Early years
Helm was born in Marvell, Arkansas and began playing the guitar at the age of eight. Helm also played drums during his formative years and established his first band The Jungle Bush Beaters while in high school. He was influenced by the Grand Ole Opry and by R&B songs that he heard on radio station WLAC out of Nashville, Tennessee.
Helm became interested in rock and roll after attending an Elvis Presley concert. He moved from Arkansas to Memphis, Tennessee where he was influenced by Bo Diddley and Conway Twitty. At age 17 he was invited to join The Hawks, backing rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins. Soon after Helm joined The Hawks, they moved to Toronto where, in 1959, they signed with Roulette Records and released several singles, including a few hits.
In the early 1960s Helm and Hawkins recruited an all-Canadian lineup of musicians: guitarist Robbie Robertson, bassist Rick Danko, pianist Richard Manuel and organist Garth Hudson. In 1963, the band parted ways with Hawkins and started touring under the name Levon and The Hawks and later to the Canadian Squires before finally changing back to The Hawks. They recorded two singles, but found little success.
The Band
By the mid 1960s, Bob Dylan was interested in performing electric rock music, and asked The Hawks to be his backing band. Disheartened by fans' negative response to Dylan's new sound, Helm returned to Arkansas for what turned out to be a two-year layoff, being replaced by Mickey Jones. During his absence, The Hawks had taken up residence in Woodstock, New York and began writing their own songs; Danko and Manuel also shared writing credits with Dylan on a few songs. Here they recorded a large volume of demo tapes, many with fellow Woodstock resident Dylan (who had completely withdrawn from public life the previous year). These recordings were widely bootlegged, and the best tracks were officially released only in 1975 as The Basement Tapes double album. The songs and themes developed during this period played a crucial role in the group's future direction and style.
In 1967 Helm returned to the group, which by then was christened simply as The Band. They recorded Music From Big Pink, which catapulted them into stardom. On Big Pink, Manuel was the most prominent vocalist and Helm sang mainly backup, with the outstanding exception of "The Weight," but as Manuel's health deteriorated and Robertson's songwriting increasingly looked south for influence and direction, subsequent albums relied more and more on Helm's growling but eerily plaintive vocals (alone or in harmony with Danko), both enriched by and anchored in lush Southern texture. Singing lead, Helm brought out common elements in folk and blues vocal styles, often assuming the character of a kind of mythical Southern everyman, who witnesses bewildering events and reacts to them with wonder and rage. Helm played drums for perhaps 85% of The Band's songs, including most of those for which he sang lead. But the entire group was multi-instrumental, and often Helm would be found performing on mandolin or 12-string rhythm guitar when Manuel played drums, and bass when Danko played fiddle.
Helm remained with The Band until their 1976 farewell performance, The Last Waltz, which was recorded in a documentary film by Martin Scorsese. Although many now know Helm through his appearance in the concert film – a performance remarkable for the fact that Helm's vocal tracks appear substantially as he sang them during a grueling concert – he repudiated his involvement with the film shortly after the final scenes were shot and, in his autobiography, offers scathing criticisms of the film and of his former bandmate, Robertson, who produced the film.
As solo artist, The Band reunited
With the breakup of The Band in its original form, Helm began working on a solo album Levon Helm & the RCO All-Stars, which was followed soon thereafter by Levon Helm. He recorded solo albums in 1980 and 1982 entitled American Son and (once again) Levon Helm. Helm also participated in Paul Kennerley's 1980 country music concept album, The Legend of Jesse James, singing the role of Jesse James alongside Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris and Albert Lee.
In 1983, The Band reunited without Robbie Robertson, but then Manuel committed suicide while on tour in 1986. Helm, Danko and Hudson continued in The Band, releasing the album Jericho in 1993 and High on the Hog in 1996. The final album from The Band was the 30th anniversary album, Jubilation, released in 1998.
His most recent solo albums, Dirt Farmer, was released in 2007 to favorable reviews and followed in 2009 with an album entitled "Electric Dirt", which included a cover of the Grateful Dead song Tennessee Jed.
Helm was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1998. On April 19, 2012, Helm died of throat cancer complications in New York City.
Hurricane
Levon Helm Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I can hear them south winds moan
The bridges are looking lower
Shrimp boats hurrying’ home
The Old Man down in the Quarter
Slowly turned his head
Took another sip from his whiskey bottle
And looked at me and he said:
I was born in the rain by the Ponchatrain
Underneath the Louisiana moon
I don’t mind the strain of a hurricane
They come around every June
High black water – a devil’s daughter
She’s hard and she’s cold and she’s mean
But nobody’s taught her that it takes
A lot of water to wash away New Orleans
A man come down from Chicago
Gonna set that lady right
It’s got be up about 3 feet higher
We might make through the end of the night
The Old Man down in the quarter
Said “Don’t you listen to that boy!”
