BEST OF THE BAND

Discography / Stage Fright

Stage Fright

The title track of the Band's third album, and one of the most direct pieces of songwriting Robertson ever put his own name to, a song about the specific terror of performing in front of people who expect something from you. He originally wrote it intending Richard Manuel to sing it, but during the sessions it became clear the song suited someone else better; biographer Barney Hoskyns has described Rick Danko's voice, nervous and tremulous by nature, as simply the more honest match for the material, and Robertson reassigned the lead accordingly.

The lyric never specifies who exactly is afraid, or of what, which is part of what's kept critics arguing over it for decades. Music critic Ralph Gleason called it the best song ever written about performing; author Neil Minturn has suggested the real subject isn't a fictional performer at all but the Band's own history, written at a moment when the group's internal bonds were visibly under strain even as their fame kept growing.

Notable versions