We have lived with and loved the music of The Band for a lifetime (almost literally). We (like some of you oldsters) met them early when they backed Bob Dylan, then heard Joan Baez introduce them to a broader audience in 1971 with her flawed, but magisterial cover of  their masterful The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, made the initial dive into their deep source in ’72 with the release of their live masterpiece, Rock of Ages, caught their legendary show at the Santa Barbara County Bowl in 1976, and then were saddened to learn of and later witness their subsequent demise via the best concert video of all time, The Last Waltz. Still, their music has stood our test of time, and we return repeatedly to that well for musical renewal and resolve.

We’ll save for another day our full take on The Band. For now we write prompted both by our perception of a renewed interest in The Band (restoring our faith in the younger generation) and by the Santa Barbara County Bowl’s announcement that they will host Van Morrison once again (despite his self-indulgent and wrecked 1970s concert there) on October 9th. We long to attend, but the ticket prices are stratospheric (unheard of actually–double the price of the recent concert there by genius hitmaker-for-50-years and legendary live-deliverer, Stevie Wonder). Don’t get us wrong though, Van the Man has delivered monstrous artistic portions over the years on his records, and we hold this Irish artist in high regard.

Along those lines, and combining the two, we give you a song some of you may not have heard. Van Morrison (“The Belfast  Cowboy”) showed up, impromptu, at The Band’s abode so long ago, and sat down and wrote a song with them in the wee small hours, which was recorded on the spot. It’s called 4% Pantomime. Due respect to Van, but zero percent of the alleged pantomime is allocable to The Band. Despite their Canadian roots (Levon Helm being the notorious exception to that rule), The Band defined and foundationalized the Americana (“North Americana”?) genre. So Van, we give you 4% of the pantomime and hope that you can work it off sometime soon. Listen in at second :52 when Van enters to set the song ablaze, and again at 1:40 to propel further. We also love Richard Manuel’s piano and Garth Hudson’s otherworldly organ, and the hum-along-chorus beginning at 3:17. Magic. Altogether? Timeless.

The Band–4% Pantomime

[audio:https://www.thelefortreport.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Four-Percent-Pantomime.mp3|titles=Four Percent Pantomime]

And just for good measure, we give you our favorite post-The Weight song by The Band,  It Makes No Difference, one of the most stunning songs of unrequited love our ears have ever heard. Oh how the world misses Rick Danko.

The Band–It Makes No Difference

[audio:https://www.thelefortreport.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2-09-It-Makes-No-Difference.mp3|titles=2-09 It Makes No Difference]