A traveller arrives in a town, looking for somewhere to sleep. And everybody he meets asks him to do something for them.
Learn from Songs · Unit 2: Past time · B1–B2
The Weight
A mysterious travelling story: the past simple to tell a journey, and reporting requests and orders (she asked me to…, he told me to…, they begged me not to…), with Philo, a heavy scroll, and a town full of people who need a favour.
SOPHIA
PHILO
That sounds like my first week in Alexandria.
MARCOS
Why is it called The Weight?
SOPHIA
Because by the end, he is carrying everybody’s problems.
Before you listen: the song
Woodstock, New York, 1968
The Band were five musicians, four from Canada and one from Arkansas, who first became famous playing with Bob Dylan. “The Weight” was written by their guitarist, Robbie Robertson, and appeared on their first album, Music from Big Pink, in 1968.
The song begins in Nazareth: not the town in Galilee, but Nazareth in Pennsylvania, famous for its guitar factory. The traveller arrived there tired, and asked for a bed. Nobody helped him. Instead, each person he met asked him to do something: look after a dog, give a message, carry a load. And in the chorus, they say: put the load on me.
Robertson said the song was inspired by the films of Luis Buñuel, about people who try to be good, and find out how difficult that is. The characters’ names, such as Moses, Luke and Anna Lee, are biblical or borrowed from friends.
Put the load on me.
Listen: the journey
PHILO
Listen once. Where did he arrive? What was he looking for? What did people ask him to do?
SOPHIA
The story is mysterious: don’t worry if you don’t understand every character. Then answer Section A.
🧳 Listen to the song: “The Weight” (Robbie Robertson, The Band, 1968).Listen to the official recording →
📜 Read the words while you listen: “The Weight”, The Band.Read the lyrics →
Reporting requests and orders
DEMETRIA
She asked him to carry her basket. The guard told him to wait. The girl begged him not to tell anyone.
SOPHIA
ask / tell / beg / want / order + person + to + verb. Negative: not to: She asked me not to go. Careful: say doesn’t take a person (he said to wait is possible, but he said me to wait is wrong).
The past simple on a journey
MARCOS
He arrived, he asked, he met, he carried, he felt tired.
SOPHIA
A journey is a perfect story in the past simple. And useful phrasal verbs: pull into a town, look for a bed, take a load off (= sit down and rest), put up with someone.
Sophia’s comparison: a load too heavy
PHILO
Moses said it too: “I can’t carry all these people alone: the load is too heavy for me.”
SOPHIA
And his father-in-law Jethro gave him the best advice ever: share it. Choose good people to carry part of the load with you.
DEMETRIA
So the answer to the song is: don’t carry it all yourself.
Sophia’s summary
| Words and forms | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ask / tell + person + to + verb | reporting requests and orders | She asked him to carry the basket. |
| ask / tell + person + not to | negative requests | She begged him not to tell anyone. |
| want + person + to + verb | wishes | He wanted me to stay. |
| past simple | telling a journey | He arrived, tired. |
| pull into, look for, take a load off | phrasal verbs | Take a load off: sit down! |
Practice
Listen to the song for Section A, then do the rest. Press “Check my answers” at the end. You can try again as many times as you like.
A · Listen: the song
Listen to the song and choose the best answer.
1. Where did the traveller arrive?
2. What was he looking for?
3. Did people help him?
4. What is “the weight”?
5. What does “take a load off” mean?
6. How does the song sound?
B · Grammar and vocabulary
Write the missing word or words.
7. She asked me carry her bag.
8. The guard me to wait outside.
9. He begged me to tell anyone.
10. I’m looking a cheap hotel.
11. He in Nazareth late at night. (arrive)
12. My mother wants me be a doctor.
C · Right or wrong?
Is the sentence correct English?
13. “She said me to sit down.”
14. “He asked me not to go.”
15. “They wanted that I help them.”
16. “Come in and take a load off!”
Talk and write
Discussion and writing
Favours. Tell the class about three things people asked you to do this week, using asked me to, told me to, wanted me to.
Discuss. 1. Is it hard to say no when people ask for favours? 2. Should we always help? 3. What load would you put on someone else?
Write (100–130 words). A strange journey. You arrive in a town where everyone asks you for something. Tell the story in the past simple, reporting the requests.
Now play the gamebook: Philo, a heavy scroll, and the road to Naukratis.Play the gamebook →