The sepia-toned storytelling that Robbie Robertson brought to The Band’s music often memorialized a forgotten United States. But Robertson didn’t sugarcoat his view of the country. His songs often revealed some of the more difficult aspects of American life as well.
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“King Harvest (Has Surely Come)” manages to cover both the idyllic and unjust nature of the land. Robertson’s biting sets lyrics captures the eternal plight of the American farmer.
“Harvest” Time
If you just listened to their music and didn’t know their background, you wouldn’t guess that The Band was four-fifths Canadian. Levon Helm, born and raised in Arkansas, hailed from the US. Robbie Robertson, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, and Garth Hudson all came down from Canada to ply their musical trade.
When they arrived to tour America for the first time, they did so as the Hawks, the backing band of Ronnie Hawkins. And they thrilled at experiencing the culture behind so much of the music that they loved. Robertson, in particular, imbibed it all. He’d file away much of what he saw in his consciousness for future songwriting endeavors.
After a highly acclaimed debut album (Music From Big Pink) in 1968, The Band upped the ante with their self-titled sophomore release the following year. They briefly considered titling the album Harvest. That tells you something about the bucolic feel that they were attempting to cultivate.
“King Harvest (Has Surely Come)” ends the album on an unsettling note. Contradictions abound within the music. Garth Hudson’s soothing organ and Rick Danko’s playful bass lines rub up against Levon Helm’s jittery beat and Robbie Robertson’s anguished guitar. That kind of dichotomy plays out in the lyrics as well.
Exploring the Lyrics of “King Harvest (Has Surely Come)”
“King Harvest (Has Surely Come)” begins with the chorus. Levon Helm sings it so softly that it’s like he doesn’t want to disturb a beautiful sundown. In the refrains, the sensual delights of agricultural life come to the fore. Rice whispering in the breeze, the aroma of leaves wafting, and a yellow moon heralding a harvest carnival all appear.
Contrast that to the verses, which Richard Manuel sings as if he’s being chased by the hounds of hell. Manuel’s performance lends every line, even the seemingly benign ones, an air of doubt and uncertainty. It makes you wonder if you there’s some sarcasm dripping into his reaction to the union’s promises: “And I’m bound to come out on top/That’s where she said I should be.”
In the second verse, he starts to recount all the ways that his efforts to farm the land have gone sideways. He begs for rain to come. “Long enough I’ve been upon Skid Row,” he moans. “And it’s plain to see, I’ve nothing to show.”
The last verse piles on a list of calamities worthy of Job. A barn fire and a mad horse cause him to ponder his fate. “And I can’t ever remember things being that bad,” Manuel sings. At his lowest point, he hears the pitch of the Union man. “Now here come a man with a paper and pen/Tellin’ us our hard times are about to end.”
The final verse ends with the threat of a strike. We return for one more gentle chorus before Robertson cuts loose with one of the most furious guitar solos of his career. “King Harvest (Will Surely Come)” might be one of the most accurate representations of the American experience ever delivered by The Band, in that in manages to encapsulate both the beauty and the sorrow of it all.
Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images
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