The only American member of “The Band”, dead at 71.
I’m still looking for a drunkard’s dream if I ever did see one.
by DougJ| 70 Comments
This post is in: Music
The only American member of “The Band”, dead at 71.
I’m still looking for a drunkard’s dream if I ever did see one.
Comments are closed.
Omnes Omnibus
Fuck. RIP
Comrade Mary
I loved that guy. And fuck cancer.
Betty Cracker
DRUNKARD’S dream?! Damn. All these years I’ve thought it was “trucker’s dream.” R.I.P.
Delia
The Band ended sadly, but it was one of the great ones. And so was Levon. It makes me sad that he’s gone.
Comrade Mary
Oh, wow. I knew that he was in Coal Miner’s Daughter, and did a fine job there, but I did not know that he narrated The Right Stuff.
Raven
A friend told me Robbie went to see him, I hope so for both of them.
Raven
@Comrade Mary: And tobacco.
The Golux
I was just looking into going to one of his Rambles (a couple of hours from here). Some time ago I met someone who had been to one, and said it was just a great show. Today is a very sad day.
Comrade Mary
@Raven: Yes, Robbie did go.
General Stuck
@Comrade Mary:
He was also cast as a part of Yeager’s flight crew, and had a scene helping Sam Shepard get into a test plane with a crow bar to close the cockpit door cause Yeager.Shepard had injured his arm horse back riding. RIP Leon. Your great music lives on.
Comrade Mary
Apparently linking to Facebook puts you in moderation. Anyway, Robbie did visit.
Comrade Mary
@General Stuck: Really? Shit, I should have recognized him from those scenes, Beech Nut gum and all.
Waingro
DougJ,
I came across this and thought of you:
http://thebaffler.com/notebook/2012/04/omniscient_gentlemen_of_the_atlantic
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
RIP Levon. I do hope Robbie went to say goodbye.
Mnemosyne
@General Stuck:
Broom handle. Ridley (the guy later played by Helms) had to rig up a lever using a broom handle so Yeager could seal the cockpit.
I’ve only seen that movie about 10,000,346 times. That’s what I get for having an older brother and a husband who are both space enthusiasts.
General Stuck
@Mnemosyne:
drat. just got a clip to link and you beat me to it. Yes, he played a fellow pilot, and broom handle it was. Here is the clip anyways
DougJ, Head of Infidelity
@Waingro:
I loves me some Mo T.
Tickraw
One of the true legends of rock and roll. A great music story:
“I was shocked to find that because of time and budget constraints and Band politics, Muddy was nearly bumped from the show. Levon fought bitterly behind the scenes and prevailed to not only keep Muddy in but to indulge him with me and Pinetop too. We were treated as honored guests at The Last Waltz and I enjoyed the once-in-a-lifetime jam afterwards, but Levon never told us about making a stand for us. He just made us welcome. Ultimately, this gracious, classy, and tough gentleman was responsible for my good time there.”
– Bob Margolin
trollhattan
@Comrade Mary:
Yup, played Ridley.
Chuck Yeager: Hey, Ridley, ya got any Beeman’s?
Jack Ridley: Yeah, I think I got me a stick.
Chuck Yeager: Loan me some, will ya? I’ll pay ya back later.
Jack Ridley: Fair enough.
An icon, and one who will be sorely missed. As I mentioned the other night, have my copy of “The Last Waltz” cued up for next time my family is out of the house. Yes, my amp goes to eleven.
RIP Levon.
JWL
Drunkard? I can understand mistaking “trucker” as the lyric, but so help me I’ve always heard it as “joker’s dream”. Believe it or not, I’ve got rabbit ears, too.
RIP, Levon. The man stomped his patch of terra.
trollhattan
@Comrade Mary:
A fine coda. Thanks for posting that.
lamh35
long time ago when I was 20 or so, Levon Helm and The Band opened a restaurant in NOLA called All American Cafe I think (I really can’t remember) and I was actually an employee for maybe 3 months. I was a hostess of all things??? I was way less snarky, more outgoing and enthusiastic but Lord knows I still am not sure how and why I got the job. Anyway, I pretty sure I met Mr Helms at the opening or something??
