The Band essays – Track 2 Side 2 – Rockin' Chair

This idea sprang from here.

Track 1 Side 1 - Across the Great Divide is here.
Track 2 Side 1 - Rag Mama Rag is here.
Track 3 Side 1 - The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down is here.
Track 4 Side 1 - When You Awake is here.
Track 5 Side 1 - Up On Cripple Creek is here.
Track 6 Side 1 - Whispering Pines is here.
Track 1 Side 2 - Jemima Surrender is here. 

I'm knocked out by older people. Just look at their eyes.
Hear them talk. They're not joking.
They've seen things you'll never see.

--Robbie Robertson

It's not often that old age is dealt with in song. Even less often is when it's dealt with in a non-condescending way. Much like John Prine's "Hello in There", which it predates by 2 years, Rockin' Chair sits at the feet of its subjects and simply listens. A couple of old salty seadogs have earned this rest, and they're gonna face it the same way they faced their toil. Head on...

Oh, to be home again,
Down in old Virginny,
With my very best friend,
They call him Ragtime Willie
I can't wait to sniff that air,
Dip that snuff, I won't have no care,
That big rockin' chair won't go nowhere

I'll once again remind you that this was the late 1960s. Robbie Robertson, who wrote the song, was in his mid 20s. This sort of thing just didn't happen back then. This sort of empathy just wasn't shown to a generation that nobody trusted anymore. While the Beatles were dressing up as somebody else and trying not to get sued by Mae West ("what would I be doing in a lonely heart's band?"), the Band gathered all of their kin at Rick Danko's parent's farm in Simcoe, Ontario for an album photo shoot.

Nobody quite knew what to make of them.