This Day in History: Drummer Levon Helm died on this day in 2012. He was the only American born member of the Canadian rock group, The Band (IMO one of the greatest rock groups of all time.) If you've never seen Martin Scorcese's The Last Waltz, you really should (it's on Amazon Prime right now). The highlight of The Band for me was The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, probably one of the greatest Civil War songs ever (and it was written by a Canadian with a Mohawk mother, Robbie Robertson, who is playing guitar in this video). One reviewer said of the song: "Nothing I have read … has brought home the overwhelming human sense of history that this song does. The only thing I can relate it to at all is The Red Badge of Courage. It's a remarkable song, the rhythmic structure, the voice of Levon and the bass line with the drum accents and then the heavy close harmony of Levon, Richard and Rick in the theme, make it seem impossible that this isn't some traditional material handed down from father to son straight from that winter of 1865 to today. It has that ring of truth and the whole aura of authenticity." ~Ralph J. Gleason (in the review in Rolling Stone (U.S. edition only) of October 1969)
This song was number 245 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
Elton John once said a drummer should never sing unless his name is Levon Helm.
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