The Last Waltz

• When Robbie Robertson died on Aug. 9, his death was well-covered by the media, from mainstream news outlets to a wide variety of music magazines, and across the blogosphere.
• Robertson died at age 80 after a long illness.

Canadian musician, American music

• Even Trudeau’s comments seem rather generic and half-hearted compared to his effusive praise for Lightfoot as one of Canada’s “greatest performers” who “captured the Canadian spirit.” To do the same for Robertson — who made his name in the American music scene — would be ridiculous.
• And both enjoyed long careers that included recognition from the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
• And unlike Lightfoot, Robertson couldn’t read or write music.

Touring with Dylan

• Robertson’s stint as part of Bob Dylan’s band through the mid-1960s, as Dylan toured the world with a new, electrified sound, was surely part of this cosmopolitanism.
• After leaving Dylan, this supporting band would become The Band, with Robertson as its chief songwriter.
• However, Robertson would effectively leave the group in 1976: he was tired of touring and was reluctant to work with the other members due in part to their heroin addictions.

Composing for film

• Of course, Robertson also differed significantly from Lightfoot in that he had a long and successful career as a composer for films.
• Robertson was credited in almost 20 Scorsese films, if you include Robertson’s performance in The Last Waltz, the 1976 film Scorsese made of The Band’s final concert with its original line-up.

A paradoxical figure

• Robertson, ultimately, was something of a paradoxical figure.
• Robertson also had a different connection to place than his fellow Canadian Lightfoot, having been born on a reserve to a Mohawk and Cayuga mother.
• Robertson favoured cultural blending and border-crossing, ignoring genre boundaries and creating something new and engaging out of a patchwork of possibilities.