But I had no idea and kinda still dont’ have any real idea who is was.
Still RIP.
Gus
His recent work was excellent, too. I missed a chance to see him last summer. I figured he’d be back. Seems like a lesson I never learn.
the Conster (f/k/a Cat Lady)
He was from Turkey Scratch, Arkansas. I guess that makes him a Real American ™. RIP Levon.
And he shall be Levon, and he shall be a good man
Brachiator
A very sad passing.
Totally forgot that he had been in The Right Stuff.
Despite the bitterness and fighting that beset the Band in the post Last Waltz years, Helm kept on, acting, making music. I liked this part from the obituary at the SFGate site:
Svensker
He was a really nice person, a real class act. Glad Robbie had the guts to go see him at the end.
Makes me so damn sad.
Nethead Jay
@Tickraw: That’s a wonderful story and tribute.
I’m putting on my “The Last Waltz” DVD.
joeyess
And another icon of my youth slips away before me. Here I am, stuck on this rock as the best of my generation whittles away.
I guess it beats the alternative. But not by much.
MattR
Eric Clapton inducting The Band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 talking about how he always wanted to join them but didn’t have the courage to ask.
Some concert footage from Pittsburgh in 1970 – Time To Kill, The Weight, The Wheel’s on Fire, Up On Cripple Creek
S. cerevisiae
RIP Levon. You made some great music, thank you.
Gus
So who’s left, just Robbie and Garth?
the Conster (f/k/a Cat Lady)
@the Conster (f/k/a Cat Lady):
John Weiss
Levon Helm RIP.
I married a ‘dunkard’s dream’. Been together for 31 years. I cannot believe my fortune sometimes.
Villago Delenda Est
Levon had the “down holler” accent that Tom Wolfe wrote about in The Right Stuff, the one that Chuck Yeager’s example turned into the accent of aviation in the last half of the 20th Century.
Levon was also the guy who sang lead for “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”. Joan Baez’ cover mucked up some of the words, too, so all you people who didn’t get “drunkard”, don’t feel too badly about it.
A legend.
DougJ, Head of Infidelity
@lamh35:
What do you mean “long time ago”, you’re only 35 now.
Mnemosyne
@the Conster (f/k/a Cat Lady):
Elton John also used “Levon” as one of the middle names for his son.
Comrade Mary
@the Conster (f/k/a Cat Lady): I’m not surprised. Elton’s Tumbleweed Connection always seemed to me to try to evoke that Americana sound. Example: Ballad of a Well-Known Gun. Not The Band, but still one of my favourite albums from Elton (because I’m THAT old.)
Will Lingle
Helm was host of a great public television program on, and I think called, Highway 61, about the legendary highway that runs through my hometown and down through Southern blues country. It was terrific, and I hope it’s in the archives somewhere for someone to pull out and make available again. It would make a wonderful tribute to him.
Brachiator
I like this example of Helm’s recent work,
The Mountain
From Dirt Farmer
lamh35
@DougJ, Head of Infidelity: so long ago I barely remember. I think I was 20???
But yeah, heah 15 years is almost half my life…lol!
burnspbesq
Damn. A life well lived.
I’m putting on “Stage Fright” when I get back to the office.
Maxwel
In what way did The Band end “sadly”.
Spaghetti Lee
Aw fuck. I love The Band. And Levon was a great talent.
Brachiator
@Maxwel:
From Helm’s obituary:
Ruckus
My absolute favorite band, all these years. You know you’re getting old when all the people you respect and enjoy, knowing them or not, are gone or going. He made it a much better place by being here, while most of us just mark our time.
Fluke bucket
@John Weiss:
I out kicked my coverage about 31 years ago too. Drunkard’s Luck for damn sure.
RIP Levon.
MCA1
RIP, Levon. One of the best, and it was so gratifying to see his career return, and to great critical success, over the last few years.
Until seeing concert footage of them singing it, I too always thought it was “a joker’s dream.” I think it was a little slurred on the studio version you hear on the radio.
