The Band -- "Rag Mama Rag"
It would take a group mostly comprising Canadians to figure out how, once and for all, to play American music. While Gram Parsons was in the early stages of crafting his equally grand Western-soul "cosmic American music," these guys were steeping themselves in the traditions and culture of the American South, not to effect a redneck vibe but to get a sense of what redeeming qualities there were to the culture. They pulled it off because they were endlessly inventive and uniquely talented as musicians. The peculiar genius of this song comes from the arrangment: tuba for bass, and mandolin and fiddle adding the funky elements. Though everything is pefectly in its place, the highlight of the song is Garth Hudson's rolicking barrelhouse piano, which seems throughout the track to be on the verge of leaping away and starting its own song, until the very end, when the other instruments drop out and the song reaches its conclusion, but Hudson keeps on playing to a fade-out. You get a sense that, regardless of whether he was accompanied by any one else or not, he could go on with it forever, and part of you wishes he would do just that.
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