More than many of their rock and roll peers, The Band possessed a knack for evoking warmth and good feelings in their music. But they certainly could go in the other direction when the mood struck them.
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Their 1970 album Stage Fright reflected inner turmoil and external pressure. “The Rumor”, the album’s closing track, ended the record on a note of mistrust and creeping dread.
“Rumor” Mill
The Band headed into their third album with two LPs behind them that had wowed the rock world. Neither of those records (Music From Big Pink and The Band) stood out as commercial smashes. But their success could be measured by the influence they exerted on other musicians.
Some of the bonhomie that had characterized the personal relationships behind those first two albums was fraying by the turn of the decade. In addition, a few of The Band’s members had pushed themselves to the limit with hard living. And the non-stop schedule of recording and touring that they’d been keeping for the better part of a decade wore on them as well.
As a result, Stage Fright, while still containing plenty of musical excellence, went to much darker places lyrically than the previous two records. With “The Rumor”, The Band even took exception with their local Woodstock environment, despite the upstate New York burg being a big part of their lore.
On “The Rumor”, Robertson highlighted how a small town like that could seem quite claustrophobic, especially when gossip started to take hold. The Band chose a counterintuitive way of expressing this. Three vocalists (Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, and Rick Danko) weave in and out in complementary fashion throughout the song. They display the kind of harmony that the narrator wishes were still present in his neck of the woods.
Examining the Lyrics of “The Rumor”
“It grows and grows, where it started no one knows,” the narrator bemoans at the beginning of the song. People can’t seem to help themselves when faced with gossip’s alluring sway. “Some of your neighbors might invite it right in,” he warns. “Maybe it’s a lie, even if it’s a sin/They’ll repeat the rumor again.”
By using the trio of voices, Robertson can present different perspectives. After Danko sings about how “Big men, little men, turn into dust,” Helm plays the role of the defender: “Maybe it was all in fun, didn’t mean to ruin no one.” The narrator then asks the crowd if they’ve felt the sting of rumor in their own lives, doing damage to their reputation and privacy.
Robertson suggests that retribution isn’t the way to go, chastising the “vigilantes” ready to fight fire with fire. Why? Because the fallout is too substantial. “For whether this rumor proves true or false,” the narrator warns. “You can forgive, a’you can regret, but you can never ever forget.”
He contrasts all these dire predictions and portents with the lyrics in the chorus. That’s when Robertson suggests the rumor will eventually “blow away,” making room for a “brand new day.” But it’s hard to believe in that taking place after all the evidence The Band presented to that point about the insidious power of “The Rumor.”
Photo by RB/Redferns
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