è proprio lo stesso di "All Along The Watchtower", quello che dialogava col ladro sul modo di trovare una via di fuga...
La voce di "Big Pink" è la voce di UN americano, e la storia raccontata da "Big Pink" è una storia americana. Come tante altre raccontate. Ma è raccontata come nessuno, mai, è riuscito. Poteva riuscirci solo una band (LA Band...?) i cui membri avevano passato tanto e tanto di quel tempo assieme, che ormai erano una cosa sola. Più voci in una voce unica, più pensieri in un solo pensiero, un'anima sola pur nella diversità degli umori e delle personalità. The Band non fu mai la band di Robbie Robertson, di Richard Manuel o di Levon Helm - come i Beatles potevano essere la band di Lennon & McCartney, come gli Stones la band di Jagger & Richards... The Band era LA Band, senza che in questo vi fosse alcunché di arrogante né di presuntuoso. Potevano chiamarsi The Robots, Paul London & The Capers, The Rockin' Revols, The Hawks (come tutti insieme si chiamarono), ma erano già The Band. Lo erano già quando, passata la frontiera canadese per il Sud, accompagnavano quel rocker venuto dall'Arkansas che rispondeva al nome di Ronnie Hawkins, uno che diceva d'aver raccolto cotone assieme a Bo Diddley, o quando accompagnavano il Cavaliere Elettrico per quei selvaggi irripetibili tour tra '65 e '66 - esibizioni da registrare e mandare agli archivi, semplicemente. Memphis, New Orleans, il Mississippi, le murder ballads nel sangue; Howlin' Wolf, Junior Parker, il rockabilly suonato alle feste di scuola; nella mente il Mito dell'America primitiva e "viva" delle strade, della provincia, della frontiera vuota e desolata dei coloni, degli "homeless" senza un posto dove dormire col bagaglio in mano e un fardello pesante in spalla. Appunto, un fardello. Spirituale o materiale...? Tutti e due, probabilmente. Dietro una copertina il cui autore è fin troppo noto per essere nominato non c'era solo un disco. La "Casa Rosa" è l'ultimo, disperato rifugio di un'America che nel '68 non esiste più, o almeno non nella sua forma più pura. Il cambiamento - inesorabile, inevitabile - l'aveva spazzata via. La fuga utopica che la controcultura si portò dietro, del resto, le aveva dato il colpo di grazia: il poetismo delirante di Jim Morrison, la rivoluzione degli Airplane in "Volunteers" e la successiva evasione utopico/fantascientifica del Kantner di "Blows Against The Empire", i viaggi acidi, San Francisco, il sogno west-coastiano (presto disilluso) di CSN, e ancora il pacifismo lennoniano che si faceva sentire dall'altra sponda dell'oceano erano, o lo sarebbero stati di lì a poco, i punti di riferimento della cultura giovanile: erano voci che si levavano forti, potenti, assordanti in alcuni casi. The Band parlava con linguaggio biblico e ancestrale in una voce sommessa, dimessa come l'anacronistico abbigliamento con cui entravano in scena; alla gioventù e al rinnovamento, loro contrapponevano il seme delle generazioni, la tradizione (calpestata), l'America stuprata e poi disconosciuta da figli ingrati - siamo nel 1968, nel frattempo Nixon va al potere. Contro la fuga da sé stessi, il bisogno di tornare ad appartenere a sé stessi. Di trovare una casa, come la VOCE di "The Weight" chiede e spera. Non un viaggio senza meta né verso l'infinito, ma un ritorno (auspicato). Cominciare un disco versando dylaniane "lacrime di rabbia e di dolore" è qualcosa che dice tutto - è il Giorno dell'Indipendenza, ma l'aria non è di festa perché non c'è nulla da festeggiare, anzi è un corteo funebre, mentre l'organo e il sax di Garth Hudson entrano nell'anima e tagliano il respiro - e nella bara è condotta l'America stessa, in forma di persona, dentro un'atmosfera gelata e impalpabile, senza amore ("ma dimmi tu, che razza di amore è mai questo, che va di male in peggio...?"); e i figli fedeli soli, dimenticati e abbandonati al loro destino - "we're so alone and life is brief...", canta Richard Manuel mentre la musica si dissolve. "Big Pink" è la strada che porta a incontrare personaggi inquietanti e sfocati come le storie che li raccontano, scheletri nell'armadio di un'America senza trionfalismi - dalla reietta "Lonesome Suzie" alla donna di "Caledonia Mission" che vive nascosta dietro a un muro, perché i compaesani hanno messo il lucchetto al suo cancello, o a quella di "Chest Fever" che beve veleno "a un calice amaro" mentre la VOCE parlante si sforza di farla smettere, perché sa che la salvezza della donna è anche la SUA salvezza (satanico è l'organo che apre a un'Apocalisse che sembra prossima"); e ancora, la torbida vicenda di "Long Black Veil" che tanto ossessionerà Nick Cave, la gioia momentanea di "We Can Talk" al ritmo del basso saltellante di Rick Danko, le movenze sinistre della ruota che rotola in "This Wheel's On Fire", dylaniana come la chiusura di "I Shall Be Released" - ecco la Luce, finalmente! - ed è una chiusura che ad ogni ascolto strappa le lacrime. "I see the light come shining From the West Unto The East Any day now any day now I shall be released"Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Tears of Rage (05:24)
We carried you in our arms on Independence Day
And now you'd throw us all aside and put us all away
Oh, what dear daughter 'neath the sun could treat a father so?
