Robbie Robertson: When the Night Was Young

Written and performed by Robbie Robertson
Album: How To Become Clairvoyant, 2011

Listen:

On the 2011 solo album How To Become Clairvoyant, Robbie Robertson goes way back, for the first time on a solo record, into his rock & roll life with the Band. "When the Night Was Young" combines Sixties idealism and voodoo grind with memories of back roads and juke-joint gigs, when his old group was still the Hawks.
–from the Rolling Stone album review

For a discussion of this song, see Nick DeRiso's article "The Robbie Robertson Song That Misunderstood His Own Legacy".

Lyrics

We headed straight south in a sundown light
Highway 61 through the Delta night
We shared the backroads with cardsharks and grifters
Tent show evangelists and Luke the Drifter

What is lost, what is missing
What's been gone way too long

We had dreams when the night was young
We were believers when the night was young
We could change the world, stop the war
Never seen nothing like this before
But that was back when the night was young

The sign reads God bless America guns and ammo
I'm not sure that's what He means
Sign reads repent the end is near
I'm not sure that's what we need

Get your heart beating in the right direction
That's when you make a real connection

We had dreams when the night was young
We were believers when the night was young
We could change the world, stop the war
Never seen nothing like this before
That was back when the night was young

Now Andy Warhol's in the hotel lobby
He's waiting for the late night muse
But she won't be back before morning
She's gone downtown to hear some blues
Like the sun rising out of the sea
It's how you embrace the mystery

We had dreams when the night was young
We were believers when the night was young
We could change the world, stop the war
Never seen nothing like this before
But that was back when the night was...

We had dreams when the night was young
We were believers when the night was young
We could change the world, stop the war
Never seen nothing like this before
But that was way back when the night was young