Robbie Robertson always considered himself more a storyteller than a songwriter. Over the course of his time with The Band, he chose subjects for his stories that many other songwriters wouldn’t have considered.
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In “Hobo Jungle”, from 1975, Robertson takes us into the world of Depression-era transients as they try to overcome their unique set of hardships. And he treats these characters with dignity that is not often associated with their typical portrayals.
The Band is Back
Many rock music experts wondered if The Band were a spent artistic force before they made their 1975 album Northern Lights – Southern Cross. At that point, they’d gone four years since releasing a studio album of all original material.
Not that they’d been sitting on their hands in the interim. They toured steadily, both on their own and with Bob Dylan. In addition, they’d released a live record (Rock Of Ages), a covers album (Moonlight Matinee), and an LP where they backed Dylan (Planet Waves).
But the fact that they hadn’t done anything with new, original music for so long, at a time when artists generally cranked out an album or so a year, left folks wondering if Robbie Robertson, The Band’s chief songwriter, had run out of things to say. With Northern Lights – Southern Cross, he proved that there was still plenty left in his songwriting tank.
The album ended up serving as a kind of studio swan song for The Band. They’d break up following The Last Waltz concert in 1976, with only the album Islands, a collection of leftover tracks, to appear after that. With songs like “Hobo Jungle”, they certainly went out on top.
Exploring the Lyrics of “Hobo Jungle”
It’s impossible to praise the songwriting of Robbie Robertson on “Hobo Jungle” without mentioning the brilliant lead vocal performance by Richard Manuel. Singing in his lower register, Manuel delivers the story as narrator without overplaying the heartbreaking elements, trusting that the melody and his innate soulfulness will do the work for him. Robertson’s pained guitar notes and Garth Hudson’s phalanx of keyboard effects add to the melancholy majesty of the track.
“Hobo Jungle” tells the story of a drifter’s death, but refrains from attaching any kind of stigma to the man. In Robertson’s presentation, he’s first and foremost a human being, deserving of our fairness and, upon his demise, our pity. “And although nobody here really knows where they’re goin’”, he sings of the man and his friends. “At the very same time, nobody’s lost.”
Robertson gives him a simple eulogy that tells his life as it was. “He was a stray bird and the road was his callin’,” Manuel explains. “Ridin’ the rods, sleeping under the stars/Playin’ the harp from a rollin’ boxcar.”
A woman mourns the man at his funeral: “Long were they lovers though never could they wed.”) Whatever the world thinks of him, the man dies at peace with himself. “Here I lie without anger or regret,” he thinks as his life ebbs. “I’m in no one’s debt.”
Roberston even makes us envy this poor soul’s wanderlust in the final moments: “He spent his whole life pursuing the horizon.” “Hobo Jungle” refuses to condescend, judge, or unnecessarily praise. As such, it’s as fitting a tribute as this character could have ever imagined.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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