Country Universe – A Country Music Blog

Iconic Songs of the Last Decade

Friday, March 6th, 2009

I was listening to The Band’s album Music From Big Pink earlier this week, and something struck me about the song “The Weight.” Trust me, you know the song. It goes a little like this: “I pulled into Nazareth / Was feelin’ about half past dead / I just need some place / where I can lay my head.”  Ring a bell yet? No? Try this:

In the song, The Band, originally consisting of Robbie Robertson, Richard Manuel, Garth Hudson, Rick Danko and Levon Helm, draws from a familiar cast of characters and American mythology to tell a universal story set in the town of Nazareth, PA. First released in 1968, “The Weight” only reached #63 on the U.S. charts, but has since achieved iconic status. It has become an American standard in a way few songs have accomplished. Indeed, Rolling Stone lists it as the 41st greatest song of all time. 

Further cementing its iconic status, check out a very small sample of the artists  – across genres, of all ages – who have covered the song:

• Van Morrison
• Bob Dylan
• The Black Crowes
• Little Feat
• Grateful Dead
• Travis
• Old Crow Medicine Show
• Gillian Welch
• The Staple Singers
• Joan Osborne
• John Denver
• Deana Carter
• Weezer
• Lee Ann Womack
• Cross Canadian Ragweed
• Diana Ross, the Temptations and the Supremes
• The Allman Brothers Band
• The Marshall Tucker Band
• Panic at the Disco
• Aaron Pritchett

Songs with enduring power like “The Weight” are few and far between, and seem to be even more so nowadays. So tonight’s discussion asks:

What songs of the past decade have enduring power? What songs will we be listening to and hear covers of in the next 50 years?

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