"The Weight" is a song by Canadian-American rock band the Band, released as a single in 1968 and on the group's debut album, Music from Big Pink. It was their first release under this name, after their previous releases as Canadian Squires and Levon and the Hawks. Written by Band member Robbie Robertson, the song is about a visitor's experiences in a town mentioned in the lyric's first line, as Nazareth. "The Weight" has significantly influenced American popular music, having been listed as No. 41 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, published in 2004

The band known as The Band adopted their name because they were consistently referred to as "the band" by locals in Woodstock, NY, and by Bob Dylan, whom they backed in 1965-1966. After previously being called The Hawks, the group embraced the moniker as a straightforward description of their identity as a cohesive, collaborative unit.