The water will be down by morning, son
And he’ll be back on his way to Illinois
REFRAIN
Thirty miles out in the Gulf Stream,
I can hear them south winds moan
The bridges are looking down lower
Shrimp boats hurrying’ home
The Old Man down in the Quarter
Slowly turned his head
Took another sip from his whiskey bottle
And looked at me and he said
I was born in the rain by the Ponchatrain
Underneath the Louisiana moon
I don’t mind the strain of a hurricane
They come around every June
High black water – a devil’s daughter
She’s hard and she’s cold and she’s mean
But we finally taught her that it takes
A lot of water to wash away New Orleans
The song "Hurricane" by Levon Helm is a testament to the resilience of the people of New Orleans who have faced many natural disasters, particularly hurricanes. The song is set in the Gulf Stream, where the singer can hear the winds moan and see the bridges lower as the shrimp boats hurry home. The "Old Man down in the Quarter" takes another sip from his whiskey bottle and tells the singer that he was born in the rain by the Ponchatrain under the Louisiana moon, and that he doesn't mind the strain of a hurricane as they come around every June. He goes on to describe the devil's daughter, high black water that is hard, cold, and mean, but nobody taught her that it takes a lot of water to wash away New Orleans.
Line by Line Meaning
Thirty miles out in the Gulf Stream,
Levon is out in the Gulf stream, thirty miles away from his home.
I can hear them south winds moan
Levon can hear the sound of the wind blowing from the south.
The bridges are looking lower
The bridges appear to be lower than usual.
Shrimp boats hurrying’ home
Shrimp boats are hurrying to get back to their harbor.
The Old Man down in the Quarter
An elderly man in the French Quarter caught Levon's notice.
Slowly turned his head
The man turned his head slowly to look at Levon.
Took another sip from his whiskey bottle
The man takes a sip of whiskey.
And looked at me and he said:
He said to Levon...
I was born in the rain by the Ponchatrain
The old man tells about where he was born - by the Ponchatrain in the rain.
Underneath the Louisiana moon
The old man was born underneath the moon in Louisiana.
I don’t mind the strain of a hurricane
He does not care about the impact of a hurricane.
They come around every June
The storms come around during June every year.
High black water – a devil’s daughter
The water level can rise to an alarming height during a hurricane.
She’s hard and she’s cold and she’s mean
The old man describes the storm as a cold and merciless force.
But nobody’s taught her that it takes
But, the storm doesn't know that it takes...
A lot of water to wash away New Orleans
... a huge amount of water to wash away New Orleans.
A man come down from Chicago
Someone from Chicago came to help.
Gonna set that lady right
The man is going to set things right.
It’s got to be up about 3 feet higher
'It' refers to the level of protection that needs to be increased by three feet higher.
We might make through the end of the night
The artist hopes that they will get through the night safely.
Said “Don’t you listen to that boy!”
The old man cautions Levon not to listen to the Chicago native.
The water will be down by morning, son
The water level will be lowered by morning.
And he’ll be back on his way to Illinois
The Chicago native will return to Illinois when he is done.
REFRAIN
The chorus of the song is repeated at this point.
Thirty miles out in the Gulf Stream,
The song finishes with the same opening line it started with.
I can hear them south winds moan
Levon can still hear the sound of the wind blowing from the south.
The bridges are looking down lower
The bridges still seem to be lower than usual.
Shrimp boats hurrying’ home
Shrimp boats are still hurrying to get back to their harbor.
The Old Man down in the Quarter
The old man in the French Quarter is still there.
Slowly turned his head
The man turns his head again.
Took another sip from his whiskey bottle
The man drinks yet another sip of whiskey.
And looked at me and he said
The song ends with the old man speaking to Levon.
I was born in the rain by the Ponchatrain
The old man repeats the same opening line of the song.
Underneath the Louisiana moon
The old man grew up under the moon of Louisiana.
I don’t mind the strain of a hurricane
He doesn't care about hurricanes.
They come around every June
Hurricanes come annually in the month of June.
High black water – a devil’s daughter
Water level can dangerously rise during a hurricane.
She’s hard and she’s cold and she’s mean
The old man describes the storm as a merciless force.
But we finally taught her that it takes
But, we taught the storm that it takes...
A lot of water to wash away New Orleans
... a large amount of water to wash away New Orleans.
Writer(s): da Woon Jun, min ki lee, Yong Guk Bang
Contributed by Madison F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.