What “Ophelia” means

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Bright, brassy and irresistibly bouncy, “Ophelia” was the lead single from Northern Lights – Southern Cross — and underneath the Dixieland swing is a small mystery about a woman who vanished.

Who was Ophelia?

The narrator comes looking for Ophelia and finds she's gone — left town, it seems, in a hurry. Whether she was a lover or an old friend the song never says. And despite the name, biographer Barney Hoskyns reports it has nothing to do with Hamlet: Robertson is said to have taken “Ophelia” from the real first name of the country comedian Minnie Pearl.

The hidden reading

There's a darker interpretation worth knowing. Lines like “you know we broke the rule,” “was somebody up against the law?” and the plea to “please darken my door” have led some scholars to hear a story about an interracial relationship in the segregated South — with Ophelia forced to flee a town where such a love was forbidden. It's not stated outright, but once you've heard it, the jaunty tune takes on an undertow.

Garth Hudson's masterpiece

Musically, “Ophelia” belongs to Garth Hudson. Its New Orleans, brass-band flavour comes from his playing — layered synthesizer, brass and woodwinds all at once — and critics have called it his finest moment on any Band record. Levon Helm sings it with the same warm, good-humoured regret he brought to “Up on Cripple Creek,” and Robertson takes a rare, prominent guitar solo.