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Song Stories

“The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”

The Band | 1969

One of the of the songs most identified with the Band even though it was never a big hit for them (Joan Baez took it to Number Three two years later), “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” appeared on The Band and as the B side of the “Up on Cripple Creek” single. This ode to a South deeply scarred by the Civil War was written by Canadian Robbie Robertson when the group was living up in Woodstock, New York, although Arkansas native Levon Helm sings lead on it. “I remember taking [Robertson] to the library so he could research the history and geography,” Helm told Rolling Stone.

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“I and Love and You”
The Avett Brothers | 2009
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“If I Die Young”
The Band Perry | 2010

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Song Stories

“Everyday People”

Sly and the Family Stone | 1968

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.

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