BeatRoute Magazine ON Edition - October 2019

Screen Time
THE
BEAUTIFUL
MADNESS
OF A
STORYTELLER
With the documentary Once Were Brothers, a Scorsese soundtrack and a new album Sinematic,
iconic Canadian songwriter Robbie Robertson has a late-in-life creative spurt By DAVID MCPHERSON
A
s a member of Ronnie Hawkins
backing band The Hawks,
Robbie Robertson cut his musical
chops playing places along
Yonge Street such as Le Coq
d’Or and Friar’s Tavern; these
fabled bars exist today only as
heritage plaques. Robertson and his Hawks’
mates later became The Band, releasing the
seminal debut Music From Big Pink in 1968.
As leader of this roots-rock group, Robertson
wrote many storied songs such as “The
Weight,” “The Night they Drove Old Dixie
Down,” and “Up on Cripple Creek.”
Sixty-seven years later, the Toronto-born
songwriter is still telling stories and still writing
songs. The chills still come. He is still curious.
And, that’s the key. As long as he has
ideas, and follows the threads down whatever
path they take, there are songs and stories
waiting for him somewhere along that road.
This month the 76-year-old returns with
a few more stories: a new album (Sinematic),
his first batch of original songs since 2011, and
a new documentary based on his 2016 memoir
“Testimony” (Once Were Brothers) — the
opening night gala selection at this year’s
Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
Robertson also wrote the score for his pal
Martin Scorsese’s new film: The Irishman,
which arrives next month. If that output is
not enough, he lets on in the course of our
30-minute conversation that he is also working
on a follow up to Testimony.
“I’ve never done anything like this before,”
says Robertson of this outpouring of creativity.
“It all just came to the surface at once.
I’m still looking at it and scratching my head.
Where did this stuff come from? In some cases
I know; in other cases it’s mysterious.”
If you had to sum up Robertson’s life into
two words, the title of one of his songs on
Sinematic works just fine: “Beautiful Madness.”
Turn on the news, darkness lurks.
Look around you, beauty abounds. You can’t
help but be affected by all of the colours and
moods the days of our lives present.
As one of Canada’s most revered songwriters,
Robertson has always found a way
to weave all of these shades into his storied
songs. It all began during childhood summer
days spent with his mother at the Six Nations
of the Grand River — Canada’s largest reserve
in Ohsweken, Ontario. Here is where
his love of the arts, and music was first kindled.
Robertson listened to the sacred myths
told by the elders. He listened to the beats
of the drums and the plucking of homemade
guitar strings as his relatives played and sang
storied songs like Lefty Frizzell’s “The Long
Black Veil.” These simple rhythms gave him
chills he still feels. By the age of nine most
kids are just figuring out whom they wanted
to play with at recess. Not Robertson. The
songwriter knew his destiny: when he grew
up he was going to be a storyteller.
While some places where the ideas and
stories hide are a mystery, the art of catching
these thoughts and assembling them into a
song still comes naturally to Robertson.
Most often they come from reading movie
scripts, watching films, and then everything
“I’ve never done anything
like this before. It all just
came to the surface at once.
I’m still looking at it and
scratching my head. Where
did this stuff come from? In
some cases I know; in other
cases it’s mysterious.”
connects, resulting in something beautiful. “I
don’t’ make records to go out and do a tour
and have new songs to play,” he explains. “I’m
in a different line of work. It all connects with
the visuals.”
This time the visuals came in the form of
the script for The Irishman and in working on
the Once Were Brothers documentary. Writing
for movies, Robertson explains, starts with
reading the script. “I imagine what kind of
mood and what colours come to mind and it
slowly starts to take shape.”
On Scorsese’ latest flick, Robertson says
he’s never seen anything like it. “It’s got a
different feel. It’s a different take on this
gangster world, so the music needed to have
that different feel as well.” On the TIFF gala
film — the first time a Canadian-made documentary
opened the festival — it’s a tale of
a hometown hero, inspired by Testimony. It
brings to the screen Robertson’s musical journey
and incredible life story.
Robertson’s life is like a movie; it was not
hard to translate this tale to the big screen.
Read his autobiographical deep dive and you
see the cinematic similarities everywhere.
There is triumph. There is tragedy. There is
darkness and light. And, there is a soundtrack
that always played throughout his 76 years
and counting: from the Scarborough Bluffs to
the Hollywood Nights.
28 BEATROUTE OCTOBER 2019