Film and Commercial Play
"The Weight" has been featured in a number of films and television shows - films featuring the song include Easy Rider; Hope Floats; Igby Goes Down (a cover version by Travis); The Big Chill; Girl, Interrupted; Patch Adams; 1408; and Starsky & Hutch (as a parody of the scene in Easy Rider). Television shows which have featured "The Weight" include Californication, My Name Is Earl, Sports Night, Cold Case, Chuck, and Saturday Night Live. The song has also been used in commercials for Diet Coke and Cingular/AT&T Wireless. "The Weight" was also covered by Sherie Rene Scott in the Broadway musical Everyday Rapture.
Due to contractual problems, The Band's version was used in the movie, but not the soundtrack for Easy Rider - included instead on the film's soundtrack was a cover (very closely resembling The Band's original) by Smith. In The Band's concert film, The Last Waltz, The Band perform the song with the The Staple Singers. The song is also featured in two other of The Band's concert videos: The Band Is Back (1984) and The Band Live At The New Orleans Jazz Festival (1998). "The Weight" was one of three songs The Band's 1990s lineup performed for Let It Rock!, a birthday concert/tribute for Ronnie Hawkins. "The Weight" is one of three songs performed by The Band featured in the 2003 documentary film, Festival Express.
Paul McCartney makes a reference to the song during the fadeout section of the promo film version of "Hey Jude" when he sings "Take a load off Fanny/ Put it back on me." This originally aired in September on The David Frost Show, a mere two months after The Band had released Music from Big Pink. in July.
An acoustic rendition of the song appears in the 2009 documentary It Might Get Loud, performed by guitarists Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White.
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