The Weight provided the feel of a faster tempo though the actual tempo was the same as the studio performance. Manuel's Lowrey organ, which was mixed out of the studio recording, was prominent; and Robertson participated vocally in the choruses. In the 1970s, "The Weight" appeared on three live albums by The Band, "Rock of Ages", "Before the Flood", and "The Last Waltz". Just after their November 25, 1976, "farewell concert," The Band performed a gospel arrangement of "The Weight" with The Staple Singers that was filmed for "The Last Waltz". Mavis and Pops Staples sang second and third verse lead vocals,
The Last American (novel) made at the time. All of the Persians have farcical names (Nōz-yt-ahl is the name of an historian, for example) and often speak in breathless wonder at what they see. "The Last American" was among a group of anti-Utopian disaster literature which were published in the late 19th century, along with Ignatius Donnelly's "Caesar's Column" and Park Benjamin Jr.'s "The End of New York". Montesquieu's "Persian Letters" may have provided some degree of inspiration. In its own turn, the book seems to have been a rough model for Aldous Huxley's "Ape and Essence". The Last American (novel) The Last American