I pulled in to Nazareth… Was feeling ’bout half past dead.
With the passing of Robbie Robertson fresh in our minds, the world is extra nostalgic for the music of The Band.
“The Weight” serves as the soundtrack to countless road trips and campfire sing-alongs. Its lyrics are some of the most impactful of the 60s. But have you ever wondered if there’s a true story behind the song’s surreal scenes?
As it turns out, there is, and there’s even a dubious connection to PA. Pennsylvanians can take pride in the fact that the town of Nazareth, where the narrator finds himself in the beginning of the song, is (or at least was named after) the Lehigh Valley town of the same name.
You’d be forgiven for thinking Robertson was talking about the Biblical town of Nazareth, on account of the song’s religious themes and imagery. But here’s how we know he was inspired by the Pennsylvania town. The guitar Robertson wrote “The Weight” on was a 1951 Martin D-28. The model was and still are produced in – you guessed it – Nazareth, PA.
Here’s how the story goes. One day in 1968, Robertson noticed the manufacturing label on his guitar while he was idly strumming the tune that would become “The Weight”. He thought the town’s name fit perfectly into the ideas he had for the rest of the lyrics and narrative. The rest is history.
The song, which is now fondly remembered as one of The Band’s very best, was considered second-rate when it was recorded and almost didn’t make the original cut of Music from Big Pink. But when it came out, audiences fell in love with its imaginative portrayal of Nazareth and its strange townsfolk, who are based on very real people from The Band’s past. For example:
The real “Crazy Chester” was an unusual man from Fayetteville, AK. He wielded a toy gun and was tasked with keeping the peace at the venue The Band used to play at as The Hawks. “Fanny” was based on Frances Stellof, the owner of the NYC bookstore. It’s there where Robertson first encountered the surrealist film scripts that inspired the lyrics of “The Weight”.
Other characters were long-time friends or hometown heroes. The common thread between them is that each certainly existed, and impacted The Band in such a way that they were worth reimagining as the townspeople in “The Weight”.
So, there you have it: the true stories behind the town of Nazareth and its bizarre inhabitants. Although the town in the song is a dreamlike ‘anyplace’, I think its real-life inspirations are the reasons it has always felt weirdly familiar. Like somewhere any of us could have passed through on our long journeys through life.
R.I.P Robbie Robertson.
Gavin Cuff, The Preston & Steve Show Staff
