Play the Jukebox Top Ten: Somewhere Down the Crazy River (#8)

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Hello from Chuy’s!! Everything’s back to normal…well, as “normal” as things can be with me. You remember the line in Young Frankenstein — “Abby someone.” Back to the jukebox! Let’s see what we can play today. #8: Somewhere Down the Crazy River - Robbie Robertson Listening to this song, I keep thinking I have it way too low on the list…then I look at the seven songs above it. I usually like to point out, when I discuss The Band, that I’m surprised that name for a band lasted as long as it did without being taken. It’s a pretty obvious name for a band, isn’t it? They lived up to the name, too: backing Bob Dylan when he “went electric,” then churning out incredible albums and songs that defined what Americana music would be two decades before anyone named it. As bands do, The Band broke up. Levon Helm, the only American in the band, played Loretta Lynn’s dad in Coal Miner’s Daughter as well as embarking on a solo career (highlighted by Dirt Farmer, an album late in his life that was remarkable in every regard). Guitarist/primary songwriter Robbie Robertson was doing some film score work with Martin Scorsese (who had directed The Last Waltz, The Band’s farewell concert). In 1987 Robertson released his first solo album focusing more on his music than movie scores. And, wow, was it great. Not that he needed help, but guests included U2, the BoDeans, Maria McKee from Lone Justice, Peter Gabriel, and the surviving members of The Band (keyboardist/vocalist Richard Manuel died by suicide the year before this album was released, prompting the tribute to him, “Fallen Angel,” as the album’s opening cut). There’s everything from North American indigenous peoples (“Broken Arrow” — Robertson was part North American Indian) to the fears of nuclear war (“Showdown At Big Sky”) to the early deaths of stars (“American Roulette”). This is a talking blues-type song about a wild night in New Orleans. Although the context makes “the crazy river” the Mississippi, Robertson said that the title phrase came from Helm, who said there was a river in Arkansas where people fished with dynamite. (Yes, people in the south do do things like that.) And you have to admit that it looks like Robertson and McKee are having a lot of fun in the end of the video. Somewhere Down the Crazy River Written by Robbie Robertson Recorded by Robbie Robertson From Robbie Robertson, 1987 JUKEBOX LYRICS: I followed the sound of a jukebox coming from up the levee