Songfacts®:

• Robbie Robertson was the guitarist and primary songwriter with one of rock music's preeminent groups, The Band. In 1976, he announced he would be exiting the group due to the stresses of sixteen years of touring. This song marks the first time Robbie Robertson publicly addressed his decision to leave The Band. He explained to Mojo magazine: "I didn't want to make a statement. I'm just saying, 'This is what happened,' and I'm telling pieces of the story… good storytelling leaves something to the imagination, too. That's why the first line of the song isn't 'This is a song about The Band.'"
• In the chorus, Robertson sings, "I know where I went wrong 'long the way." He explained the lyric in an interview with Spinner: "You go wrong when you follow a path that you don't feel true to. People grow in different directions and when you find out you're not in the right place at the right time, you have to do what's true to you. You can't do things because they're expected of you or because that's what somebody else wants to do; you have to find your own path."