To wait upon him hand and foot and always tell him "No"
(Chorus)
Tears of rage, tears of grief
Why must I always be the thief?
Come to me now, you know we're so low
And life is brief
It was all very painless
When you went out to receive
All that false instruction
Which we never could believe
And now the heart is filled with gold
As if it was a purse
But, oh, what kind of love is this
Which goes from bad to worse?
(Chorus)
We pointed you the way to go
And scratched your name in sand
Though you just thought it was nothing more
Than a place for you to stand
I want you to know that while we watched
You discovered no one would be true
And I myself was among
The ones who thought
It was just a childish thing to do
(Chorus)
02 To Kingdom Come (03:22)
Forefather pointed to kingdom come
Sadly told his only son
Just be careful what you do
It all comes back on you.
False witness spread the news
Somebody's gonna lose
Either she or me or you,
Nothing we can do.
(Chorus)
Don't you say a word
Or reveal a thing you've learned
Time will tell you well
If you truly, truly fell
Tarred and feathered, yea!
Thistles and thorns,
One or the other
He kindly warns.
Now you look out the window tell me
What do you see?
I see a golden calf pointing
Back at me.
I been sitting in here for so darn long
Waitin' for the end to come along.
Holy roaster on the brink
Take a chance, swim or sink.
False witness, cast an evil eye
said I cannot tell a lie,
Haints and saints don't bother me
I'm not alone you see.
(Chorus)
03 In a Station (03:35)
Once I walked through the halls of a station
Someone called your name
In the street I heard children laughing
They all sound the same
Wonder, could you ever know me
Know the reason why I live
Is there nothing you can show me
Life seems so little to give
Once I climbed up the face of a mountain
And ate the wild fruit there
Fell asleep until the moonlight woke me
And I could taste your hair
Isn't everybody dreaming!
Then the voice I hear is real
Out of all the idle scheming
Can't we have something to feel
Once upon a time leaves me empty
Tomorrow never comes
I could sing the sound of your laughter
Still I don't know your name
Must be some way to repay you
Out of all the good you gave
If a rumor should delay you
Love seems so little to save
04 Caledonia Mission (02:59)
She reads the leaves and she leads the life
That she learned so well from the old wives
It's so strange to arrange it, you know I wouldn't change it
But hear me if you're near me, can I just rearrange it?
The watchman covers me
With his remedy
I can't see and it's hard to feel
I think his magic might be real
I can't get to you from your garden gate
You know it's always locked by the magistrate
Now he don't care why you cry, he thinks it's just a lie
To get out, I don't doubt that you'd make a try
If the good times get you through
I know the dogs won't bother you
We'll be gone in moonshine time
I've got a place they'll never find
You know I do believe in your hexagram
But can you tell me how they all knew the plan?
Did you trip or slip on their gifts, you know you were just a con?
You knew it, why d'you do it, I've been hiding in the dark
Now I must be on my way
I guess you really have to stay
Inside the mission law
Down in Modock, Arkansas
05 The Weight (04:39)
I pulled into Nazareth, was feelin' about half past dead
I just need some place where I can lay my head
"Hey, mister, can you tell me where a man might find a bed?"
He just grinned and shook my hand, "no" was all he said
Take a load off Fanny
Take a load for free
Take a load off Fanny
And (and) (and) you put the load right on me
(You put the load right on me)
I picked up my bag, I went lookin' for a place to hide
When I saw Carmen and the Devil walkin' side by side
I said, "Hey, Carmen, come on let's go downtown"
She said, "I gotta go but my friend can stick around"
Take a load off Fanny
Take a load for free
Take a load off Fanny
And (and) (and) you put the load right on me
(You put the load right on me)
Go down, Miss Moses, there's nothin' you can say
It's just ol' Luke and Luke's waitin' on the Judgment Day
"Well, Luke, my friend, what about young Anna Lee?"
