The Lyric Where Robbie Robertson Described the Loneliness of a Bandmate

Songwriters can only do so much. Once the music and lyrics are written, it depends on the musicians to deliver a quality rendering of the material. And, of course, a singer’s ability to get inside the emotion of a lyric is also paramount to the song’s success.

In the case of “Whispering Pines,” a standout ballad that appears on The Band‘s self-titled classic album from 1969, songwriter Robbie Robertson could be pretty sure his lyrics would be ideally captured, because he wrote them while considering the innate loneliness of fellow Band member Richard Manuel, who wrote the song’s music and sang it.

Powerful “Whispering”

Few rock units ever enjoyed such a wealth of talent as The Band. Each of the five men could play multiple instruments, meaning they could trade roles based on what each song needed. In addition, they boasted three standout singers in Levon Helm, Richard Manuel, and Rick Danko.

Manuel was an expert piano player, while also possessing a voice that could range from husky and bluesy to high-arcing and angelic. In the early years of The Band, he also proved himself as a solid songwriter. For instance, he wrote the thrilling gospel rave-up “We Can Talk” on The Band’s 1968 debut Music from Big Pink.

Unfortunately, Manuel struggled with his confidence as a writer. For “Whispering Pines,” he wrote the gorgeous music but just couldn’t find his way through the lyrics. He handed the song over to Robbie Robertson to complete, and as Robertson explained in Barney Hoskyns’ book Across the Great Divide: The Band and America, he tried to channel Manuel’s personality:

“Richard always had this very plaintive attitude in his voice, and sometimes just in his sensitivity as a person. I tried to follow that, to go with it and find it musically. We both felt very good about this song.”

Examining the Lyrics to “Whispering Pines”

In “Whispering Pines,” Robbie Robertson described several striking images in nature that suggest isolation. He then interspersed some first-person laments. And he handed it all off to Richard Manuel to locate all the song’s bereft emotions, which he did in haunting fashion. (Levon Helm comes in at the end of the song to provide some heartfelt call-and-response support).

The narrator explains at song’s beginning that his personality drifts off to extremes: If you find me in a gloom / Or catch me in a dream / Inside my lonely room there is no in between. He calls out to the whispering pines for succor from his emotional turmoil, and there’s devastating vulnerability in Manuel’s voice when he does.

But this is not a song that’s devoid of hope. The narrator hints a lost love is the reason for his torment, or maybe it’s something lost within himself: Protect my only light / For she once belonged to me. He beckons crashing waves and crying seagulls, perhaps because they might portend a transformation in his fortunes: For if I live again / These hopes will never die.

In the final verse, the images Robertson conjures go further into the emotional abyss. Reaching to the clouds, Manuel sings. For nothing else remains. And then: Try looking through the haze / At an empty house in the cold, cold sun. But the song ends on a note of redemption: I will wait until it all goes ’round / With you in sight, the lost are found.

“Whispering Pines” displays what can be done when a lyricist knows just what to expect from a singer. Robbie Robertson knew Richard Manuel’s personality from years of touring and playing with him. They combine on this song to deliver one of the loveliest evocations of loneliness ever laid down on wax.

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