10/22/2016 , , , ,
The Band - Chest Fever
The Band - Chest Fever


The Band - Chest Fever Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Music From Big Pink
Released: 1968

Chest Fever Lyrics


I know she's a tracker
Any style that would back her
They say she's a chooser
But I just can't refuse her
She was just there, but then she can't be here no more

And as my mind unwheels
I feel the freeze down in my knees
But just before she leaves, she receives

She's been down in the dunes
And she's dealt with the goons
Now she drinks from a bitter cup
I'm trying to get her to give it up
She was just here, I fear she can't be there no more

It's long, long when she's gone
I get weary holding on
Now I'm coldly fading fast
I don't think I'm gonna last very much longer

She's stoned said the Swede, and the moon calf agreed
I'm like a viper in shock with my eyes in the clock
She was just there somewhere and here I am again
And as my mind unweaves, I feel the freeze down in my knees
But just before she leaves, she receives

Writer/s: JAIME ROBERTSON
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Chest Fever
  • The Band's guitarist, Robbie Robertson, felt he needed a counterbalance for the album's centerpiece, "The Weight." He wrote the music for the song solely for that purpose.
  • The intro to the song, played on an organ by Band multi-instrumentalist Garth Hudson, was the result of a very long improvisation. Eventually the improvisation quoted Bach's "Fugue in D Minor" and followed into the song's main riff. Only part of the improvisation was included on the actual album cut (the part beginning with the Bach quote). In live shows, the song became a Hudson showcase, with him improvising wildly on organ (and later, on synthesizer) before cutting into the song. This improvisation came to be known as "The Genetic Method."
  • Robertson, drummer Levon Helm, and pianist Richard Manuel improvised lyrics (Robertson often calls them meaningless) over the course of the song. Those lyrics remain unchanged on the track, although they loosely tell a story of a man thrown aside by a hard-drinking, fast-talking woman who subsequently literally becomes sick with love for her.
  • This was the opening song for the Band's set at the Woodstock Festival in 1969.