Excerpt from an interview
with Robbie Robertson of The Band

From http://vh1.com/insidevh1/access/last_waltz/randm.tin

The following excerpt is taken from an hour-long segment on the making of The Last Waltz when it aired on VH1. This extract has Robbie Robertson talking about Van Morrison's participation in The Last Waltz

QUESTION: Van. At that point, Van had been layin' low for about two years. He had -- put out a release at the end of '74, toured a little bit, and then pulled kind of a disappearing act. So -- "The Last Waltz" was a little bit of, you know, Van stepping back into the spotlight after what at that time was a very long time out. And -- of course, you guys go back a long way. I remember him sayin' that he wrote -- "Brand New Day" lyin' on his back, listening to music and -- then he moved up to Woodstock and all. Can you talk a little bit about -- about how you met him, how -- and all that.

ROBBIE ROBERTSON: When we were putting together the different people that we all felt should be at "The Last Waltz," Van Morrison, for me, unquestionably, had to be there. For me personally, I needed Van there. And I remember -- when I first met him, we were in California, and we were recording -- The Band album. I think we were starting to record The Band album.

And he was out there, and he came by, and we had never met him. But we felt some kind of musical connection. He had made Astral Weeks, we had made Music from Big Pink. Whatever. There was some -- we just, you know, felt something. And -- and he came by and said hello. And -- and we were getting to -- ready to make some music.

I remember this specifically because I was playing guitar, and he said to me, "Where did you learn to do that? Where did you learn to play like that?" I thought, that's a-- a weird question. But I said to him -- I said, "I don't -- I don't know." (chuckles) You know? Because I -- I -- I don't know. And he said, "Oh." And he got up and left. And I thought, "What was that?" (chuckles) "What was that? Did I-- did I not-- did he think I was holding something back, I didn't want to give him some information?" I don't know. But it was nothing. It was -- turned out it was nothing.

Then, a few years later, Van moved up to Woodstock, New York, where we were living, and we became good friends. And him and I wrote a song together that we recorded on the Band's album Cahoots. It's called "Four Percent Pantomime," which is a whole story unto itself. But we had just made a -- just a great connection, and Van and Richard Manuel were very close, too.

And when I called him to come and do the thing at The Last Waltz, he came and -- I had this studio out in Malibu then, with the other guys in the Band, called Shangri-La. And he came out and -- and I said, "I've got an idea." I said, "Instead of me -- just because of our relationship and everything, I want to introduce you in a different way.

"And what I'd like to do is, we're going to start singing "Tura Lura Lura." Nobody's ever heard the verses to "Tura Lura Lura." I'd like to start singing "Tura Lura Lura," Richard'll do it. I have this arrangement," which I played for him on the guitar.

"And then, when it comes time for the first verse, just you walk out into the spotlight. It's like "Cabaret." And start singing the verse to "Tura Lura Lura." And then we'll -- we'll do the song, and we'll finish it together."

And he sat there, and he was looking at me, and he was like, "You want me to then sing, 'When Irish Eyes are Smiling?'" (chuckles) I said, "No, no, no, no, no. You don't get it. I have this way -- I have this kind of slow, three-quarter time gospel idea, this version of it in my -- " And I played it for him then on the guitar, what I was talking about. And he was like, so -- immediately-- "so on the verse, I'd come out on the -- " You know. And he just -- the -- it just connected music -- musically for him like that.

So we go to Winterland, and we're rehearsing up there. Van comes. And I see him-- he's coming out on the stage first, to run over the song. And he's dressed like Sam Spade. He's -- like, here's the detective. He -- and I don't -- I -- it was raining or something. I -- he just thought he was wearing a raincoat. But I'd never seen Van Morrison dressed in this kind of, you know, detective thing before.

And I thought, this is fantastic. He's gonna come out there like Sam Spade (chuckles), take off his overcoat, and then we're gonna rip into "Caravan." I had this whole thing in -- in -- in mind, that he -- that I thought he was doing. Anyway, we ran over "Tura Lura Lura."

It just -- for us, it was personal. You know what I mean? I - you know, I hoped everybody else was gonna enjoy it at the concert, and -- but for me, I didn't -- I have to say, I didn't care. It was personal. And it just -- it just gave me chills down to -- you know, down to my shoes.

So the night, I mean, when it's the concert, Van comes out on the stage, and he's dressed in this purple -- (chuckles) this little purple outfit, like with straps and -- and -- and things on it. It's like a rock-- all of a sudden, he's got this rock and roll star outfit on. And I was like, "What happened to the Sam Spade thing?" And he was just like, "No, no, no, no, no." (chuckles)

He was just shaking his head. And-- but anyway, we did it. It wasn't in the-- the film, but we have the outtakes of this. And I'm hoping that we're gonna get to use this, 'cause people have to see this the way it was. And just the way I had imagined it in my dream is the way that it was in the film. And if you listen to the soundtrack now, for me, to this day, it is one of the absolute most moving moments on the soundtrack.

And then, of course, when we did "Caravan," which was something that we really just wanted to play together, and I wanted to play some guitar on, and we wanted to do that. And we did this. And it -- and we had the -- the horn section and the whole thing, and the way the song built and it built and it built -- all of a sudden, at the end, when Van starts kicking his leg up in the air, we -- we were like, "What's happening here? This is like-- this is the most wonderful out of control I've ever seen him (chuckles)." And it was just magical, you know, just -- just-- that whole song, and the performance of that. When we were finished playing that song, when I turned around, you know, to the other guys in the band, and I was like, "Okay," you know? We were just feelin' so good at that moment.

Part of the van-the-man.info unofficial website