Bob Dylan made The Band famous on his debut electric tour. But their story wouldn’t end as a backup group. Beginning with Music from Big Pink in 1968, The Band released a run of critically acclaimed albums. Led by the group’s primary songwriter and guitarist Robbie Robertson, The Band brought rock ’n’ roll back to a no-frills, pre-psychedelic era. They went from backing America’s greatest songwriter to influencing the world’s most prominent artists.
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The Grateful Dead’s shift from psychedelia to American roots music on Working Man’s Dead (1970) was directly influenced by Music from Big Pink, according to the Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter. And witnessing how The Band interacted at Woodstock inspired George Harrison to return to the guitar to write songs that eventually led to his album All Things Must Pass. Harrison had previously dedicated himself to studying the sitar. After jamming with The Band, however, Harrison grew beyond his limited supporting role in The Beatles.
The Band’s influence is heard today in many American artists. “Up on Cripple Creek” from their eponymous second album is a classic example of their return-to-basics style, which draws from the Great American Songbook tradition: folk, rock, jazz, R&B, and country music. Artists like Wilco and Jason Isbell are musical descendants of The Band. For Rick Danko and Richard Manuel, Jason Isbell wrote the song “Danko/Manuel” on the Drive-By Truckers’ album The Dirty South.
The Band performed their farewell show at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco on Thanksgiving Day in 1976. Martin Scorsese captured the historic concert in his film The Last Waltz.
Behind the Meaning
“Up on Cripple Creek,” like the rest of the album, relies on storylines with musical roots in the American South. The song follows a truck driver who finds solace with a girl in Louisiana named Little Bessie.
When I get off of this mountain
You know where I wanna go?
Straight down the Mississippi River
To the Gulf of Mexico
To Lake Charles, Louisiana
Little Bessie, girl I once knew
And she told me just to come on by
If there’s anything that she could do
With Little Bessie, the narrator gambles and drinks. He has another woman back home, but he’s tempted to see Bessie again.
So I guess I’ll call up my big mama
Tell her I’ll be rolling in
But you know, deep down, I’m kinda tempted
To go and see my Bessie again
He’s exhausted from the road, and Bessie makes everything better. They listen to music and discuss Spike Jones. Bessie endears herself to the truck driver with her strong will.
Up on Cripple Creek, she sends me
If I spring a leak, she mends me
I don’t have to speak, she defends me
A drunkard’s dream if I ever did see one
[RELATED: Behind the Song: The Band, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”]
Robbie Robertson wrote the song in Woodstock while The Band worked on Music from Big Pink. Robertson’s travels inspired him to create a character who spends most of his life in a truck crisscrossing America. It’s a character study of the American working class.
Making the Record
The initial recording sessions in New York were unsuccessful. The group went to Los Angeles and rented a house in the Hollywood Hills from Sammy Davis Jr. Inspired by their work with Bob Dylan at his house in Woodstock, they wanted to re-create the feel of Dylan’s Basement Tapes.
“Up on Cripple Creek,” sung by drummer Levon Helm, is one of three songs on the album recorded outside the rented house in Los Angeles. They were recorded at The Hit Factory in New York. Robertson was both the primary songwriter and served as engineer.
The Funky Clavinet
The song opens with a funky New Orleans-inspired groove featuring Helm’s drumming, Rick Danko’s bass playing, and Robertson’s muted guitar. Then Garth Hudson enters with a funky riff performed on a clavinet with a wah-wah pedal. Three years later, Stevie Wonder utilized this approach to create another famous riff, “Superstition.” This sound would become a staple of 1970s funk and soul music.
Reception
The Band performed “Up on Cripple Creek” on The Ed Sullivan Show, and the song reached No. 25 on Billboard’s Hot 100. The Band was a critically acclaimed album from a profoundly revered band. It contains two of their best-known songs, “Up on Cripple Creek” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.”
Another performance of “Up on Cripple Creek” is captured in The Last Waltz. The concert film is considered the standard for music documentaries. The Band, likewise, is considered a rock ’n’ roll standard. The group is aptly named. From their groundbreaking work with Bob Dylan to influencing a Beatle, they were the band.
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