Saturday Night at the Oldies: Burdens, Loads, Weights, and Weltschmerz

Rolling Stones, Beast of Burden

Jackson Browne, The Load Out

The Band, The Weight

To sully this great song with a reference to Fani Willis would be criminal.

Allman Bros., Not My Cross to Bear

ZZ Top, Got Me Under Pressure

Jeff Beck and ZZ Top, Sixteen Tons

Tom Waits, Shiver Me Timbers. The clue to the meaning of this great song lies in the reference to Jack London's Martin Eden.

Jackson Browne. The Pretender. This one goes out to Darci M and the summer of '78.

Bob Dylan, Not Dark Yet

Shadows are falling, and I've been here all day
It's too hot to sleep, and time is running away
Feel like my soul has, turned into steel
I've still got the scars, that the sun didn't heal
There's not even room enough, to be anywhere

It's not dark yet, but it's getting there

Well, my sense of humanity, has gone down the drain
Behind every beautiful thing, there's been some kind of pain
She wrote me a letter, and she wrote it so kind
She put down in writing, what was in her mind
I just don't see why I should even care

It's not dark yet, but it's getting there

Well, I've been to London, and I've been to gay Paris
I've followed the river, and I got to the sea
I've been down on the bottom, of a world full of lies
I ain't lookin for nothing, in anyone's eyes
Sometimes my burden is more than I can bear

It's not dark yet, but it's getting there

I was born here, and I'll die here, against my will
I know it looks like I'm moving, but I'm standing still
Every nerve in my body, is so naked and numb
I can't even remember what it was, I came here to get away from
Don't even hear a murmur of a prayer

It's not dark yet, but it's getting there