Our Kind of Spirituals, No. 11: The Band, “It Makes No Difference”

The Band’s “final” concert, known as The Last Waltz, took place at the Winterland in San Francisco on Thanksgiving, 1976.

Levon Helm — drummer, singer, old soul — told the story in his autobiography, This Wheel’s on Fire: “The line circled around the book well before the Winterland opened its doors around six on Thanksgiving evening. The marquee read: BILL GRAHAM PRESENTS THE BAND IN THE LAST WALTZ . People had dressed up for the occasion, everyone was on their best behavior, and I don’t think there were any hassles out front all night. Bill Graham’s Thanksgiving feast had been prepared from 200 turkeys, 500 pounds of cranberry sauce, 90 gallon of brown gravy simmering in crocks, a ton of candied yams, 800 pounds of mincemeat, 6,000 rolls, and 400 gallons of cider …

"As people finished, they could get up and dance to a thirty-eight-piece orchestra, encouraged by three teams of professional ballroom dancers. A lot of folks danced, and while they were on the floor Graham’s staffed bused the tables and made them disappeared."

Then the Band and friends played – for six hours. This song, Rick Danko’s It Makes No Difference, is from early in the evening, while eyes were still dry. It’s a love song in the verses and a spiritual in the chorus. That’s a bit of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales read in Middle English after the song ends.

The entire concert streams on wolfgangsvault.com. I listen to it at Thanksgiving every year.