The Weight - Although there is no doubt that the Band and Robbie Robertson made this song popular, there are far to many Racist and Religous undertones to say for certain he actually wrote the song or at least the lyrics. I suspect it was written sometime during the depression by an unamed American Negro travelling north to escape the poverty of the south.

Firstly he is turned away by a hotelier, possibly because of his colour, secondly the religous scoring and references like "I saw Carmel and The Devil" and "Go down Miss Mosses " A typical American Negro name. Then theres the Lines "Crazy Chester followed me and he caught me in the fall, he said I will see you right if you take on Jake the Dog" with connotations both to Boxing for money, popular in the depression and also poverty itself.

Annie Lee itself is an abreviation of Annabell Lee another name popular in the Southern States and not uncommon amongst the negro cotton farmers. The religous undertones also suggest an american negro first penned the song, many negroes were raised with strong christain upbringings.

Of course this is just speculation and maybe Robbie did write this song, the question remains why are there so many names the where both popular amongst the american negroes and indicative of more impoverished times.

The interviews I have seen with Robbie indicate a strong social awareness and perhaps the credit should go to him for sourcing the song anyway.