I know it was written by Robertson, but I’m going to put on Acadian Driftwood right now. It’s my favorite Band song, and Levon got all the best lines.
Maybe not the right thread for it, but anyone know WTF the lyrics to The Weight are supposed to be about? Or are the various characters and happenings of each verse not really supposed to be tied together?
Hungry Joe
Levon, man. “I just need a place where I can lay my head.”
jrg
Boards on the window, mail by the door… Why would anybody leave so quickly for?
RIP, Levon. Thanks for the tunes. You made us all feel a little bit better.
Omnes Omnibus
He did the first episode of a PBS series called Great Drives back in 1996. Helm and a big old Cadillac drove Hwy 61 from Memphis to NOLA. He stopped at all the musical sights performed, talked to people, and just talked. ‘Twas awesome. None of the rest of the episodes ever came close.
Raven
@lamh35: It would be worth your while to look a bit at their history and watching the Last Waltz is a good place to start. They were Bob Dylan’s band when he shocked folk world by playing electric instruments.
Raven
@Omnes Omnibus:
Where you want that killin done?
god said, that way
down on Highway 61. . .
Omnes Omnibus
@Raven: It is a truly desolate road down there. I have driven it from NOLA to Memphis – didn’t make all the stops, but I looked at the countryside and got a picture of Robert Johnson’s crossroads.
General Stuck
@Raven:
As well as Joan Baez spiking his drinks with Librium to calm him down on stage.
Raven
@Omnes Omnibus: You oughta see it in Keokuk!
Commenting at Ballon Juice since 1937
Holy Shit! I was talking with a friend about Levon’s rambles Tuesday night.
JC
@Brachiator: Thanks for that.
Always loved the stuff Levon Helms did. That great american emotional embrace, inspiring and sad at the same time.
Horrendo Slapp (formerly Jimperson Zibb, Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.)
3 out of 5 down. As long as Garth Hudson is still alive, though, I can get by…
lower property tax
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AdrianLeaher
Only American? When was Canada kicked off of the continent?
Omnes Omnibus
@AdrianLeaher: There are a variety of responses to this:
1. Do Canadians really want to be confused with citizens of the US?
2. Did you really intend to diss Mexico? Or any of the other nation-states within the Americas?
3. If you really feel like bucking international convention and can come up with a workable term that the rest of the world, including US citizens, are willing to use, knock yourself out. If not, why be pissy?
WeeBey
RIP to a great one.
Comrade Mary
@AdrianLeaher: We don’t call ourselves Americans. We NEVER call ourselves Americans. We may occasionally call ourselves North Americans, but that’s about it.
Anyway, I’m pretty sure that the core point was that The Band, although majority Canadian, played roots American music at a level few modern bands could reach, but that only one member was actually American.
The Band’s most Canadian song.
Bobby Thomson
@MCA1:
Yes.
And no.
It’s a reference to the C.F. Martin & Co. factory in Nazareth, PA. The characters are all said to be friends of The Band. (Some say Rick Danko really did have a neighbor named Chester with a dog named Jack and a horse named Fanny.) But the story is supposed to be surrealistic, a la Bunuel.
SW
He shall be…
Petorado
Great credit to Levon and The Band that after all these years they remain so beloved , and after all the times we’ve heard their songs, they still don’t get old and no one remarks of hearing them too many times. Levon and the boys did something really special.
lizzy
Thanks for that tune. The Band gave us a lot of great music, and Levon gave the Band its spine and heart. He kept on playing with the same artistry, passion and generosity all down the years, too. We’re lucky to have been around to hear him. If there’s an afterlife, he’s probably making music right now with his old bandmates and Pops Staples.
patroclus
I thought his name was Virgil Kaine and he worked on the Danville train.
Deb T
Levon, the very best.
AdrianLesher
@Omnes Omnibus: @Omnes Omnibus:
I don`t see that Mexico, or any part of the Americas was dissed by acknowledging that the other members of the Band were from the Canadian part of the North American continent.