Levon’s dying. One of the voices that taught me to love music, Levon Helm, is leaving us very soon — too soon — and the news has left me feeling so very sad.
Goodbye, Levon, and thank you. I hope your journey out of this life is peaceful and painless, and that you know how important your music was in the lives of ordinary people like me.
ETA: A brilliant piece on Levon Helm in Esquire today.
ETA 19 Apr 12: And the great man is gone. According to levonhelm.com:
Levon Helm passed peacefully this afternoon. He was surrounded by family, friends and band mates and will be remembered by all he touched as a brilliant musician and a beautiful soul.
Goodbye, and thank you, neighbour.
(Do yourself a favour – follow this link and go watch one of the greatest live rock performances ever recorded. Not my favourite song of theirs, but Levon’s performance is transcendent.)
I hear you – this makes me sad too, even if I didn’t know it was him on those classic songs (I think my fave is Up on Cripple Creek).
@Janna — I heard the news on Tuesday and I just sat down and cried. So, yesterday, BDH went out and bought me a copy of “The Last Waltz” to cheer me up. Very sweet. So last night, as a way of honouring Levon on his last ramble, I watched it.
Well, didn’t “The Night They Drove Ol’ Dixie Down” come on, and I just lost it. That voice, that arrangement, man… it was liike a hymn. I bawled. I know he never sang that song again after that concert, but still. The loss of such a voice and a musician and a man just breaks my heart.
Yup – some musicians fade away, and some last forever – Levon Helm was one of the latter. And Freddie Mercury, can’t forget about Freddie…