The studio cut on “Music from Big Pink” has Helm sliding from “off” into the name, which means it could go whichever way your ears are bending. The unofficial Band site goes with “Fanny," and has a terrifically detailed list of reasons why - including an explanation featuring an old girlfriend and her pregnancy ( or was it venereal disease?). Some lyrics sites say the former others go with the latter. The Internet, the world’s biggest game of Telephone, is little help. Nevertheless, with Helm’s passing, an old debate has once again flared up: In “The Weight,” is the lyric “Take a load off, Annie” or “Take a load off, Fanny”? In our obituary of Helm, we went with “Annie,” but the CNN newsroom has divided into factions passionately defending one or the other. The late Levon Helm, who died Thursday, had a wonderfully distinctive voice, but his drawling delivery didn’t always make it easy to discern the words of The Band’s songs – which only added to the music’s charm.
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