Levon Helm Quotes
Quotations and aphorisms by Levon Helm:
I was in high school, trying to get out of high school. The only thing slowing me up was grades.
~Levon Helm
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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
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It's different playing in a studio than it is playing live, of course.
~Levon Helm
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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
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Forever Young, by Dylan, is one of my favorite songs.
~Levon Helm
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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
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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
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I love horns, and the bigger the band, the better it sounds to my ear.
~Levon Helm
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We live in an age of miracles.
~Levon Helm
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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
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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
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My parents wanted me to be smart and be a scholar, and the best I could do was graduate high school.
~Levon Helm
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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
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We all love musical architecture; there's no doubt about that.
~Levon Helm
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Dad and mom would have preferred that I be a doctor, a lawyer, a scientist, or a great humanitarian.
~Levon Helm
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I've had all the lessons I could get. I've learned from everybody I've ever met.
~Levon Helm
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My dad and I played music. He teaches me a song or two every time I'm home.
~Levon Helm
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Well, somebody's got to sing. They won't hire you unless you sing.
~Levon Helm
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Don't we all want what's best for each other?
~Levon Helm
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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
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I don't think I'm a millionaire, but I'm comfortable.
~Levon Helm
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The Jungle Bush Beaters didn't last too long as a group, but we had a pretty good time while we did.
~Levon Helm
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Good times don't last long sometimes.
~Levon Helm
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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
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Drums usually seem to tune themselves.
~Levon Helm
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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
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If things are going slow, I'm itchy.
~Levon Helm
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Anytime I switch to another instrument, I immediately turn it into another kind of drum so that I can understand it better.
~Levon Helm
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Drums just always sounded like the most fun part of that good music for me.
~Levon Helm
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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
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I like walking on the edge.
~Levon Helm
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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
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If you pour some music on whatever's wrong, it'll sure help out.
~Levon Helm
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The Band never really played big concert tours. We never sold millions and millions of albums.
~Levon Helm
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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
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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
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There were no rules, other than that the song should sound good and be fun to play.
~Levon Helm
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If it doesn't come from your heart, music just doesn't work.
~Levon Helm
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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
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With horns and a full rhythm section, the drums always looked like the best seat in the house.
~Levon Helm
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If you give it good concentration, good energy, good heart and good performance, the song will play you.
~Levon Helm
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The crowd is just as important as the group. It takes everything to make it work.
~Levon Helm
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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
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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
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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
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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
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If you feel like you're getting into a rut with a song, a night off usually fixes it.
~Levon Helm
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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
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