Clearly not a good week for rock-n-roll.
Today we’re bidding farewell to Levon Helm. His band was The Band. Choosing a name like that means you put the music first, and just maybe you expect to claim a place in music history. Both are true here. And Levon’s place in The Band? Drummer and vocalist; not an easy bit of multi-tasking, even if he made it look that way.
But man, that voice. I spoke to a couple people today who said they didn’t recognize the name Levon Helm. I simply played the clip below and watched the light of recognition in their eyes. Before the song was done they were agreeing that no one else sounded quite like Levon Helm, and no one ever will.
Thanks for the music, Levon. The waltz at long last is truly over, but what a waltz it was.
