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Joe Bonamassa Forum → Other Artists → Prayers For Levon
Levon Helm's family has posted up on his website that he has entered the final stage of his battle with cancer. Say a prayer for one of the great ones. Cancer sucks!
J Dawg
Jdawg, I just posted this up on my FB page and was thinking how to post here and what link to add.....great minds, who think the same about this evil killer....and about this great musician from one of the premier bands of our generation.
I hope that the end comes swiftly and peacefully for Levon, and that he may forever enjoy the love and respect he deserves.
Long black veil seems apt - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4-ixeR1sdA
One of my Faves with Levon on vocals from a classic concert.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RjqcTsxx-8
Go In Peace Levon,
J Dawg
very sad, another iconic group that I also grew up with. I just pray it is not prolonged and he doesn't suffer too much. One of my favs from the same concert.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jREUrbGGrgM
RIP Levon, his manager says he passed peacefully this afternoon, prayers answered.
The Night They Drove Ole Dixie Down.....
RIP My Friend. I'll see you soon.
RIP Levon 
RIP Levon, your drumming and singing will be missed.
Another sad day.
RIP gallant one, a beautiful place you held in a community of love will be treasured forever in loving memory across many hearts.
Rock ON, Keep the Faith,
Rocket
"Glad it was peaceful and also read that Robbie had visited him in the hospital and they talked for quite awhile.
RIP Levon,
J Dawg
Glad it was peaceful and also read that Robbie had visited him in the hospital and they talked for quite awhile.
RIP Levon,
J Dawg
I hope Levon gave Robbie some Peace. Two guys I love and respect greatly.
"Eric Clapton's speech inducting THE BAND in to the Hall of fame:
"Thank you. I want to talk about what it was like to be a musician - a serious musician who couldn't be in the Band. And that was tough, that was hard. I remember being on tour in about '66 or '67 with a band called the Cream, and we thought we were the bee's knees, you know? And I met this guy... I knew this man in L.A. who was an entrepreneur of different sorts of things, and he had a tape by a band called the Crackers, and he lent it to me, and I took it on the road with me, and it became my drug. When we would get to the end of a gig, Jack and Ginger would go off and do their stuff, and I'd put this tape on. And I'd go into another world. And it was my kind of release. For someone like me, who had been born in England, like Elton was talking about, and worshiped the music from America, it was very tough to find a place to belong in all this - and this band that I was listening to on this tape had it all. They were white, but they seemed to have derived all they could from black music, and they combined it to make a beautiful hybrid. And for me it was serious. It was serious, and it was grown up, and it was mature, and it told stories, and it had beautiful harmonies, fantastic singing, beautiful musicianship without any virtuosity. Just economy and beauty. And I wanted to be in the band. So I went and told Jack and Ginger that I couldn't go on anymore. There was something else happening that I had to bow out of because. And I went - Robbie and the boys will never know this - but I went to visit the Band in Woodstock, and I really sort of went there to ask if I could join the band. I mean, I didn't have the guts to say it - I didn't have the nerve. I just sort of sat there and watched these guys work. And I remember Robbie saying, "We don't jam. We don't jam, so there's no point in sitting here and trying to, you know... We just write and work." And I was very impressed, you know? And from that day, I spent the rest of my career - until The Last Waltz, anyway - trying to find ways to imitate what they had. And it was an impossible dream, really, because from where I came from, and from where they came from, completely different worlds. But it was something to do with a principle that I got from what they did, which was integrity. Integrity and a standard of craft that really didn't bow down to any kind of commerciality, and I really identified with that, and I adored it. At the same time, it was very hard; it was very hard to sort of make my way and not be part of it, until The Last Waltz, and in some respects, I was very relieved with The Last Waltz, because it meant that there wasn't a band that I wasn't a part of anymore, you know? And I could just go on and be me, and it was all right. But at the same time, when The Last Waltz happened, it was a tragic thing, because as much as they may have reached the end of their journey, there were no more records. I couldn't go to the store and buy a Band album, and have my life transformed by listening to it. And it's been a long journey since then without their sort of guidance, because I always kind of looked up to them as older brothers in the music world. But at the same time, they've always been there in spirit. And I go back, and I listen to old records all the time. In fact, most of the time I listen to old blues and old records by people like the Band. And I think it's a long time since they were really honored and put together, and as it was last year with me and Cream, it's a beautiful thing to have a reunion if we can, and get together and rejoice in the gift that we've been given, which is music. Tonight, I'm very happy to induct the Band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame."
I love the last Waltz. its so good at taking that small snap shot of the Band. Levon is my favorite singer in the Band and he will forever be missed.
Via con Dios.
