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Robertson is credited as writer or co-writer on the majority of The Band's songs, and that gives him the most songwriting royalties generated from music. Lots of songs about working men, Americana... you know, the story of men like Levon Helm, told by the Canadian Robbie Robertson. It just seems shady that he would basically take the story of the history of these people and not give credit where credit was due. Not to mention a lot of the members of the Band met a pretty grim end, while Robertson always seemed to coast pretty comfortably.

During "The Last Waltz" his microphone was off. You wouldn't think it, based on his super emotional performance, but the fact he was personal buddies with Martin Scorcese, which explains his screen time vs. the rest of the band. In fact, ti was Robertson who wanted to document the event on film, and he was the one who approached Scorcese in the first place. As a result it was the two of them that developed the 200-page script for the show, courtesy of cocaine, even laying out who was singing which part and which instruments were being featured, also columns for the camera and lighting work. They also edited the whole thing after it was done, adding even more parts to accentuate Robertson's involvement. Which makes sense.

On the point of not sharing credit though, Levon Helm disputed the validity of the songwriting credits as listed on the albums and explained that The Band's songs were developed in collaboration with all members, which sounds like it would work with a unit like The Band, right? I mean, after all, Richard Manuel was their lead singer for a bit, and Robbie Robertson didn't sing lead on more than like a handful of tracks. Rick Danko agreed, saying "I think Levon's book (this book here hits the nail on the head about where Robbie and Albert Grossman and some of those people went wrong and when The Band stopped being The Band.... I'm truly friends with everybody but, hey—it could happen to Levon, too. When people take themselves too seriously and believe too much in their own bullshit, they usually get in trouble."

Which is just kind of like Robbie Robertson. A pretty good guitarplayer who might have been overrated by Bob Dylan, who took credit for the work of a group bigger than himself, and built his entire career on it. What else would explain the creative gap after the demise of The Band? He's just an opportunist, bit of a sleazeball. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree as his daughter wrote an open letter to Levon Helm, taking the opportunity on Levon Helm's own Grammy win in 2008 for "Dirt Farmer" to berate him for making these types of comments about Robertson and claiming "I realize that only those five guys will know what went on between them, but I am stunned that nobody has bothered to state the obvious. Levon Helm has barely penned an original song on any of his solo efforts. The proof is in the pudding. Levon is an amazing drummer and singer. He brought those songs to life, but that was his job. It doesn't mean he wrote the songs.

I must applaud my father for always taking the high road on these claims. I imagine it saddens him that there isn't even an ounce of gratitude. Without him, those guys would have never had the career they had. They all benefit from his talent and ambition."

I found the exact release on amazon here. There is a short sample available. If you like this song, I recommend adding this cut to your selection. It's my favorite.

Edit: It was not on This Years's Model, it was on My Aim is True. Anyway, this is the version I was talking about.

You know, George Martin considered this a stoned out throwaway track. I believe it was recorded in the middle of the night.

edit: sorry sorry, i just recalled that was the story regarding She Said.

If interested, I learned that from this book. Pretty amazing stuff: http://www.amazon.com/All-The-Songs-Beatles-Release/dp/1579129528