The phrase “Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive” originates from Sir Walter Scott’s epic poem “Marmion,” published in 1808. It means that when one starts to lie or deceive, it leads to further complications and more lies to maintain the deception. This quote is often used to highlight the consequences of dishonesty and the difficulty in maintaining a web of lies.
Cathy “Silverbags” Smith might not be the most recognizable name in American pop culture, but she was behind some of the most significant cultural moments of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, including two iconic classic rock hits and the tragic death of a notable comedian. Indeed, the Canadian-born backup singer, drug dealer, and musical muse helped shape cultural history as we know it today.
In the late 1960’s Cathy Smith, a drug addicted Canadian became friends with Levon Helm who Helm, with friend and bandmate Rick Danko, was in a band called the Hawks at the time. At one point, the musicians were in Toronto facing a drug bust. Helm goes on to join “The Band” in 1963. Levon writes their most famous song “The Weight” about her in 1968. At one point, Smith became pregnant, but because of her relations with multiple members of the band, no one knew who the real father was. The group referred to the infant simply as “The Band Baby.” The Weight’s recurring theme of carrying the burden of others seems to be a metaphorical reference to “The Band Baby,” which either belonged to Levon Helms or Richard Danko, both of whom had sexual relations with Smith around the same time. They all end up having a falling out.
Cathy Smith meets another musician named Gordon Lightfoot. This relationship “surprisingly” goes downhill, and Gordon Lightfoot ends up writing his most famous song “Sundown” in 1974 about Smith. The song lyrics were about Lightfoot’s tumultuous, extramarital and occasionally violent relationship with Smith, the dark lyrics masked by a lilting, bluesy melody: “Sundown you better take care/If I find you been creepin’ ’round my back stairs.” Lightfoot’s Sundown LP also hit No. 1 in the U.S. and Canada. Snmith is credited as a backup singer on one track, “High and Dry.”
In the late 1970s, Smith was a backup singer for country star Hoyt Axton, and, according to Wired, Bob Woodward’s 1984 biography of Belushi, sold drugs to the Rolling Stones’ Ron Wood and Keith Richards. She supplied drugs to Ron Wood and Keith Richards during their tours as The New Barbarians, an English rock band that played two concerts in Canada, eighteen shows across the United States in April and May 1979 and one show on January 16, 1980.
Cathy Smith moves to LA and ends up hanging out with The Band again. They go on to perform on Saturday Night Live where Cathy Smith meets John Belushi.
On March 5, 1982, Cathy gets a call from Belushi asking her to come and hang out with him at bungalow No. 3 at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood… Belushi already has a guest at his place who said he was creeped out by Cathy and left. That guest was Robin Williams.
Cathy Smith then proceeds to inject John Belushi with a heroin / cocaine mixture, known as a speedball, that kills him. Robin Williams and Robert De Niro, both of whom reportedly snorted cocaine with the comedian on the night of his death, according to Shawn Levy’s 2019 book The Castle on Sunset.
Smith sold the real story to the National Enquirer for $15,000 and admitted that she had been the one that injected Belushi. The salacious interview resulted in the LAPD reopening the investigation into Belushi’s death and charging Smith with one count of second-degree murder and 13 counts of administering a dangerous drug. In a 1986 deal with prosecutors, she pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter and several drug charges, for which she served 15 months at the California Institution for Women in Chino, California from December 1986 to March 1988.
Upon release, she was deported to her native Canada, where she reportedly took a job in Toronto as a legal secretary.
A notorious, colorful footnote in pop culture history and the onetime muse and girlfriend of Gordon Lightfoot, Smith died on Aug. 16, 2020, at age 73. No official cause of death was given. The long-time resident of Maple Ridge, B.C., Canada had been on oxygen and in failing health for several years.
