This idea sprang from here.
Track 1 Side 1 - Across the Great Divide is here.
Levon Helm once said that he thought Rag Mama Rag could be a "radio" song. He rightly said it contained the same wild elements as "Blue Suede Shoes" and that it was "danceable", one of his favorite words.
A quick look at the charts when Rag Mama Rag was released as a single show them dominated by “Close to You” by the Carpenters, a song that most certainly did not contain the same wild elements as "Blue Suede Shoes". It also was not very danceable. (to be fair, Karen Carpenter was a bad-ass drummer though...)
The Band reiterated over and over that while up on their mountain or ensconced in Sammy's pool house they had absolutely no idea what the current music scene sounded like, and nothing showcases this more than Levon thinking this wild piece of music, which sounded like it was cut in a brothel during peak hours, was gonna take on the Carpenters or "Bridge Over Troubled Water".