Eric Clapton's speech inducting THE BAND in to the Hall of fame:
"Thank you. I want to talk about what it was like to be a musician - a serious musician who couldn't be in the Band. And that was tough, that was hard. I remember being on tour in about '66 or '67 with a band called the Cream, and we thought we were the bee's knees, you know? And I met this guy... I knew this man in L.A. who was an entrepreneur of different sorts of things, and he had a tape by a band called the Crackers, and he lent it to me, and I took it on the road with me, and it became my drug. When we would get to the end of a gig, Jack and Ginger would go off and do their stuff, and I'd put this tape on. And I'd go into another world. And it was my kind of release. For someone like me, who had been born in England, like Elton was talking about, and worshiped the music from America, it was very tough to find a place to belong in all this - and this band that I was listening to on this tape had it all. They were white, but they seemed to have derived all they could from black music, and they combined it to make a beautiful hybrid. And for me it was serious. It was serious, and it was grown up, and it was mature, and it told stories, and it had beautiful harmonies, fantastic singing, beautiful musicianship without any virtuosity. Just economy and beauty. And I wanted to be in the band. So I went and told Jack and Ginger that I couldn't go on anymore. There was something else happening that I had to bow out of because. And I went - Robbie and the boys will never know this - but I went to visit the Band in Woodstock, and I really sort of went there to ask if I could join the band. I mean, I didn't have the guts to say it - I didn't have the nerve. I just sort of sat there and watched these guys work. And I remember Robbie saying, "We don't jam. We don't jam, so there's no point in sitting here and trying to, you know... We just write and work." And I was very impressed, you know? And from that day, I spent the rest of my career - until The Last Waltz, anyway - trying to find ways to imitate what they had. And it was an impossible dream, really, because from where I came from, and from where they came from, completely different worlds. But it was something to do with a principle that I got from what they did, which was integrity. Integrity and a standard of craft that really didn't bow down to any kind of commerciality, and I really identified with that, and I adored it. At the same time, it was very hard; it was very hard to sort of make my way and not be part of it, until The Last Waltz, and in some respects, I was very relieved with The Last Waltz, because it meant that there wasn't a band that I wasn't a part of anymore, you know? And I could just go on and be me, and it was all right. But at the same time, when The Last Waltz happened, it was a tragic thing, because as much as they may have reached the end of their journey, there were no more records. I couldn't go to the store and buy a Band album, and have my life transformed by listening to it. And it's been a long journey since then without their sort of guidance, because I always kind of looked up to them as older brothers in the music world. But at the same time, they've always been there in spirit. And I go back, and I listen to old records all the time. In fact, most of the time I listen to old blues and old records by people like the Band. And I think it's a long time since they were really honored and put together, and as it was last year with me and Cream, it's a beautiful thing to have a reunion if we can, and get together and rejoice in the gift that we've been given, which is music. Tonight, I'm very happy to induct the Band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame."
What a great speech. Clapton of course is spot on about The Band and Levon was a big part of it. RIP Sissy Spacek's Daddy.
son and I went searching for Band music last night, found he had a copy of the Basement Tapes with Bob Dylan. I had not heard much of it, but it is excellent. One song that stood out to me was this one, sorry I could not find the version we listened to, but this is not bad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFSg5M9Tmf8
Love what Bernie Taupin wrote about Levon. The man has a way with words.
Bernie Taupin responds
Bernie Taupin, Elton John's songwriter and the band who penned the tune "Levon" (named after Helm), wrote this remembrance on his website:
"The first time I heard Levon Helm's voice was in a small record shop on Berwick Street in Soho London sometime around 1969. What was it like? Paul on the road to Damascus!
"Oh, I guess I just want to say all these things about the earth and granite of his being, the raw Appalachian timber of his voice and the powerful sway of his backbeat. The throb of his tom-toms the first time I heard 'Tears Of Rage' and that wicked, knowing smile recounting tales of Carney barkers and backwater medicine shows. I'm thinking about him behind that economical kit, the way he hunched his shoulders and turned into the mike like a coiled spring when he sang.
"He was one of three great singers in The Band, three of the greatest singers in any band, and the last of those three to leave us. What other band under God's great Heaven gave us a trio of such eloquent and awesome sonic tools? Richard Manuel had an otherworldly voice, ethereal and legitimately spooky in the best way possible. Rick Danko, with whom I spent some questionably manic moments and cerebral hours and whom I loved dearly, sang like an unfettered young buck, all tremulous beauty and with poignant longing. Anyone doubting this just listen to his vocal on 'It Makes No Difference' from the 'The Last Waltz' soundtrack, one of the best live vocal performances I've ever heard.
"Then there was Levon: a voice that seemed as it was birthed from the land from which he sprung. Rich as Arkansas soil and raw as a plug of tobacco, gnarly as knotted pine and so expressive it seemed like he was chewing on the words before they left his mouth. Now he's gone and our anemic musical horizon has one less icon to cling to and one more legacy to embrace.
"We're blessed that he battled his illness and conquered it for a spell, pushed back the inevitable, stuck up his hand and like some hard scrabble farmer in a gothic Southern novel said “Whoa boy, I ain't done ploughin'.”
"He participated in some of the greatest music I've ever heard and because of him and the boys in The Band, my soul is clearer of musical debris and tuned into the lyrical soul of the American heartland and the soul of Appalachia.
"If I'm any good at what I do, it's because he inspired me to be better.
"Sleep with angels, Levon. Say hi to the boys, and see you in church."
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