Quotes from Levon Helm

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

If things are going slow, I'm itchy.

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

We all love musical architecture there's no doubt about that.

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

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

Drums usually seem to tune themselves.

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

We live in an age of miracles.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.