The 333 Best Pop Songs of the 2000s: #259

#259: "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" (2006) - The Black Crowes

Roots Week started with The Band, and it ends with them as well. “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” written and performed by The Band has been covered many times by a disparate variety of artists (Joan Baez, Aretha Franklin-!!!--Sophie B. Hawkins, and Jimmy Arnold, just to name a few), but none have sung it with as much conviction as Chris Robinson, lead singer of The Black Crowes. The band’s arrangement here adds nothing new; in fact, it’s almost a note-by-note replica of the original; the only reason for its inclusion, the only reason its notable at all, is Robinson’s singing.

Robinson’s always been a fine, soulful singer, and he’s never been afraid of the twang in his voice, either, but here, in this live recording from their finale at the Fillmore, Robinson seems positively possessed by the spirit of the dying Confederacy, all hope dashed, the past and the future both shot to hell, the ghosts of his fathers and forefathers weighing heavy on his heart, the blood and lives of hundreds of thousands staining his soul. Robinson sings, grief stricken, as if it’s his only recourse, his only way to fight back the devil, which shall soon surely overtake him. He’s singing like it’s the only thing he has left, and it’s that quality in his voice that can make man immortal, that gives reason to music—pop, funk, blues, gospel, folk, rap, rock—and music to reason, and both to why we’re here, to what we are, and to what we can be.

Note: The video version below is not the recording I spoke of above; the version I'm referring to is from their 2006 live album Freak N' Roll: Into the Fog.