The Annual Waltz

I have been a fan of The Band since 1984. My undergraduate teacher turned me on to a set of live recordings called The Last Waltz. I had no idea who The Band were but knew that they were tangentially connected to Bob Dylan. This was the 80s so I really didn't know much about Bob Dylan either. In my defense, MTV was in full swing and neither Bob nor The Band were staples of the MTV rotation. I went through my first divorce in 1986 and a couple of songs helped me to weather that period of time. One was The Weight. The other was It Makes No Difference. Both were by The Band. I bought the greatest hits album (yes, the album) and dove in deep. Robbie Robertson's words connected with me in a way that even things like Blood on the Tracks didn't. It Makes No Difference really hit me. These two verses triggered some sort of cathartic feeling in me:

It makes no difference how far I go
Like a scar the hurt will always show
It makes no difference who I meet
They're just a face in the crowd
On a dead-end street

Without your love I'm nothing at all
Like an empty hall it's a lonely fall
Since you've gone it's a losing battle
Stampeding cattle
They rattle the walls

I have no reference point for the last couplet, but it spoke to me. I didn't know at the time that Robbie didn't normally write these kinds of songs. This one was naked and emotionally exposed. Regardless, theses lines got me through a bad time.
Once I took off for graduate school I discovered The Band's back catalogue. As you know or will find out, it's pretty impressive. These were still in the days before video was as accessible and easy as it is now, so to find and purchase a copy of the Scorsese movie of the Last Waltz was a major coup for me. I turned my roommate in the Air Force Band on to it and we became somewhat ritualized in watching the movie. I'm now down to only a few times a year. The most significant viewing time is now. Thanksgiving. It's the best time for me to watch the Last Waltz. The concert is wonderful, the interviews are wonderful (Levon really is pissed off throughout the whole thing) and every time I watch, I find a new favorite part. Of course my favorite song from the movie is It Makes No Difference. Rick Danko is emotionally devastated. The harmonies are locked. Garth and Robbie play great solos and the song still gives me chills. As I have aged the meaning of many of these great songs have changed. That's not the case with It Makes No Difference. The walls still rattle. The scar and the hurt still show. I imagine that they always will.