Levon Helm Quotes & Sayings

The way to do it is to put as much life into the song as I can. You can either get it to breathe or you can't. — Levon Helm

Anytime I switch to another instrument, I immediately turn it into another kind of drum so that I can understand it better. — Levon Helm

I never subscribe to the stay-at-home policy. I'm not sick of the road or sick of eating in good restaurants around the country. I like to travel. — Levon Helm

The Band never really played big concert tours. We never sold millions and millions of albums. — Levon Helm

By the time The Band did The Last Waltz, the chemistry had changed, and it wasn't a thrill anymore to live that studio kind of life. — Levon Helm

I had throat cancer, and I had to have radiation treatments, and I couldn't sing for a long time; and this was in '97. I had 28 radiation treatments. I didn't die, thank God. — Levon Helm

Good times don't last long sometimes. — Levon Helm

The crowd is just as important as the group. It takes everything to make it work. — Levon Helm

Conway Twitty was always our local hero while I was growing up. He had a series of good bands. I wanted to sit in, if Conway would let me. And he did a couple of times. — Levon Helm

We were in our early twenties, playing and traveling, and didn't have to answer to anybody. It was the kind of life where if you had a problem today, you could be five hundred miles away from it the next day. — Levon Helm

My parents wanted me to be smart and be a scholar, and the best I could do was graduate high school. — Levon Helm

You got to pick one - pay your medical bills or pay the mortgage. Most people can't do both, and I'm no different. — Levon Helm

Drums just always sounded like the most fun part of that good music for me. — Levon Helm

Maybe the greatness we heard in [Richard Manuel]'s voice, that catch in it, came from all that pain. To this day, we don't really know. — Levon Helm

We live in an age of miracles. — Levon Helm

Forever Young, by Dylan, is one of my favorite songs. — Levon Helm

There were no rules, other than that the song should sound good and be fun to play. — Levon Helm

If you give it good concentration, good energy, good heart and good performance, the song will play you. — Levon Helm

None of us ever thought to write a song about all the shit that was going on back then: war, revolution, civil war, turmoil. Our songs were trying to take you someplace else. — Levon Helm

You can either make it come around or you can't. By the time we would be ready to record a song, we would know for sure that it was the best way we could do it. — Levon Helm

As rowdy as the place was, I've seen rowdier times playing fraternity parties in Oklahoma. — Levon Helm

Dad and mom would have preferred that I be a doctor, a lawyer, a scientist, or a great humanitarian. — Levon Helm

I've had all the lessons I could get. I've learned from everybody I've ever met. — Levon Helm

I love horns, and the bigger the band, the better it sounds to my ear. — Levon Helm

Well, somebody's got to sing. They won't hire you unless you sing. — Levon Helm

The rock star stuff never came up for us. The Band was never attacked by groupies before, during or after any show that we ever played. — Levon Helm

When the second record came out, they started calling it The Band. I voted to call it The Crackers. I'm no fool. — Levon Helm

The Jungle Bush Beaters didn't last too long as a group, but we had a pretty good time while we did. — Levon Helm

We're all dealt with the same hand here, so to speak. I feel like I've had it a lot better than most people. I've had the opportunity to travel and play music all my life. — Levon Helm

We all love musical architecture; there's no doubt about that. — Levon Helm

Drums usually seem to tune themselves. — Levon Helm

I don't hear record companies coming up with any good ideas or suggestions. Historically, if it ain't their idea, it ain't no good, so you got that to contend with. — Levon Helm

I'm not in it for my health. I'm a musician and I wanna live the way I do. — Levon Helm

New York, it was an adult portion. It was an adult dose. So it took a couple of trips to get into it. You just go in the first time and you get your ass kicked and you take off. As soon as it heals up, you come back and you try it again. Eventually, you fall right in love with it. — Levon Helm

After I was old enough to work, they'd have to make three pies: one for each family and one for Lavon. And I'd guard mine. — Levon Helm

My dad and I played music. He teaches me a song or two every time I'm home. — Levon Helm

With horns and a full rhythm section, the drums always looked like the best seat in the house. — Levon Helm

My mom, God love her, she was one of those Bible people. She thought it was wrong to bother anybody, regardless of race, color or religion. It just wasn't a Christian thing to look down on anybody, and that's what she taught us. — Levon Helm

When I was younger, I used to drive up to a bunch of turkeys, roll down the window and say something. They'd all gobble back at once. — Levon Helm

I played some Yamaha drums that I like a lot. And I like the Yamaha people a lot too. They've been really nice to me and The Band. — Levon Helm

It's different playing in a studio than it is playing live, of course. — Levon Helm

I've always thought it was easier for girls to sing harmonies because their voices can go to that higher plane so much more easy than a male voice. — Levon Helm

If things are going slow, I'm itchy. — Levon Helm

Lord, when the song wants to pick up and go a little faster towards the end, it's hard for me to resist. — Levon Helm

Most of our stuff was trial and error. You live with a tape recorder, you turn it on, you play the song and you listen to it. — Levon Helm

If you feel like you're getting into a rut with a song, a night off usually fixes it. — Levon Helm

The sound of the blues, rhythm and blues, country music, is what we lived for, black and white alike. It gave you strength to sit on one of those throbbing Allis-Chalmers tractors all day if you knew you were gonna hear something on the radio or maybe see a show that evening. — Levon Helm

If it doesn't come from your heart, music just doesn't work. — Levon Helm

Those bad times are important. They give you a chance to practice, listen, take stock, have a life, get your feet back on the ground, and maybe you'll live to tell the story. — Levon Helm

If you pour some music on whatever's wrong, it'll sure help out. — Levon Helm

I like to get within handshaking distance of the crowd. If it happens, they know it, we know it, and that's all we came here for. — Levon Helm

When we were unloading or going into a restaurant, the raisin got stepped on and smeared like a flapjack. The Hawk was displeased when he saw that. "Goddamn," he growled, "I gave you guys a hundred to get off cigarettes. I'll give you two hundred to get rid of these damn raisins! — Levon Helm

The power of music just kinda kills all those ills; it cures everything and you've got more energy just from the music. And, I've never seen it fail. It's good for ya; real good for ya. — Levon Helm

I don't think I'm a millionaire, but I'm comfortable. — Levon Helm

Songs don't wear out. Good songs are good now. If they were a comfort during those hard times in the past, they'll be a comfort in today's age. — Levon Helm

I was in high school, trying to get out of high school. The only thing slowing me up was grades. — Levon Helm

I don't fool with a lot of things that I can't have fun with. There's not much reward in that. — Levon Helm

Don't we all want what's best for each other? — Levon Helm

A friend of mine took me to Memphis advised me that I should get in the musicians' union. He gave me a set of drums and said, Stay on the job, son. — Levon Helm