He said, "Do me a favor, son, won'tcha stay and keep Anna Lee company?"
Take a load off Fanny
Take a load for free
Take a load off Fanny
And (and) (and) you put the load right on me
(You put the load right on me)
Crazy Chester followed me and he caught me in the fog
He said, "I will fix your rack if you'll take Jack, my dog"
I said, "Wait a minute, Chester, you know I'm a peaceful man"
He said, "That's okay, boy, won't you feed him when you can"
Yeah, take a load off Fanny
Take a load for free
Take a load off Fanny
And (and) (and) you put the load right on me
(You put the load right on me)
Catch a cannon ball now to take me down the line
My bag is sinkin' low and I do believe it's time
To get back to Miss Fanny, you know she's the only one
Who sent me here with her regards for everyone
Take a load off Fanny
Take a load for free
Take a load off Fanny
And (and) (and) you put the load right on me
(You put the load right on me)
06 We Can Talk (03:07)
We can talk about it now
It's that same old riddle only starting from the middle
I'd fix it but I don't know how
Well, we could try to reason but you might think it's treason
One voice for all
Echoing across the hall
Don't give up on father clock
We can talk about it now
Come, let me show you how
To keep the wheels turnin' you've got to keep the engine churnin'
Did you ever milk a cow
I had the chance one day but I was all dressed up for Sunday
Everybody, everywhere
Do you really care
Pick up your heads and walk
We can talk about it now
It seems to me we've been holding something underneath our tongues
I'm afraid if you ever got a pat on the back
It would likely burst your lungs
Woh, stop me, if I should sound kinda down in the mouth
But I'd rather be burned in Canada than to freeze here in the south
Pulling that eternal plough
We've got to find a sharper blade or have a new one made
Rest awhile and cool your brow
Don't need it, no need to slave, the whip is in the grave
No salt, no trance
It's safe now to take a backward glance
The leaves have turned to chalk
We can talk about it now,
We can talk about it now
08 Chest Fever (05:19)
I know she's a tracker, any scarlet would back her
They say she's a chooser, but I just can't refuse her
She was just there, but then she can't be here no more
And as my mind unweaves, I feel the freeze down in my knees
But just before she leaves, she receives
She's been down in the dunes and she's dealt with the goons
Now she drinks from the bitter cup, I'm trying to get her to give it up
She was just here, I fear she can't be here no more
And as my mind unweaves, I feel the freeze down in my knees
But just before she leaves, she receives
It's long, long when she's gone, I get weary holding on
Now I'm coldly fading fast, I don't think I'm gonna last
Very much longer
"She's stoned" said the Swede, and the moon calf agreed
I'm like a viper in shock with my eyes in the clock
She was just there somewhere and here I am again
And as my mind unweaves, I feel the freeze down in my knees
But just before she leaves, she receives
10 This Wheel's on Fire (03:14)
If your memory serves you well
We're going to meet again and wait
So I'm going to unpack all my things
And sit before it gets too late
No man alive will come to you
With another tale to tell
And you know that we shall meet again
If your memory serves you well
This wheel's on fire, rolling down the road
Best notify my next of kin
This wheel shall explode!
If your memory serves you well, I was going to confiscate your lace
And wrap it up in a sailor's knot and hide it in your case
If I knew for sure that it was yours, and it was oh so hard to tell
And you know that we shall meet again if your memory serves you well
If your memory serves you well, you'll remember that you're the one
Who called on them to call on me to get you your favours done
And after every plan had failed and there was nothing more to tell
And you know that we shall meet again if your memory serves you well
11 I Shall Be Released (03:19)
They say everything
Can be replaced
They say every
Distance is not near
So I remember every face
Of every man who put me here
(Chorus:)
I see my light come shinin'
From the west unto the east
Any day now, any day now
I shall be released
They say ev'ry man
Needs protection
They say that ev'ry
Man must fall
Yet I swear I see my reflection
Somewhere so high
Above this wall
(Chorus)
Now yonder stands a
Man in this lonely
Crowd
A man who swears
He's not to blame
And all day long I
Hear him shouting
So loud
Just crying out that
He was framed
(Chorus)
Carico i commenti... con calma
Altre recensioni
Di donjunio
La materia sonora plasmata dall’ensemble canad-americano forgia il definitivo codice del roots rock americano.
"The Weight" è la magnifica danza western che sposava l’ansia di vivere e l’immaginario dei grandi spazi aperti.
Di Missing
Succede che fra impressioni sfumate vagano i miei sensi...
Quando si ritrovò in uno studio di incisione pensò: "Chi è questo disco?"
